I am Luke Skywalker's brother and a Batman fan of over 20 years.
I write in reference to Mr Shenton's letter concerning Luke Skywalker's UK Original Batmobile and I would like to clear the subject up.
Dean Jeffries was originally commissioned to build the Batmobile in 1965 but the series was brought forward eight months.
George Barris of Barris Kustom Industries was then instructed to take over and due to the lack of time customised the original Futura. This metal Batmobile was known as No 1 and was the only one to have a complete finished interior, and it was used for all filming.
Michael Gale, of the original Barris Kustom team, now runs the Universal Coachworks company within Universal Studios and builds replicas of Batmobiles. They are roughly finished and it is then down to the buyer to breathe Batlife into them, adding all paintwork, Bat accessories, interior etc. None of these cars are official and there are believed to be eight of them at the moment, two of which are privately owned in England.
It was one of those two that was in the town centre on Sunday and if it weren't for these replicas and the hard work which goes into producing them, children across the world would never be able to see their favourite superhero in his Batmobile.
Luke put on a great show and made thousands of children's dreams come true. Who cares if it's original or not!
Matthew Kaye
Bessemer Road West, Swindon
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