Holy Embarrassment!

Say it ain't so! The Batmobile gets a ticket?

Yes, in 1997, the venerable Batmobile, motorized star of the 1960's TV series was cited in
Wyoming for not being street legal. It seems the Dark Knight overlooked a minor consideration
when lavishing all that money from the Wayne Foundation on his famous crime-fighting
car...rear-view mirrors.

Can the Caped Crusader ever show his mask in public again? Is this the work of the Joker?
Actually, it was the work of the Kustomizer...George Barris to be precise. Mr. Barris is perhaps
Hollywood's most famous custom car designer, maker of the Monkeemobile GTO, the Munster
Koach, the Beverly Hillbillies' truck, the Love Bug, K.I.T.T.--even the psychedelic Bugaloos' TV
Tub.

In fact, the original Batmobile started life as celebrity in its own right, as a $250,000 concept
car--the 1955 Lincoln Futura. It made the rounds of car shows from 1955-1959, whereupon it
was retired from the car show circuit, but not without fanfare. It was painted red and appeared in
the Debbie Reynolds/Glenn Ford film, "It Started with a Kiss." It even appeared (well, partially)
on the cover of Life Magazine with Miss Reynolds on March 30, 1959.

Unfortunately, by 1959 car styles were changing. The Futura was all fins, and fins were
disappearing. Ford's show car was forgotten until the mid 1960s, when 20th Century Fox called
upon Mr. Barris to design a crime-fighter special for the Batman TV series in just 3 weeks. As it
turned out, 20th Century Fox owed money to Mr. Barris and Ford considered the Futura
worthless, so a deal was struck and he picked up the quarter-million dollar concept car for
$1.00. How the mighty had fallen.

But what a difference 3 weeks made. Some body work, a new paint job, and a 427 Ford
engine with a nitro injector later (not to mention more than a few built-in accessories), and
Batmobile #1 was born. According to Barris, it drove and rode pretty well. Of course, it did have
its drawbacks. For one thing, with all its accessories, it weighed in at around 3 tons and had a
tendency to blow tires. And of course, at that weight, it wasn't exactly fuel efficient. But who
cared? It was the '60s. Gas was cheap. Besides, the Dynamic Duo couldn't be expected battle
arch-villains in some plain vanilla econo-box. The Kustomizer? On second thought, maybe he
should be called The Recycler.

Eventually, Barris made several copies as backup cars for the series. Those you'll see at
various car shows and museums around the country. But Batmobile #1 is George Barris' baby.
He has been known to take it for a spin every now and then around Burbank...street legal or
not.

Acknowledgments: 10, 11, 64, 65