HOW I GOT A BATMOBILE: CHAPTER ONE - I GOT BITTEN!
From the moment I sat in the Batmobile that day, the urge to own my own Batmobile started to grow. This is where the story began, when I first sat behind the wheel and whispered... "Atomic batteries to power, turbines to speed!"
THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY! Although the #5 car is WAY off on the details, it looked great to me that day, and I knew I needed to have one! At 26, I didn't have the cash for the #5 ($180,000) so I just enjoyed the moment, not realizing the long reaching impact sitting in a Batmobile for a few minutes would have on my future. Over the years I have never found out the truth about the #5 car. The story goes that someone was showing the car at a car show, and a fellow working for George Barris showed up with one of GB's copies of the Bat-car at the same show. The Patent was in effect, and they seized the car. The only problem with this story is that no one has ever claimed to have made the car, nor have I been able to find any legal evidence that this "seizure" took place. Perhaps GB bought the car, needing more cars to tour in the 60's and threatened with a lawsuit, the fellow sold, but it seems we will never know. Anyway, I am glad I didn't buy this car, it is the least accurate of the first 4 copies.
THE BAT-QUEST BEGINS! That day in 1988 I met the players: George Barris, customizer of the original Futura #1 car, and builder of #2-#4, Bob Butts, restorer of the #5 car and the first Batmobile Kit maker after the patent expired. Several years had to pass before I would get my own car, but I had met two of the men who, without their work, I could never have had my own Batmobile. GB had to Kustomize the first one from the Futura when I was only 3 or 4 years old, and Bob had to restore the #5 for me to rent and also do the work to make molds off of the original car. ( On a side note, A BIG bat fan was also with Bob that day, Clint Young! He took videos of the show and also made the cowl I wore that day!) Unfortunately my next encounter with a Futura-Batmobile wouldn't be for several years. I guess the "virus" needed time to grow! So until I could get one of my own, I learned about the cars and their builders and started collecting photos in my spare time of the Batmobile and the Futura concept car that the original #1 batmobile was built on.