Should anyone have any questions about the car, please feel free to contact me at : futurabat6543@yahoo.com
Welcome FuturaBat. Post an intro, considering you dredged up this old post; what's your story and connection to one of our favourite cars! I always heard Bill Schmidt was in the Bahamas and saw sharks and Manta Rays and was inspired by them along with their iridescence. Bill Mitchell was on the same trip and was inspired to pen the Mako shark Corvette later from these ideas. Ghia built the car in Italy but the design was Schmidt's ( Not "some guy") under the auspices of John Najjar.
I believe a company called RETRO 123 produced a 1/8th scale version of the Lincoln Futura in a limited quantity. I believe the cars in postings #4 and #19 are RETRO cars. I saw one at a model car show in Kirkwood MO a few years ago. I believe the price was $1,500. Marty Martino, who recently cloned the Pontiac Club De Mer in full size, also has produced some large scale Futura's models in fiberglass. I believe post #25 is one of his cars. Also quite expensive. He also produced a full scale fiberglass body of the Futura but no one has built one yet. Marty's original hand sculpted, full-size replica of the Futura (that the molds were taken from) was eventually sold and a Batmobile body was converted from a mold taken from it. The Batmobiles made by Fiberglass Freaks in Indiana came from Marty's sculpt.
Schmidt and Mitchell were actually vacationing together in the bahamas and yes, did some skin diving together. However although it makes for a nice story, the original inspiration for the car was the same as most other cars of the era, the jet age. They did see a manta and a Mako, however there was no real "encounter". Upon his return home, Mr. Schmidt was telling friends and co-workers about his trip and a desire to duplicate the irridescence of the sealife in the paint for the car. This is what spawned the story of the sealife being his inspiration. I began Modeling at the age of five in 1970. All I wanted for my birthday that year was the Aurora Batmobile. Alas my dad, who searched three states (God bless him) while driving truck, could never lay hands on one. Two years later we stayed at a hotel in Gettysburg that had a Corgi display in the lobby and sold them in the gift shop. Again dad tried to get me a Batmobile but they were out! Grrrr! These two instances spawned a lifelong obsession with this most famous of cars and my research began. For 38 years now I have been collecting information about the car and have uncovered many interesting facts as well as a few untruths about the car. Most of the untruths come from Barris himself who has told the same BS about the car (and other cars ) so many times he now believes it's the truth. I am currently writing a book about the car and all it's amazing history that I hope to have published before the 50th anniversary. It will cover the car throughout it's design and creation to it's history in "It started with a kiss" to Batman and beyond. I have interviewed the designer who created the interior for the car as well as key crew members from movies and shows it has appeared on. I just know this is going to sound sooooo arrogant, but at this point I can safely say I know more about the Batmobile than the man who built it! Ask me anything.
I had an old amusement park go kart based on the futura too. It was about 8 feet long with a gas engine.
Sign me up for a copy of that book! I've never seen any concept sketches for it, would love to if you have any.
My favorite Detroit Concept Car. Because of its design, but also because of its link to Ghia and other wild & beautifull coachbuilt cars that were created in Italy in that period. And maybe also because of its tragic history. What happened to the Norseman was terrible, but at least it wasn't hacked up to become a TV Show prop...
My miserly collection. The good the bad and the ugly... The one on the left is an original Husky with Batman on the bottom and working flame.
Wow, thanks, fascinating. I never thought of it as having any kind of aquatic influence (I always thought of it as a luxury spaceship), but the paint story is really neat. As is the part about shaping the panels with logs!
Regarding "It started with a kiss", I had opportunity to meet Debbie Reynolds a few years back and asked her about her time with the car. She told me that she absolutely loved it as far as being a "dreamy looking car". She went on to say that she wanted desperately to drive it just once. Good thing they didn't let her because mechanical problems started almost emmediately. The car had actually been driven very little in the four years it had existed but when it was driven it was driven fairly hard and had seen some test track time. What the car didn't have was any maintenance. The brakes were so grabby that the stunt driver continually missed his marks because the brakes would lock up as he was pulling up to his marks and of course the car would slide past it's mark. At one point the car slid past it's mark on the gravel and came within a foot of taking out the cameraman and the camera. During the ride through town (the scene where the crowd gathers around the car) it began to overheat as there was almost no water in the radiator and the oil was about two and a half quarts low. When the cameraman almost got obliterated the director threw his hands, and the script he was holding in the air and said "Somebody please take this hunk of %$#* outta here and don't bring it back till it works!" A few years ago TV land did a special called hollywood hot wheels in wich the Futura is seen getting said maintenance. Why they filmed this is beyond me, but i'm so glad they did!
anyone know what this sold for or if it sold and where it is today? I would love to see it. I just bought a Revell model of it, one I have never seen before and I have collected models all my life, just yesterday 02/04/2011 and it is a pre- assembled one and a very nice one in 1/25 scale.
Thanks and it is good to know that this car did get finished as it should have. I was also trying to buy the movie car called "The Car " used in the sifi movie. Bob Butt's from San Diego also had that one. I was not able to due to family health issues and just could not do it. Anyone know where this car ended up?
There's a guy in the next town that is remaking the batmobile and other tv / movie related cars. Check him out: batrodz.com I have yet to stop by there but will have to soon.
Maybe Futurabat or one of you knows... On that great 66Batmobile website it mentions about the replica built in Canada in the 60's and toured the car shows and it says George Barris "aquired" it later. Pictures show it looking pretty neglected. I asked George where he got that and he didn't get real talkative about it but said something like "Well you know, he was calling it the Batmobile and taking it to shows" I assume that means he sued the builder and won the car? Am I close? I saw a Batmobile on a trailer drive past while I was Duece Day in Victoria a couple years ago. Anybody here own that? I assume a replica, somebody was offering one for sale in local papers years ago.
This is one of my all-time favorite sound clips, it ranks up there with stuff from Animal House and The Blues Brothers...! Adam West: "To the Batmobile!... Let's go!" Sfx: Car doors slam shut Sfx: Batmobile energizing, turbine winding up Dick Ward: "Atomic batteries to power." Sfx: Turbo jet ignition Dick Ward: "Turbines to speed." Sfx: Jet turbine transmission engaging Adam West: "Clear. Ready to move out..." Sfx: Tire screech Cue theme music: "Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah....." Wanna hear it... http://www.rosswalker.co.uk/tv_sounds/sounds_files_20100522_6746301/batman/batmobile_x.wav
Not according to his late wife Shirley. She told me at the LA Auto Show back in the 90's that George had bought intended to make it into an even more radical custom.
The Jalopy Journal
