Man's replica Batmobile
Chris Woodside, 46, of CIncinnati, Ohio is an insurance claims adjuster who owns perfect replica of the Batmobile from the 1966 Batman TV series. Today's Cincinnati Enquirer profiles Woodside, an eBay collector who has 3,000 vintage PEZ dispensers and was previously attempting to build a B9 "Danger, danger!" robot from Lost In Space. He attempted to build the Batmobile too, from a kit, but eventually outsourced the assembly. From the Enquirer (click image to see the full photo):
Batmobile replica (Cincinnati Enquirer, thanks Gil Kaufman!)The original Batmobile, created by George Barris, was made from a 1955 Lincoln Futura, a concept car that Ford never put into production. Woodside, a self-proclaimed "GM guy," decided his 19-foot-long replica would rest on the restored chassis of a 1976 Catalina station wagon.
As a claim rep with plenty of body shop contacts, he thought it would be easy to build a Batmobile.
It wasn't.
He shipped his body kit and chassis to a California builder, and frustrations mounted as the work dragged on for three years. Woodside finally took delivery in November 2005.
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Okay, I confess, that is freaking awesome!
Los In Space, of course, means "The (plural) in space".
Yeah - I spotted "Los In Space" too. Must be some kind of Spanglish thing...
I bet it's only cosmetically like the original -- probably doesn't have all the cool toys and fire-breathing turbo!
Type-o fixed. Thanks.
Huntsu (@#4), My friend who sent me the link said the print edition showed another photo with it spitting fire out the back!
Huh. I read long ago that the Batmobile was a GTO, like the Monkeemobile.
If you read the article, it specifically says that it has the flame-spitting turbo.
so where is a photo of the whole car?
#5 and #7 -- that's awesome. I hope it actually works!
a friend of mine in Atlanta owns a replica from the same builder...
its built on a 1980 corvette frame...and its AWSOME.
last year it had a bit of a fender bender with the parking brake slipped and it rolled back down a driveway into an exact replica of Herbie the Love Bug (of all things)...that prompted a cross country drive back to the maker in California for repairs to the body.
http://www.batlantacrimecruiser.com/id5.html
Now he just needs the costume.
Los in Space is actually shorthand for "Los Hermanos from El Outer Space."
Shoes - for industry!
A local restaurant owner recently bought the rotting husk of a replica, but I don't think he'll ever shell out for a fitting restoration. It's really just a curiosity piece parked outside the business.
but does he have an subterranean indoor turntable parking garage?
#12 posted by eustace:
"Shoes - for industry!"
What? The only place I ever saw that was McGill University, 1967.
Any connection?
ah yes... and so the hype starts ramping up...
shoes for fun!
Russ Martin, a Dallas radio personality, has Batmobile replicas and a Mach 5 replica, a General Lee replica, and a Starsky & Hutch Grand Torino.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russ_Martin
Shoes for Industry is an old Firesign Theater catchphrase - my way of giving a clue to anyone looking for the Los Hermanos etc. reference (from a postapocalyptic nightclub sketch of theirs).
I know that the Volo Auto Museum nearby has a Batmobile.
I thought they said it was THE Batmobile but I'll bet it's another copy. They don't seem to talk much about it (or at all) on the web site.
14 - a house near me was recently built on a very premium but very small and weirdly positioned lot, and they did indeed have a turntable built into the garage beneath the house. The company that put it in was specifically dedicated to this. The name was something like X Autmototive Turntable Company, so presumably there are others out there.
I stumbled across a Batmobile on teh way to have a smoke at work one day. I worked for GM/OnStar. They had an ad campaign around 2000/2001 involving Batman. I still have the comic and mousepad they passed out.
Anyway, one day I took a shortcut through the garage to the smoking area and there was this ENORMOUS flat black car. I got to inspect it pretty closely. It was very different from the TV car. This was for one of the modern movies. It was a rolling chassis sans running gear that they had brought in for a promo event. Huge Mickey Thompson slicks and all kinds of badass hardware. I wish I'd had a camera but they were forbidden in that building.
Eustace, I'll be damned. I suppose the date is about right. I left KPFK in '65, went to Canada, and saw the 'shoes' thing during Expo '67. A coincidence is that the radio spot my partner and I had at the station was filled by Bergman, Ossman et al, as 'Return To Oz, where they soon evolved into 'Firesign.' I obviously missed their 'shoes' bit. I attributed it to a goofy minor English noble who was stamp-padding it all over the campus that winter. As you can gather, I was never a big 'Firesign' fan. Thanks for the info.
there's a cat in sarasota with a pretty fair fire-shooting replica of the batmobile. every halloween he hits the blues bars, righting wrongs and keeping the sleepy beachside community safe for katherine harris. sorry, off topic. anywho, WE ARE ALL BOZOS ON THIS BUS!
Everything you Know is WRONG? (with Gas Music from Jupiter)
well, I'll be:
REAL 'GAS MUSIC' FROM JUPITER!
In "Everything You Know Is Wrong," the Firesign Theatre's Happy Harry Cox offered a recording of "Gas Music from Jupiter."
And guess what - 25 years later it really IS available!
NASA's Cassini spacecraft, approaching Jupiter, has detected low radio frequency waves in the thin gas of charged particles near the immense planet which have been converted to sound waves; and a brief audio clip is available at:
NORES (@21), Did someone say car turntable? Or better yet, car elevator?
How about some decent images?
Is it just me or when I read that someone has restored a BAtmobile I am never interested ion the guy who had nothing to do with the thing other than paying for it.
He farmed out all the work to proffessionals.
I'd prefer to see the guys who did the work..
There's also a Batmobile at a fireworks stand in Houston, Alaska. It's been there since the 80s.
This article cries out for more pictures.
I live in Cincinnati and saw this while looking for a restaurant a few weeks ago. Looked pretty good at a glace.
This guy is lame because he can't follow directions. Good concept, bad follow through. I wish I had that kind of scratch because I have the skills. Sorry, I'm surly today; and obviously surly only looks out for surly.
Hello all,
I'm Chris who owns the Bat.
Where can I send a great photo of the car?
Any questions? Fire away!
Thanks for all the comments as they are a good read.
As for the "who built it" part, Fiberglass Freaks in Indiana did the real magic. Check 'em out sometime :)