the original Batmobile – you can buy it

Someone just paid $4.6 million for the original Batmobile in an auction.  It was a cool car for its time, and I’d like to have it, but that’s a LOT of money!  Supposedly the guy who bought it is gonna keep it in his living room.  He must be single or have multiple living rooms, because the WAF (Wife Approval Factor) on that home decor design decision would probably be quite low.  I can imagine how it would go if I told my wife I want to put the Batmobile in our living room…

Batmobile - at auction

The original owner bought it for $1 in 1965 and spent $15,000 transforming the 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car into the Batmobile.  I’d say he got a good return on his investment!

George Barris Receives Life Achievement Award - Arrivals

Even though it was/is a concept car, it’s street legal.  It would be so cool to drive one of these around…  I’d accept a replica version…  🙂

I wonder what it would cost to make it actually shoot fire out the back… obviously you’d want to be able to turn it on and off.  A cursory glance online reveals this has been done, of course.  I figure they didn’t use atomic batteries like in the original.

Well, I looked more online before posting this, and happened to find where you can buy a Batmobile replica, and it’s actually got some of the tricks installed, such as the working rocket exhaust flamethrower, the glowing Detect-a-Scope radar screen, and the push-button ignition.  The only drawbacks are that it costs $190,164 and that it gets only 6 miles per gallon.  The latter I could live with, but the price might be a stumbling block. I suspect my wife will say that’s not in the budget.  She’ll start with nitpicky legalistic arguments like “That costs more than our house!”, and my logical reply of “But it’s the Batmobile!” will not work at all.  Women… always ruled by their emotions…  🙂

I can dream… and while I’m dreaming, I’m going to have my own Batcave, too…

Batmobile in the Batcave

how to build your own Batmobile

Most guys who have seen any of the Batman movies would like to have their own Batmobile.  There’s been several versions of it over the years, and just about any of them would be great to own.

A Swedish man created a do-it-yourself (DIY) Batmobile.   He started with a 1973 Lincoln Continental chassis, and added voice recognition tech, rear-view cameras, satellite navigation, and of course machine guns.  The engine puts out 700 horsepower.   He also included a DVD player and a plasma TV, for when you’re taking a break from saving the world.   (But how many cupholders does it have?)

DIY Batmobile

Unfortunately, the cost is prohibitive to me ever owning one.   It cost $1 million and took 20,000 man-hours to build.

If you want the newer Batmobile (the Tumbler version), there are actual ones that were built for the movies, albeit several different versions.  But they are able to accelerate from 0 to 60 in 5 seconds, and they can make and land 30 foot jumps without tearing up.  And there’s a version that shoots fire out the back.   One of those would come in handy…

Where does he get those wonderful toys?!?

On a related note, there are several interesting articles at this link discussing The Physics of Batman.   Well, they’re interesting if you enjoy discussing whether some of Batman’s technology is possible in real-life.