Bat Mobile seen in St. Catharines, ON

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mr. fix it

Old Man with a Hat
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I went to a fund raiser Cruise night & what should show up but possibly one of the 3 fiberglass Bat mobiles...
It stole the show which is an oxymoron in itself since Batman & Robin fought crime.

I asked if it was 1 of the 3 original glass versions to which the driver responded that I should check the car out and decide for myself.
I right away mentioned it had the right width orange stripes on the car & he smiled and simply walked away.
If it wasn't then the creator sure did a good job of hand building this.
I know that replicars were made available.

That blacked out center arc pillar must be a bugger to see around driving around traffic.
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I'm no Batmobile expert, what stuck out to me as the first Impression was the rims look wrong. I'd bet on a replica as well, not bad though, but I liked the campy villains better anyways. ;)
 
cm23uoc said:
I'm no Batmobile expert, what stuck out to me as the first Impression was the rims look wrong. I'd bet on a replica as well, not bad though, but I liked the campy villains better anyways. ;)
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The original 1966 Batmobile, made from the Lincoln Futura concept car, used Rader single-rib 5-spoke wheels. These were replaced at some point, but were later replaced again with Radir tri-ribs, which are identical to these.
 
The Batmobile originally used the steering wheel from the Lincoln Futura concept it was made from, but it was later replaced with a a different steering wheel from a Ford. The original Futura chassis was replaced with one from a Ford Galaxie. The steering column and wheel was probably changed at the same time. The 3 fiberglass replicas were all made with identical looking Ford steering wheels.

The car pictured above appears to have a reproduction Futura steering wheel sold by Fiberglass Freaks. This is probably one of their cars, but I'm now certain it's not one of the Barris fiberglass clones of Batmobile #1.
 
My brother and I looked at a TV used bat mobile back in the 80’s. Dave Hoshaw had a ton of stuff in a Scottsdale Airport hanger for sale. Amongst all the stuff was the Dodge Diamonte at $65k (no way on earth LoL !!!), The Plymouth Duster 1 Roadrunner show car at $10k, it ran kinda... and the bat mobile at $10k. As teenagers we had $7500 between us and couldn’t swing the Plymouth. The bat mobile was a POS it had no interior just boat seats? And a wooden floor. It was the stunt car and not the close up car. It also had a fuzzy paint job. Like a flocked toy really weird. I guess so it shined but didn’t reflect back any images to the camera. Guess what I’m saying is if it’s super nice it’s probably not a TV car as that one’s in some psycho’s game room. Sure wish Dad woulda lent us the extra scratch...
 
mr. fix it said:
I went to a fund raiser Cruise night & what should show up but possibly one of the 3 fiberglass Bat mobiles...
It stole the show which is an oxymoron in itself since Batman & Robin fought crime.

I asked if it was 1 of the 3 original glass versions to which the driver responded that I should check the car out and decide for myself.
I right away mentioned it had the right width orange stripes on the car & he smiled and simply walked away.
If it wasn't then the creator sure did a good job of hand building this.
I know that replicars were made available.

That blacked out center arc pillar must be a bugger to see around driving around traffic.
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Hello, I'd like to clarify something that Mr Fix It mentioned in his original post. I am the owner of the car and it definitely wasn't me who he was speaking with. I have never insinuated that this car is anything but a replica, and am extremely forth coming with the fact that is just that. So, I apologize to Mr Fix It if someone made you "guess" if it was an original, but that certainly wasn't me. First, this isn't a Fiberglass Freaks build. The car was mostly built on the west coast of Canada over 4 years, but after being extremely disappointed with the workmanship and condition that it was delivered in, it then spent another 18 months being finished just outside of Toronto. We tried to be as true to the original as we could (yes, those are the correct Radir rims :)). I didn't want a "trailer Queen" as I enjoy driving it as much as I can, and let people enjoy it. Sure, there's a few things that could be better or more accurate, but given the challenges of finding correct parts, and having them withstand the unforgiving wear and tear of a daily driver, I'm pretty happy overall with the way it turned out and looks now. A few things that I still plan to do is paint (probably one of the worse paint jobs on Earth!) and a few others fixes here and there to some of the workmanship issues and functionality aspects which we're continually working on. Overall, I'm happy with it and hope people can enjoy it and that it brings back some good memories of a childhood of running around the house with a towel tied around their neck!
 
