WITH reference to the Advertiser's article on November 19 regarding Santa and the Batmobile, I thought you may be interested in the following information:
Mr Skywalker mentioned that he throught the car was based on a Cadillac.
The original Batmobile was in fact based around the styling of a concept car called the Lincoln Futura.
It was designed by a man called Bill Schmidt in 1955, who worked for Lincoln-Mercury (a division of Ford Motors Group) in Detroit.
This car was modelled in plaster and then shipped to Italy where a company called Ghia made the car in metal before shipping it back.
The Futura was then used on the car show circuit as a styling exercise for a short while.
Then unwanted by Lincoln, the car ended up in the hands of a Hollywood professional car customiser called George Barris (creator of other TV cars such as the Munsters coach, Pink Panther car and the Ghostbusters ambulance).
The car sat untouched until 1965, when Mr Barris was commissioned by 20th Century Fox to build a car for an upcoming TV show called Batman.
George Barris was only given three weeks to build the car, so modified the unused Futura sat out the back of his lot rather than build a car from scratch.
Only the original Batmobile was ever used in the series, but owing to the success of the show, three replicas were commissioned for promotional work.
These were made in fibreglass, using moulds taken from the original. These are the only four cars ever officially made.
All cars are in private ownership, with George Barris still owning the original.
CRAIG PRESTON
Shenton Close
Swindon
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