Original Batmobile for sale for the first time

The first and some would say greatest of all Batmobiles, the one that started it all, is going on sale for the first time at the Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, Arizona, on January 19th, 2013. This is the iconic Batmobile made by legendary car customizer George Barris for the 1966 Batman television series starring Adam West in the title role. It still has all the Batgadgets even the most covetous and demanding of comic nerds could wish for and a pre-Bat history that the most covetous and demanding of car nerds could only dream of.

It started its life in 1955, a one-off Lincoln Futura concept car. Designed by Ford’s lead stylist Bill Schmidt who was inspired by manta rays and mako sharks he had seen while scuba diving, the Futura’s body was built entirely at the Ghia Body Works in Turin, Italy, in 1954 and affixed to an experimental Lincoln Mark II chassis made three years before the first Mark IIs were sold. The car was 19 feet long, seven feet wide, and just 4.4 feet high with a double, clear-plastic bubble top, huge outward-angled tailfins on the back and front sides, a wide oval grill to give it that shark-mouth aggressive look and all kinds of newfangled technology like push-button transmission, warning lights and speedometer (among other indicators) housed in the steering wheel, and a circular rear antenna that also served as a microphone to pick up and amplify traffic or horn sounds from any car behind them to the driver and passenger inside the bubble canopy.

This was Ford’s car of the future, a repository of all the Jetsons-like technology that could be crammed into 19 feet of vehicle. Even its paint job was cutting edge, a Pearlescent Frost-Blue white which was one of the first pearlescent car treatments. The effect was created by grinding up actual pearls and adding them to the paint. It was intended for display on the auto show circuit, but unlike many show cars, this one was made to work. It was drivable from day one. The total production cost for the Lincoln Futura was $250,000.

The Futura made its debut at the Chicago Auto Show of January 8th, 1955. It ran the show circuit for the next few years and became immensely popular, so much so that Ford made model and toy car versions for the mass market. In 1959, the Futura had its first brush with show business, snagging a featured role in It Started with a Kiss, and upstaging human stars Glenn Ford and Debbie Reynolds. Since pearl white didn’t photograph with the drama the filmmakers were looking for, the car was painted red. See the Futura steal the show in this collection of clips from the movie:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHMLqe5y7Ag&w=430]

With the dawn of a new decade, the Futura’s days as a star of stage and screen seemed over. Its tailfin-and-bubble look was at odds with the more streamlined aesthetics of the 60s. Ford sold the car to George Barris, who worked for the company’s Ford Custom Car Caravan for six years in the early and mid-60s, for $1. (This token price wasn’t a particular slur on the illustrious Futura, mind you. Ford and Barris had done this before. Concept cars would be retired and sold to Barris for a nominal sum so he could use them in movies and television. Ah, the days before product placement…)

The car sat in Barris’ lot for a few years doing nothing when in late 1965, destiny came calling. Batman producer William Dozier called needing a Batmobile. He gave Barris 15 days and $15,000 to build it and so he did. The Futura’s two-seater design and unique 50s futurist winged look made it the perfect car to customize into Batman and Robin’s main ride. A few metal modifications, engine boosts, racing wheels exposed by opened wheel wells, Batgadget attachments and a gloss black paint job with glow-orange red trim later, history burst out of the Batcave.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBe3QzVW5_8&w=430]

Although many Batmobiles have followed in the wake of its turbine flame, the original still holds the pole position in fans’ hearts. Not just because of its fantastic good looks, either. It won a race against the 1989 Tim Burton Batmobile (the race starts at 8:00 in this video) so its badassery has more than stood the test of time.

After years on the convention circuit, in special appearances and on display in museums, the Batmobile is still in pristine shape. It is being sold by George Barris himself who has been the sole owner since it was decommissioned by Ford. Whoever is fortunate enough to buy it in January is going to spend a lot more than the dollar it cost the only other time it was sold.

