The original Barris Batmobile is to go on sale at auction.
The caped crusader’s vintage ride was built in the 1960s to accompany ABC’s television series, one of the earlier live-action screen adaptations of the comic superhero.
The Batmobile has a V–8 engine, three speed automatic transmission and cost a hefty $250,000 to build.
However despite its extravagant expense, the car is far removed from iterations of recent years, which have more in common with state of the art military vehicles.
And it is not actually the first Batmobile ever built.
The first was made in 1960 by Forrest Robinson, using a 1956 Oldsmobile Rocket 88 chassis and handmade body.
The car was subsequently bought by DC Comics, and toured as the DC comic book Batmobile on the East coast of the United States. The name “Batmobile” was not used until Detective Comics #48 February 1941.
For those younger generations of Batman fans, brought up on Michael Keaton and Christian Bale who aren’t familiar with Batmobile Version 1.0.2, the car is jet black with a vivid bright red trim.
It is a modified 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car, which took it’s design inspiration from the anatomy of sharks, after chief stylist Bill Schmidt came up close with the species during a scuba diving experience.
As a result, the Futura’s original body had a full width grille, and extreme tail fins.
ABC recruited George Barris, a renowned car customiser, to create the Batmobile and impressively, he managed to do so within a very narrow time frame of weeks, due to production deadlines.
As you would expect, he reshaped the nose and tail around bat-inspired shapes, and also added a number of novel features such as a Batphone, Bat-Ray Projector and automatically inflating tires.
The car has been sold numerous times, but never for so cheaply as when George Barris himself snapped it up — a bargain price of $1.
The Batmobile sold for $4.2 million in 2013, but is expected to sell for in excess of $6 million this time around.
