Something for the General Lee fans

[Mike DC]

 
The 1960s Batmobile was originally made out of the "Lincoln Futura." 

It was a late-50s Lincoln concept car that George Barris had bought from Lincoln at the time.  In fact it still looked about 3/4 like that car even after the Batmobile conversion work was done.  The work (both by Lincoln and later by Barris) was all done in steel, and I think the final car weighed something like 5000+ pounds. 

The Batman TV show wanted some backup cars, so Barris pulled molds from the original one (after his "Batmobile" alterations to it), and made several 'glass-bodied copies of it for the show too.

   

[Charger_Fan]

I want the old Batmobile from the TV series. I'd rather have that then a GL any day. I think the 60's series car was based on a Pontiac. Other opinions or correct answer?

You may be thinking of the 'Monkee Mobile'. That used a GTO/LeMans front end, if I'm not mistaken.

[Ghoste]

The newer movie Batmobiles are one off's.  I think one (or more) of them began as some old GM product like a 68 Chevelle or 75 Malibu or some full frame V8 powered car.  Nothing left under the skin though except the frame and drivetrain.  All of the outside panels are just plastic rigged into place.  Very crude beneath the exterior in actuality.  Whereas the old tv series ones were as stated, essentially cars with customizing on the existing body panels.

[Mike DC]

 
The 1989 & 1992 "Keaton car" Batmobile started out as a '72 Impala chassis as I recall.  The builder hacked a couple of those frames together and added ten inches to the wheelbase.  You could look through the car's front vents (at the phony jet engine intake) and see a SB chevy motor right there in the nose.

I'm not sure about the later 1990s movie car above.



The 2005 "tumbler" Batmobile is a truly full-blown custom job.  They started with a design for the shape of the outside that they wanted, and then the builders fabricated a tube chassis to go underneath it.  They basically threw a Summit catalog at it for all the drivetrain & chassis components.  There wasn't any single production car or truck that you could give credit for its roots.

They've said they were trying to get away from the styled-up Bat cars and go back to the more utilitarian idea of the car.  They tried to picture a cross between a modern Lambo Diablo and a military-spec Hummer.  (I think they succeded at doing that idea pretty well.)

The total bill for the "Tumbler" project was way over a million bucks for the R&D and all the copies they finally built.  Rumor has it that they tear it up pretty badly in the next movie coming up.   

[TripleBlackGator]

I want the old Batmobile from the TV series. I'd rather have that then a GL any day. I think the 60's series car was based on a Pontiac. Other opinions or correct answer?

You may be thinking of the 'Monkee Mobile'. That used a GTO/LeMans front end, if I'm not mistaken.

Your right about the Monkeemobile and I would like to have that car as well although they did add some "modern day" touches such as an LCD screen. What a bunch of ass$#@&s that did that. I would also love to have the Munster Mobile, Dragula, The Red Baron, The Paddy Wagon and nearly any Tom Daniels designed car.