Original Batmobile #1 sells for 4.2 million

[hazelnut]

Was watching the BJ auction tonight to see the batmobile go accross and was suprised at what it sold for. Im also suprised at the cars that i use to hammer on are selling for now to, If i only knew what i had back then

[michael69]

You beat me to it. I was getting ready to post this

[BobbyFord]

Yeah. Barrett-Jackson sucks. Proof that fools and their money are soon separated.

[VernF110]

I couldn't believe that car went for over 4 million,I thought George Barris was going to pass out.

[BobbyFord]

My dad's shop was at Riverside & Cahuenga, Barris Customs was down the street on Riverside Drive. I used to go down and look at all of the cars. The Batmobile was fuzzy; the exterior was sort of like velvet.
My dad painted Charlies' black Camaro with about a zillion coats of black laquer and when George saw the car, he offered my dad a job painting cars (my dad was making way more money than George offered him.)
I was trying to find a pic of my dad's Facel Vega, he painted it around the same time he painted Charlies camaro. The Facel was painted Amelia Amelia red laquer. Can't seem to find the pics, I originally TIG scanned them from some old 110 negatives that I found.

[basketcase0302]

BobbyFord on Sun Jan 20, 2013 2:24 am
My dad's shop was at Riverside & Cahuenga, Barris Customs was down the street on Riverside Drive. I used to go down and look at all of the cars. The Batmobile was fuzzy; the exterior was sort of like velvet.
My dad painted Charlies' black Camaro with about a zillion coats of black laquer and when George saw the car, he offered my dad a job painting cars (my dad was making way more money than George offered him.)
I was trying to find a pic of my dad's Facel Vega, he painted it around the same time he painted Charlies camaro. The Facel was painted Amelia Amelia red laquer. Can't seem to find the pics, I originally TIG scanned them from some old 110 negatives that I found.

I remember it all too well too Bobby. I laid my hands on it here in the early 70's at the World of Wheels show here in Chattanooga. Reached across the barricades to run my hand across the black velvet!
That is a lot of money...

[67 Camper Special]

Barrett and the like have been a bad thing for the hobby. Now everyones piece of junk is worth a fortune because 1/1000 of 1% sell at Barrett Jackson for some insane price to someone with more money than brains.

"I seen one just like mine here go for ****** at Barrett Jackson."

I just walk away.....

Larry

PS: The Batmobile was a piece of crap, no craftsmanship, just flash. I agree with Bobby, the winning bidder is a fool.

[jimmy828]

I think Rick Hendrick paid just as much for all the Vette's he bought last night. At least the vette's were a better deal.

[68 Ford Stepside]

For one reason or another, i've always wanted to stroll through the Jay Leno collection. I've heard it is massive. Also read somewhere Reggie Jackson has an impressive collection. As for seeing cool rides, was in 1962, I lived in Lakewood, California. The cars & rods were everywhere. I loved it.

[Calfdemon]

I went through Jay Leno's garages last summer and yeah, talk about a collection. He has probably about 200 different cars and at least that many motorcycles. And most of the stuff in there is rarer than rare. His "garages" are about 6 different warehouse buildings that are all connected and converted to his garage. It is completely set up like a museum with car related signs, art, and old pumps all over the place with all the cars. Completely clean inside and every car runs. Then he has another warehouse set up that is his shop with every piece of machinery that a car nut would die for. His auto compound takes up one side of an entire street alongside Burbank Airport, right along the side of a runway.

Its not open to the public and you can only get a tour with an invite. No pictures are allowed to be taken unfortunately, but if you ever have the chance, it is worth doing. It was another member here on Fordification that wrote to him and got an invite to tour his garages if/when he came to California. Well, he came to California and invited me to go with him. It was definintly a day to remember.

[hazelnut]

Heres a cool video showing the design studio of ford back in the 50s. About six minutes into it shows the building of the 55 ford futura concept car that the batmobile was built from.
It would be really a cool job spending 3-4 months to build a car from a clay model all colored and painted to look real and show it to the ford excutives. But would really suck when they didn't like it and a forklift came and destroyed your work and put it in a dumpster

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9v3lIN9EOY