Batman | superman Costumes

Originally in the comic books, Batman drove only a simple red automobile with nothing special in its functions. The car's design gradually evolved. It became a "specially built high-powed auto" by Detective #30, and in Batman #5 it began featuring an ever-larger bat hood emblem and an ever-darker paint job.Eventually, the predominant designs included a large, dark-colored body and bat-like accessories, including large tail-fins scalloped to resemble a bat's wings.

Although vehicles for the Batman films have been custom built for the purpose, perhaps the most famous Batmobile, the one from the 1966-1968 live action television show, began life as a Ford concept car called the Lincoln Futura, built over a decade earlier in 1955. The body of the Futura was fabricated by Ghia of Italy, whose artisans hammered the car's panels over logs and tree stumps carved as forms to create the sleek manta ray-like car. In 1959, the Futura was featured sporting a fresh red paint job in the film, "It Started With A Kiss", starring Debbie Reynolds and Glenn Ford. In 1965, ABC-TV chose famed Hollywood customizer George Barris to design a "Batmobile" for their soon-to-go-into production BATMAN show. With only three weeks, Barris decided that rather than build a car from scratch, it would be best to transform the Lincoln Futura (bought from Ford for $1.00) into the famous crimefighting vehicle of TV's caped crusader. Barris hired Bill Cushenberry to do the metal modifications to the car. When filming for the series began, several problems arose due to the age of the car: the steering rack snapped constantly, it overheated, the battery went dead, it had engine problems, and the expensive Mickey Thompson tires kept blowing. By mid season, the transmission and the chassis were replaced with a Ford Galaxie.

Barris built three fiberglass copies of the original Batmobile for exhibition on the car show circuit (one of which was used for exhibition drag racing). Eventually, the three copies were covered with a black velvet "fuzz" paint, presumably to hide stress cracks in the fiberglass bodies. Later, all three were restored to their gloss black paint job. The 3 replicas are all based on a 1965-1966 Ford Galaxie. Barris has retained ownership of the original TV car, which is currently on display at the Peterson Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, California. The three Barris copies all reside in private collections.

The 66 Batmobile was modified by george barris in three weeks from a

1955 Lincoln Futura Concept Car .

curb weight.....................................................................................................5500 lbs

length................................................................................................................206 inches.

wheelbase.......................................................................................................129 inches.

width..................................................................................................................84 inches.

height.................................................................................................................48 inches.

colour..................................................................................................................black.

highlight colour.................................................................................................3/4"Fluorescent Cerise

bullet proof fin length......................................................................................84 inches.

In the late summer of 1965, an all-new Batman TV series was gearing up, with George Barris hired to build a Batmobile for the show. When the show's production schedule was moved up, Barris had to pass on the job, which he then contracted to custom car builder Dean Jeffries. With merely three weeks to build the car, Barris decided to use the Ford Motor Company's abandoned Futura concept car as a basis for what would go on to become one of the most famous cars in the world.

The Futura worked perfectly as a Batmobile, as it had many "bat" features built into the design already, such as the long fins and bubble canopies. According to Barris, he further enhanced the theme by converting the nose into an integrated bat mask, a first for the car. He also opened the wheel wells, and modified the Futura's fins into subtle bat wings by extending their leading edges into the doors and scalloping the trailing edges. Once bodywork was complete, the car was painted gloss black with red trim to accentuate the various lines of he car. Three replicas were eventually built by Barris' shop, though only one appeared on the show itself.

The car featured an impressive array of bat-gadgets. In addition to the "atomic turbine engine" (the car was actually powered by a blueprinted Ford V8), the car had a nose-mounted chain slicer,rockets, lasers, an on-board batphone, radar, dash monitor, on-board computer, and police beacon. If needed, the Batmobile is capable of a quick 180° "bat-turn" thanks to two rear-mounted 10' parachutes, and the it is equipped with a smoke emitter and a nail spreader to discourage pursuit. Some changes were made during the run of the series, including different license plates, a change in steering wheel, and the addition of extra gadgets such as the rear-facing camera and battering ram not to mention the bat ray beams that emit from the front of the Batmobile and can disable a fleeing car by affecting the electrics of the getaway car thus bringing it to a dead stop.

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