[Movies] Man Buys Original Batmobile For $4.2 Million
Posted by Joseph Lee on 01.21.2013
At an auction...
BBC reports that the Batmobile driven by Adam West in the 1960s TV show Batman has been sold for $4.2 million at an auction. The man who bought it was Rick Champagne, a logistics company owner from Phoenix, Arizona.
He was ten years old when the series started in 1966 (and is 56 now). He said the purchase was "was a dream come true".
The design was based on a 1955 Lincoln Futura, a concept car from Italy built by Ford. This was the first time the car had been up for sale since it was bought in 1965 by car-customizer George Barris for $1. Barris then spent $15,000 to turn it into Batman's car over fifteen days. It had a V-8 engine, one of the first in-car phones, and parachutes that were used to help Batman turn sharp corners.
Barris said: "The car had to be a star on its own. And it became one."
After the show was canceled in 1968, he toured the Batmobile and it was eventually placed in a private showroom in California.
Adam West played Batman in 120 episodes in four years, with Burt Ward as Robin and Cesar Romero as The Joker. The show was campy, far different from recent versions in which Batman is played darker.
