HOLY WISH-COME-TRUE, KID BATMOBILE BUILDER, ADAM WEST SAVE THE DAY FOR BOY, 11.

Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY 

George Barris has seen a lot in his 77 years, but he's never seen a smile bigger than the one worn by the kid from Akron, Ohio.

``His eyes got so bright, and he was smiling from ear to ear when he saw us standing there,'' said the king of custom cars for television and movies.

``It was so beautiful it almost broke my heart.''

Barris was standing outside the Marriott Hotel at Los Angeles International Airport in front of one of his most famous cars - the Batmobile. Standing next to him was actor Adam West, who portrayed the title character in the 1960s TV show ``Batman.''

Gunnar Young, whose bedroom back home in Ohio is a shrine to the TV Batman, was going for a ride with the man himself in the real Batmobile. For the young brain-cancer victim, it was a dream come true.

``He wanted to meet Batman and go for a ride in the Batmobile,'' said Shelly Ginsburg, director of communications for the Los Angeles Make-A-Wish Foundation, which flew the 11-year-old boy and his family to Los Angeles this week to meet his hero.

``It was a huge wish for the family. They said it was more than they could have ever hoped for. And Adam and George made it come true for him.''

There was never any doubt, said Barris from his custom-car showroom in North Hollywood, which houses just about every famous TV and movie car from the past 50 years.

``Here's a sick little boy who could have wished for anything in the world, and what did he want? To meet the original TV Batman and go for a ride in the Batmobile.''

``Adam and I were very touched and flattered,'' he said. ``We weren't going to let him down.''

Gunnar's drive around Los Angeles with Batman in the Batmobile will be featured at 11 a.m. Friday on the ``Sharon Osbourne Show'' on KTLA (Channel 5).

When you walk into George Barris' Kustom Productions showroom on Riverside Drive, you walk into the history of just about every major TV show or movie that needed a car you wouldn't easily forget.

``The Beverly Hillbillies,'' ``The Green Hornet,'' ``The Monkees,'' ``The Munsters,'' ``The Dukes of Hazzard,'' ``Knight Rider,'' ``The A Team,'' ``Starsky and Hutch'' and dozens more.

``My first job was making special taillights for my buddies' hot rods at $10 apiece,'' he recalled. ``I thought I was rich.''

Word got around Hollywood about this young guy with the custom car shop, and pretty soon the biggest names in the industry wanted him to customize their personal cars, too.

``I did the cars of Clark Gable, John Wayne, Audie Murphy, Elvis, the Beatles, Sonny and Cher, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and the rest of the 'Rat Pack,''' he said.

In the '50s, his cars were featured in all the hot-rod movies. In the '60s they were on the small screen in shows such as ``The Munsters,'' ``Batman,'' ``Green Hornet'' and ``The Beverly Hillbillies.''

``In the '70s and '80s, I kept active in the business with shows like 'Knight Rider,' 'The Dukes of Hazzard,' 'Starsky and Hutch.' And in the '90s it was movies remaking the old TV shows, like 'The Flintstones' and 'The Beverly Hillbillies,''' Barris said.

So far, the ``Fast and Furious'' films look like remakes of the 1950s hot-rod movies, he said. Raw speed.

``I just finished the remake of 'Starsky and Hutch' for the movies, so now I've been going back to the 1970s, too.''

But what really helped keep alive the memory of all those old movie and TV cars was the toy industry, he said.

``They started making toy models so every kid could have one,'' Barris said. ``And that's how I started as a kid, building balsa wood models and entering them in the contests the old Woolworth's 5 & Dime stores used to have.''

Yeah, he's seen a lot in his 77 years, Barris said. But he swears he's never seen a smile like the one on that kid's face Tuesday when he saw Batman and his Batmobile waiting to make his wish come true.

It was so beautiful it almost broke his heart.

The Los Angeles chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation is holding its annual awards and benefit gala Saturday, hosted by two-time Emmy Award winner Brad Garrett of ``Everybody Loves Raymond.'' For tickets and information, call the foundation at [phone].

Dennis McCarthy, [phone]

dennis.mccarthy(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Gunnar Young, 11, gets into the original Batmobile for the ride of his dreams - with Adam ``Batman'' West as his driver.

(2) Actor Adam West, who starred in TV's ``Batman,'' and a fan, Gunnar Young, 11, are both fans of George Barris, who created the original Batmobile.

Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Staff Photographer