Batmobile | Mind Your Language

Holy car auction Batman! Original Batmobile for sale – Nov. 29, 2012

December 1, 2012 exitlanguages Leave a comment

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The Batmobile used in the 1960s Batman TV series is expected to go up for auction in January, the Barrett Jackson auto auction house said Thursday.

The car could sell for millions, said Craig Jackson, chief executive of the auction firm.

Some particularly iconic TV and movie cars have gone for very high prices. For example, a highly modified 1964 Aston Martin DB5 used in James Bond films sold for $4.6 million in 2010.

But Hollywood cars don’t always command such high prices. Often there are multiple versions created for different types of shots and for promotional use, making it hard to to say that one car is definitively “the car.”

Unlike most TV show cars, the Batmobile really is a singular creation. While there have been many imitations, this really is the only original.

The Batmobile started life as the Ford Motor Co (F, Fortune 500).’s 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car which, itself, was based on a Lincoln Mark II. Besides its pearl white paint job, the Futura actually looked very much like the Batmobile it would become over a decade later.

Famed car customizer George Barris — also known for creating the Munster Koach for the The Munsters and the Beverly Hillbillies‘ car — was tasked with creating the Batmobile in 1966. With a tight deadline, he decided that modifying the Futura, rather than starting from scratch, was the way to go.

On television, the Batmobile’s technology allowed it to shoot flames, squirt oil and shoot tire slashers, but the car is not actually designed to do any of that.