George Barris had just 15 days to turn a decade-old Ford concept car into the Batmobile.
Holy, bidding war, Batman! The original Batmobile from the wildly popular ‘60s TV series, Batman, has nabbed a $4.2 million winning bid at the Barrett-Jackson Auction.
The 19-foot, bubble-topped 2-seater was designed by George Barris, a legendary Los Angeles customizer who says he wanted it to be “a star on its own,” along with the show’s Adam West and Burt Ward, who played Batman and Robin.
The Barrett-Jackson Auction is one of the country’s biggest for classic cars and with the economy in recovery, bidding was fierce at the annual event in Scottsdale, Arizona, a number of vehicles going for well above original estimates.
Phoenix entrepreneur Rick Champagne placed the winning $4.2 million bid for the one-of-a-kind Batmobile, and will pay another $420,000 in buyer premiums before driving it back home.
“I really liked Batman growing up and I came here with the intention of buying the car,” explained the 56-year-old Champagne,. “Sure enough, I was able to buy it. That was a dream come true.”
Black with red stripes, the Batmobile was based on the 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car. Barris, who had already created a number of unique vehicles for TV and film, purchased the show car from Ford for $1 but then spent another $15,000 customizing it for Batman, which ran on TV from 1966 to 1968.
He equipped it with a variety of weapons and special effects, including laser beams, oil slick and smoke generators and even twin parachutes to stop the car quickly for sudden turns.
“With every pow, bang, wow, wee, I wanted the car to do something just like the actors,” the 87-year-old Barris told Reuters. “The car had to be a star on its own. And it became one.”
Barris maintained ownership of the Batmobile and has kept it in his private museum in California. He finally decided it was time to sell.
(First C7 Corvette Stingray auctioned off at $1.1 million for charity. Click Here for more.)