1966 Barris Batmobile and assorted die cast toys
By Mr. Stinkhead

The sweetest car on earth is the Batmobile from the 1966 Batman television show. (Same show that my batphone is from). Anyway, a few weeks ago, Jager and I hit a comic convention north of Baltimore to see Adam West, star of said tv show, and as an added bonus, a reproduction car based on the infamous street demon. THIS is the batmobile. I have yet to accept the upcoming Batman movie's off-roadin' SUV into the hallowed bat garage in my heart. If you want to fight crime in the streets of Gotham, you use this puppy here.

I was allowed to take some pictures, so I snagged a couple so you can see the beauty that is a George Barris Batmobile up close. Barris is the legendary car customizer that was asked to provide the signature car for the show in the 60s. Using his talent and a Ford Futura, he produced what is now considered the most famous car in the world.

Special thanks to Dennis Stines, owner of this particular Batmobile, for allowing us to take and use these pictures. That being said, please do not use these images on your web site or any other application with out contacting me directly.

I have always dreamed of owning my own Batmobile. Once on a message board, someone posted a picture of their reproduction Batmobile hanging out in their garage. This sight was beautiful to me. I've seen pics of the Batmobile on TV, and at conventions like this, but here it was domesticated, next to the weed whacker and the cleaning agents. This was someone's baby. And it was awe inspiring, to me at least.

So I did some research and found that anyone can get their own running Batmobile, with a little bit of money (start saving now... we're talking $20,000 plus). There are several custom auto body shops that can hook you up, MarkTowle.com does all kinds of custom jobbies. (Need a Speed Racer Mach 5?) If you don't have room for a full blown Batmobile, like myself, then you can get their custom Batcouch! that looks like the front end of the Batmobile, with the "hood" open and a comfy seat. Sweet!

$20,000 for a car doesn't seem to be a huge chunk of money, but remember, you're not buying a car for $20,000, you're buying a toy for $20,000. You can't take this thing to work, no roof... this is pretty much for showing off. Hey future kids! Guess who's not going to college without a summer job?! Woo hoo!

Model Batmobiles
That's all well and good Mr. Stinkhead, but I can't afford a big Batmobile like that. Don't worry, I can't yet either. But you can get models that look like that Batmobile. Well let me clarify that there is no officially licensed model exactly resembling the George Barris automobile. Licensing issues are tying that up. However the Barris-mobile was based on the comic book's Batmobile at the time, and toys are available resembling that Batmobile.

The one available right now, for $6 is the Corgi die cast Batmobile. There are several available in this series, but they're popping up in Toys R Us (and Wal*Mart, but we're not supporting them whilst our hobby is in jeopardy) and you can usually find this one. The car looks good inside and out of the packaging, and features some great detail. Batman himself is behind the wheel, and there is an embossed comic book style illustration of the Caped Crusader on the underside of the car. For $6, this is pretty good. It's between 3.5-4" long and made of sturdy die cast metal. Another nice feature is a pop-out chain cutter when you press down on the siren!

At the 2003 Toy Fair, the Johnny Lightening exclusive was a special edition of their mini 1960's era comic book Batmobile. I have been looking for this in stores ever since, but with no luck. And there's no way I'm opening this puppy. As you can see, it comes with a little bitty bat screw driver to assemble the small car. I'd love to do this, but this is the special Toy Fair edition. See! It says Toy Fair right on the door.

Well as you can tell by my rampant typing, thinking about this classic beauty gets me all excited. I have to wash my hands now, but hopefully this little gallery was enlightening. Atomic batteries to power... turbines to speed

Some Batmobile related sites to check out:

• The Batman Batmobile—for the upcoming animated show
  


• Mini-Batmobile—review of the C3 Minimate building set
  


• 1966Batmobile.com—original Batmobile site
  


• Chris Longo custom made models. Incredible detail
  


• MarkTowle.com—get your own custom Batmobile (other customs available too!)
  


• Batcouch!— for when you don't have room for entire Batmobile
  


• Barris.com— home of the king customizer himself
  


• 1966 Batman—message board I hang out at.
  
• More Batman Stuff! including my Batphone, Batman toy reviews and loads more links of cool batsites.

Check out all of our Batman Coverage going on now, and for more info about this line of toys, check out Kids WB's official web site for The Batman. And if you like die cast cars, check out our die cast car coverage.

All images and article ©2004 MillionairePlayboy.com