|
|
Welcome to the Official Build of the 1966 Batmobile.
Welcome to the 1966 Batmobile Car. This is probably the most iconic of all the Batmobiles produced over the years. Here is a link to the Fanhome site to see an overview of what is included in this iconic car.
https://www.fanhome.com/uk/movie-series/batmobile/
Here is an insight of how the car came to be.
In the early 1960s DC comics sold the rights for Batman to be made into a TV series to 20th Century Fox. As development of the series progressed it was clear that Batman would need to drive a car in car obsessed 1960s America, and it would need to be extravagant. With a good size budget for a prime-time TV show, the production team approached Hollywood car customiser Dean Jefferies to come up with something, and he started on plans to alter a 1959 Cadillac.
The production team asked for the car to be finished in just a couple of weeks, which was clear that it was not possible so the team search for another option. In came George Baris, a lifelong car customiser, who was loaning out his futuristic automotive creations to film companies in the 1950s.
They approached George Baris to produce a car for the new up and coming Batman TV series and asked if he could produce a vehicle in the same 2-to-3-week deadline. Fortunately, George already had bought a car that would be a great starting point. It was a concept car, a 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car, for the 1955 Chicago auto show. It had a whole new body around it taking inspiration from a shark design.
Automotive fashions changed quickly in the 1960s and Ford has no need for a show car. George bought the car for a nominal price of $1 for display purposes only, a far cry from the roughly $250,000 price, or about £1.8 million today, the cost for making the car in the mid-1950s. So, when the Batman TV show team came asking for a Batmobile, George knew that with a few tweaks to future it, it could be the perfect fit. The production artist from the TV show and George’s crew got to work to get the car ready for the network, altering the car to make it less shark like and more bat like.
It came with new technology features such as the Plexiglass pod covering both occupants, a fuel gauge that used colour, and a pushbutton gear shifting. The car also had similar tricks to James Bond Aston Martin and could spew out smoke, a cutter blade projector, antitheft device detector, and many other features they could cram in. A 1960s car wouldn’t be complete without a bat phone and a mobile crime computer link to the main bat computer back in the Batcave to complete this cutting-edge look.
By the time the first episode aired, the new Batmobile was not ready, taking another week until the team got the paint finish right. George Baris applied for a patent on the design, smart move, as the TV show was proving popular and soon the model Batmobile were sold to kids around the world.
I will be starting the official build as soon as the first parts arrive, “Holy Moly Batman, this is going to be epic!!!!”
Mark
Markwarren attached the following image(s):
|
US
