Lot 241: The Batmobile

KRASH! POW! PIFF! Holy smoke, it's the Batmobile!It's hard to imagine that the most famous vehicle ever to appear on either the big or small screen came about from an apparent weakness of the superhero star, but incredibly, the Batmobile owes it's existence to just such a scenario.In the DC comics of the 1950's Batman suffers a broken leg, and to enable him protect the good people of Gotham City, The 'Batmobile' is devised. Robin, his trusty side kick is shown building the car whilst the superhero recuperates- A boy-wonder indeed! To assist the crime fighting duo in their noble deeds a number of useful devices are incorporated into the design, something the boys in Q division clearly paid attention tooWhen the ABC Network decided in 1965 to serialize the adventures of Bruce Wayne and his crime fighting alter ego, the task of creating a suitable Batmobile fell to the greatest custom car builder of all time - George Barris - AKA the 'Kustom King'. In keeping with the superhero theme, George was given a mere 3 weeks in which to produce a car which would ultimately go on to become his seminal work.Fortuitously, a few years earlier, Barris had purchased from Ford their 1955 Lincon Futura concept car, bodied by Ghia and built at an estimated cost of $250,000 as a center piece of their show season. The car had in fact already featured in the 1959 MGM production 'It Started with a Kiss'. However, by the mid '60's the extreme finned style was out of fashion, and the car rested at the back of Barris's lot awaiting the unlikely event that a time would come when someone would need a car which resembled a work of science fiction fantasy, and featured wings like a batBarris, perhaps thankfully given the time constraints, had to do reatively little to the structure of the car to convert it into the definitive Batmobile. The tailfins were extended into the doors and their ends scalloped slightly, the face was re-modeled to resemble a bat, huge 'Mickey Thompsons' were fitted and the legions of 'gadgets' such as the wire cutters, rocket tubes, the 'Detectorscope' (for sensing low-life), afterburner etc were added. It is perhaps incredible when you see the car that the twin canopies and interior actually remained almost unchanged from the Futura concept. The 'Batphone' was a perhaps startling glimpse of the future!Striking though the car was, it was felt that in the days of black and white televisions, early screen appearances did not show up the cars imposing presence to the full, so a simple but hugely effective modification was made, the cars distinctive wing lines and 'face' were highlighted in 1 inch thick cerise red lines. The transformation was complete, and the car went on to become the most famous in the World, starring in over 100 episodes alongside Adam West as the eponymous hero and Burt Ward as the ever dutiful Robin.The first thing which strikes you on approaching the Batmobile is it's sheer size. To at least 2 generations of children this car is about 3 inches long, and heading for yet another impact on the skirting board as it is launched from the 'Batcave' under the bed in response to a siblings 'Bat Signal' with a torch from the top bunk! In reality, the car is almost 6 meters long, and without doubt the most imposing vehicle the author has ever encountered. It also produces a grin on the face of everyone who sees it the like of which the Joker would be proud!To promote the show, one of the most popular in the U.S. at the time, the producers commissioned further cars and a number were produced. These cars toured the country, appearing at any number of events such as race meets and County fairs. It is unknown how many 'Batmobiles' were built, but the car we are proud to offer today is understood to be the 6th produced, and built by Jay Orhrberg of Jay Orhrberg Star Cars in Hollywood, California.Jay Orhrberg is one of the finest movie car builders, and his more recent body of work includes the 'Back to the Future' Delorean and the famous 1970's Pink Panther's car, Knight Riders KITT, as well as the other Batmobiles, the Batboat and numerous other Batman film vehicles.Not all of the Batmobiles were fully functioning, but this example was built as a fully working vehicle. The car was sold by Coys on behalf of an American collector from Los Angeles during the 1980's to a collector in Germany from whom the museum purchased the car in 1991 Prior to this it was being used in the USA to continue the work of Gotham City's finest in highlighting the dangers of Drink and Drugs to Children. It has formed one of the cornerstones of the World famous 'Cars of the Stars' collection which is widely considered to be the finest collection of film and television cars in the world. It resided alongside Batmobiles from the films "BATMAN" and "BATMAN RETURNS" as part of the worlds largest private collection of Batmobiles.During this time the car has traveled far and wide, continuing to delight fans young and old - most recently appearing through out the international press when Batman and Robin - with the Batmobile - visited the Birmingham Childrens Hospital in January 2007.Rarely do examples of cars which can justly claim to be the most famous in the World come on the market, and when they do collectors and enthusiasts (in this case not only of cars, but of film and television also) are offered the unique opportunity to relive those idle childhood daydreams, but this time in their own glorious full size Technicolor!As was said in the opening show - "Batteries to power: Turbines to speed."