RICH IS: Buying The Original 1960's Batmobile For A Whopping $4.2 Million
Fancy the original Batmobile sitting in your garage? Photo: AP
This is the original Batmobile from the TV series - not a replica. Built by George Barris, it was sold in 2013 for $4.2 million.
This Batmobile has an interesting history...
How the Batmobile developed. Source: 1966 Batmobile
In 1955, the Lincoln division of Ford Motor Company designed and built a futuristic concept car called the Lincoln Futura. It was built entirely by hand in Turin, Italy at a cost of $250,000, and like many concept cars, was never put in to production.
In the mid 1960's, George Barris of Barris Kustom City acquired the car for $1 directly from Ford.
Fast forward to August 1965, the Batman TV show producers approached George to have him build a new Batmobile for their upcoming show. In October of 1965, the Batmobile was completed and delivered to Fox where it made its television debut on January 12, 1966.
A Batmobile at the South Pasadena Police Show in 2010.
The car was such a huge success that George Barris and the producers of Batman decided to build copies of the Batmobile in late 1966. Barris and his crew pulled a mold from the #1 Batmobile and created 3 fiberglass copies.
These replicas were displayed at car shows and dragstrips and also made appearances where countless fans could see them.