Original 1966 Television Car "Batmobile" Started With a Kiss

Original 1966 Television Car "Batmobile" Started With a Kiss

A concept cars' second chance at fame really took off from having the blues, to going in the red, then re-emerging far into the black:

excerpt:

Whereas most tv cars exist in multiple versions (such as the Monkee Mobile, see: http://chadglass.blogspot.com/2012/03/cult-of-tacky-perfectly-good-gtos.html), George Barris' onscreen Batmobile is an originally fully-working custom one-off 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car with a cosmetically (but pivotally historical) reworked body.

Originally hand-built for $250,000 in 1954 by Ghia Body Works in Turin, Italy, for unveiling at the 1955 Detroit Auto Show, Barris was challenged to transform the blue-white pearlescent bespoke Lincoln in only three weeks to meet the looming deadline for its Batman television debut. In other words, there is only one true original 1966 Batmobile, with the following 4 tv cars built being only replicas.

With such staggeringly short turnaround time, Barris looked no further than his own prop yard to a rusting red form that once graced the silver screen with Glenn Ford and Debbie Reynolds in an entirely forgettable film entitled It Started With a Kiss, from 1959. Repainted gloss red for the movie, ownership of the Lincoln was later transferred to Barris where he kept it at his shop, Barris Kustom Industries, in North Hollywood, California. He has been the owner of the car ever since: http://northhollywood.patch.com/listings/barris-kustom-industries#video-5462150

Languishing neglected for over ten years after the Kiss, the fate of this machine would go down in history as, perhaps, the most famous car of all time...

http://chadglass.blogspot.com/2013/01/original-1966-television-car-batmobile.html#.UOtvkY69rvo
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update:

Original Batmobile sells for $4.6 million at Barrett-Jackson

Read more: Original Batmobile sells for $4.6 million at Barrett-Jackson - Autoweek

Chad Glass: Original 1966 Television Car "Batmobile" Started With a Kiss