Originally published at: The 1989 Batmobile is now on sale | Boing Boing
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Wow, the price of used cars has really gone up.
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Following its appearance in the two classic films, the car would end up at New Jersey’s Six Flags where it was used as a prop for the Batman Returns roller coaster before being purchased by an avid movie car collector who now lists the historic vehicle to the public for the very first time.
While not used in ANY of the Batman movies and not street legal, its popularity stems from the Six Flags Batman Stunt Show.
So, which is it? Not that I have $1.5M to spend either way, but I definitely wouldn’t spend it on an amusement park prop that isn’t actually the car from the movies.
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Could be it was seen but not driven in the film. They build like 5 versions sometimes for different shots.
Edit: seems clear this wasn’t in the movies
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I want either the original 60’s Batmobile, or Nolan’s Tumbler … everything else is meh.
Also… how many molds exist for these vehicles? How many Mad Max V8’s are out there?
It’s like the Big Foot monster truck… funny how they have like 8 or 10 touring the various circuits … but the one being sold is THE Big Foot.
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McLynn’s 20-foot-long Batmobile cost $60,000 and was custom-built on an extended Chevrolet Impala wheelbase by Hollywood Productions, the company that made the movie’s Batmobiles. The company provided a plaque for McLynn’s Batmobile attesting that it was a replica.
McLynn couldn’t afford the Batmobile’s estimated $10,000 insurance premium. He had to pay tax on the car, too, and that got him an audit by the IRS.
At first McLynn took numerous people to see the vehicle. But that stopped, too. His girlfriend of the past seven years didn’t see the car until the morning in July 2003 when the private Illinois collector he sold it to came to retrieve it.
“I sold it for not a lot of money, but enough to settle my taxes and get everything straightened out,” says McLynn, who wouldn’t specify the amount. All he has left from his Batmobile experience are photos (to be displayed at Metro Grill), memories and a futon he bought at a now-closed Shockoe Slip store.
He chuckles, “That futon’s been with me in Colorado, the Florida Keys; it’s a great futon.”
$60k to $1.5m for a replica car prop ain’t bad. McLynn had to trailer it from place to place.
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Not sure I’d enjoy driving the Tumbler but hell yes for the Adam West Batmobile. Especially if it was a really well-done replica rather than the original so that I wouldn’t have to feel guilty about putting wear-and-tear on a piece of history.
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Jay Leno took a test drive in the Tumbler once (the one that actually drives rather than the one used for interior shots or scenes with the opening canopy) and apparently it’s uncomfortably loud inside when it’s actually on the road. So I’d definitely go with the Adam West version.
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Don’t even bother.
I’ve already outbid the lot of you.
Gonna park it next to my cousin Sandra’s
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Then why would I want it? If I had $1.5 million to piss away on this kind of thing, I’m going to want to drive it places! May as well stick with my rebuild Ford Focus at this point.
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I has had only one careful owner.
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For that kind of money I could build my own.
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True, I kinda like that one.
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