The car features a 390-in 1956 Lincoln V-8 engine and a B&M Hydro Automatic transmission. Gadgets include a nose-mounted aluminum Cable Cutter Blade, Bat Ray Projector, Anti-Theft Device, Detect-a-scope, Batscope, Bat Eye Switch, Antenna Activator, Police Band Cut-In Switch, Automatic Tire Inflation Device, Remote Batcomputer, the Batphone, Emergency Bat Turn Lever, Anti-Fire Activator, Bat Smoke, Bat Photoscope, and many other Bat gadgets. If needed, the Batmobile was capable of a quick 180° “bat-turn” thanks to two rear-mounted ten-foot Deist parachutes.

I would slap a baby just to get a ride in this car. I don’t even want to consider what I’d do to own it.

24 thoughts on “Original Batmobile for sale for the first time

    1. When the show became popular, the studio got tons of requests for the Batmobile to make special appearances. Barris made three replicas of the original to use in exhibits around the country. There’s no Futura underneath the replicas, of course, what with there only being one Futura in the whole world. He made fiberglass copies of the Batmobile body which he mounted on Ford Galaxie frames. I don’t know if one of those is at the Volo museum or if it’s a later replica not made by Barris.

  1. There was an Outer Limits episode about a man avoiding being assassinated by his clone. It was a futuristic story and I think the Futura was the car the protagonist drove.

  2. From a 2001 Forbes magazine article:
    “The only problem was that the cannibalized Lincoln Futura handled horrendously; not only was the Batmobile shape exceedingly un-aerodynamic, but the original concept car wasn’t ever intended to be drivable. West slammed the car into the side of the Batcave set several times. So five copies of the original car had to be made of fiberglass, with molds taken off the first Batmobile.”

  3. The most famous car in the World
    Had a chance to se it once at a State Fair… So awesome… in 1966 I was nine, what a car

    I had commissioned to have one built from a Hot Wheel Batmobile that the doors, hood and trunk opened, with show paint and deep mags added. Dan about an hour out of Chi-Town did a great job on the full opener, later had another built with just the doors that opened.

    I Guss I’ll have to get the replica now, Offered out of fiberglass starting at $150,000.00
    When I stub my toe on that Gold Bar
    But will gladly take a Batmobile over a Ferrari any day, My hart goes out to George Barris for giving the Car up, to pass on to the next ” BATMAN ”

    Thanks George for all your TV Cars

  4. the closest I ever came was as a kid in the 60`s when I had a bat mobile that you could actually sit on and scoot around on.had the bat shaped steering wheel with a horn.have never seen one since and probably worth what a used car goes for today.lolol

  5. I will own a batmobile, whether I build one or buy one… and then I will cruise in it too. Put a p.a. speaker and have the batman theme ready at the push of the button too. just saying…

  6. After all these years and other Batmobiles that followed this is by the the best looking Batmobile ever created. What’s really sad is how it started as a Lincoln. I say that because Lincoln had a lot more creativity back then to create such a machine. The latest Lincolns aren’t bad looking but at the same time too, I still haven’s seen any of their concepts worthy of being the next Batmobile.

  7. The real first batmobile will be auctioned off at a starting bid of $90,000 in 3 weeks by Heritage Auction’s. Bet it won’t sell for opening bid. A 1956 Oldsmobile Rocket 88 was the car transformed into the first ever licensed and DC comics sactioned Batmobile. Believe it or not the car sold for $200 in 1967 and sat for nearly 50 years rotting away. in N.H.. After a year long restoration it is again up for sale. Holy crap Batman. It can’t be true a boy blunder’s chance at last to morph into you guessed it Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da Batman!!!!!!!!!! 😎

  8. A correction must be made to the writers story. No 390s around in 1956.The Futura had a 368 Lincoln engine. George Barris mounted the Futura body on a 1966 Ford Galaxie frame with a 390 and a C-6 automatic.

    1. Barris mounted fiberglass copies of the Futura body onto Galaxie frames when the show asked him to make additional versions for appearances and stunt work. The original Batmobile had the modified Futura body on the Mark II chassis that it came with. You’re right about the engine having originally been a 368 Lincoln, though. I don’t know if Barris changed it later or if Barrett-Jackson made a mistake in the description I quoted.

  9. The original builder of the Batmobile was Karl Krumme who customized the Ford Futura for George Barris, Randy Wright then made fiberglass molds and 5 fiber glass bodys for the TV series
    Randy is the only guy left whith first hand knowledge of building the original classic Batmobile for George Barris.

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