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Agoodwin522 said:
Hello, I'd like to clarify something that Mr Fix It mentioned in his original post. I am the owner of the car and it definitely wasn't me who he was speaking with. I have never insinuated that this car is anything but a replica, and am extremely forth coming with the fact that is just that. So, I apologize to Mr Fix It if someone made you "guess" if it was an original, but that certainly wasn't me. First, this isn't a Fiberglass Freaks build. The car was mostly built on the west coast of Canada over 4 years, but after being extremely disappointed with the workmanship and condition that it was delivered in, it then spent another 18 months being finished just outside of Toronto. We tried to be as true to the original as we could (yes, those are the correct Radir rims :)). I didn't want a "trailer Queen" as I enjoy driving it as much as I can, and let people enjoy it. Sure, there's a few things that could be better or more accurate, but given the challenges of finding correct parts, and having them withstand the unforgiving wear and tear of a daily driver, I'm pretty happy overall with the way it turned out and looks now. A few things that I still plan to do is paint (probably one of the worse paint jobs on Earth!) and a few others fixes here and there to some of the workmanship issues and functionality aspects which we're continually working on. Overall, I'm happy with it and hope people can enjoy it and that it brings back some good memories of a childhood of running around the house with a towel tied around their neck!
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Very cool back story. Too bad I didn't get a chance to talk with you. It's a smaller world than we realize.

I'm no expert myself in what the bat mobile should or shouldn't have.
It certainly generated a lot of talk among the on lookers at the cruise in.
I only thing I was certain of was it was based off the Futura and even this created some discussion .

I knew that I wasn't chatting with the owner even though I did glance around to see if he was nearby
One person commented that the doors should have been sealed(not able to open) shut but as soon as I googled the original car they went silent LOL!

Everyone was impressed with the car & in my opinion stole the show as soon as it rolled into the parking lot:thumbsup:

I did mistakenly comment that I spoke with the owner but after reviewing the pictures I now know that the person i asked wasn't the owner(obvious to me now) but the guy I spoke with about the car didn't correct me in my assumption that he was the driver/owner! I feel stupid & I bet the other guy never thought I would find out either but here it is in the full sunshine of BS.
I apologize for my previous comment about speaking with the owner.
I was duped by the Joker pretending to be associated with the car I should have been tipped off when he emitted his maniacal laughter when I asked about he originality of the car LOL!:lol:
 
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BTW, I'm leaving my original comment as is so readers can understand the comments above.
 
mr. fix it said:
Very cool back story. Too bad I didn't get a chance to talk with you. It's a smaller world than we realize.

I'm no expert myself in what the bat mobile should or shouldn't have.
It certainly generated a lot of talk among the on lookers at the cruise in.
I only thing I was certain of was it was based off the Futura and even this created some discussion .

I knew that I wasn't chatting with the owner even though I did glance around to see if he was nearby
One person commented that the doors should have been sealed(not able to open) shut but as soon as I googled the original car they went silent LOL!

Everyone was impressed with the car & in my opinion stole the show as soon as it rolled into the parking lot:thumbsup:

I did mistakenly comment that I spoke with the owner but after reviewing the pictures I now know that the person i asked wasn't the owner(obvious to me now) but the guy I spoke with about the car didn't correct me in my assumption that he was the driver/owner! I feel stupid & I bet the other guy never thought I would find out either but here it is in the full sunshine of BS.
I apologize for my previous comment about speaking with the owner.
I was duped by the Joker pretending to be associated with the car I should have been tipped off when he emitted his maniacal laughter when I asked about he originality of the car LOL!:lol:
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Thanks Mr Fix It! No need to apologize, I totally understand! I just wanted to clarify, as you would be amazed how many people pass off their replica as an original, and I certainly don't want to be one of those guys! Glad you liked the car - and feel free to reach out anytime.
 
Agoodwin522 said:
Thanks Mr Fix It! No need to apologize, I totally understand! I just wanted to clarify, as you would be amazed how many people pass off their replica as an original, and I certainly don't want to be one of those guys! Glad you liked the car - and feel free to reach out anytime.
Click to expand...

I read what came after posting my 2 cents and like Mr Fix it I googled it to see why on earth it was fuzzy. They don’t really know. Funny thing is and keep in mind this was way back in the 80’s I could’ve sworn the doors didn’t open. Who knows ??? still love the car. We have one out here in Santa Clarita that shows up at the burger joint every now and again. Everybody loves seeing it. Great car even greater that you’re driving it !
 
Agoodwin522 said:
Thanks Mr Fix It! No need to apologize, I totally understand! I just wanted to clarify, as you would be amazed how many people pass off their replica as an original, and I certainly don't want to be one of those guys! Glad you liked the car - and feel free to reach out anytime.
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Thanks for joining the forum @Agoodwin522 . I'm sure we'd all be interested to hear more about your Batmobile if you'd like to share the details. :) e.g. Why you decided to build a Batmobile replica. The original build, how it wound up in Toronto. When was it finished? What car is it mechanically based on? What car shows do you take it to?

Cheers
 
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