Iconic Cars- Batmobile

The latest in our Iconic Cars series takes a slightly apprehensive peer behind a waterfall, into a dark cave, around about dusk…

There are a few series or franchises- a very few- that buck the odds and manage to transcend eras and thus fashions. 007 is one of them, but another is The Batman and with Batman, as with Bond, comes a newly designed Batmobile, moving with the ages.

So iconic are the Batmobile designs, that they have even spawned a whole subculture of obsessed fans who collect models and read a published magazine devoted solely to the discussing, dissection and buying of said Batmobile models.

Holy Cow.

Batman first arrived in 1937 and at the time he drove beefed up versions of standard cars. Its first incarnation was based on a car called the Cord 812 and bright red in colour, with a supercharged 185HP V8 engine. How things have changed. The term Batmobile didn’t surface until it was coined by Bill Finger in 1941 and Jerry Robinson drew the original designs that would become the template for the first bonafide Batmobile... embodying force, power mystery and looking unlike anything else on the road at the time.

This more radical design needed to take a back seat however for the early TV series, as there simply wasn’t the budget or indeed know how to create what an artist could come up with, so the first TV version in 1943 was a 1939 Cadillac.

There followed a great many design changes, through the work of Dick Sprang, amongst others, retaining the brutish looks and with the Batmask now a frontal design encompassing hood and radiator rather than just hood ornament, but I shall focus on the screen appearances, or we’ll be here all day and truly disappear down a geek wormhole, as there were countless variants through the long-running comic book, the TV series AND the animated TV series that are too numerous to cover and you’ve got better things to do. 

The 1949 series used a Maroon Mercury convertible and, as with the earlier ’39 Cadillac, distinguished who was driving by use of the hood: hood down- Bruce Wayne driving, hood up (incognito)- Batman driving.

This was followed by a 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car and this for many stands as the first iconic model, with its gloss black finish with red detailing, exaggerated rear fins and hooded lights, customized by Bill Schmidt, Doug Poole Sr and John Najjar, it truly is a classic.

Between 1966 and ’68 the old 1955 Lincoln Futura was again used, despite efforts to redesign and upgrade, which failed for various reasons and the audiences were happy enough. Practically though, it proved a nightmare, unable to function with any reliability as it was, due to its age.

To compensate however, it did have the Bat Beam, Emergency Bat-turn Lever, Mobile Bat Computer, Bat Smoke Screen, Bat-ram, Voice-Control Batmobile Relay Unit, Bat Photoscope, (immortal) Batphone, and a Mobile Tracking Scope amongst other things to compensate for the flat battery and frequent blowouts…

Tim Burton’s incarnation of Batman in 1989, went back to the drawing board and indeed the original comic designs to come up with a jet-powered racing version by Anton Furst, built on a Chevy Impala chassis, with a top speed of 330mph. Hell- it was the Eighties.

In terms of ‘extras’, it had bombs, Browning Machine Guns, a grappling hook that by gripping buildings, helped it take sharp corners at speed, Smoke Emitters, Batdisks (think Ninja stars), self-diagnostics, Shin-breakers, Oil Slick Dispensers, a Voice Command Recognition System, and quite extraordinary shield and defence systems including bulletproof, fireproof steel-armour plating. It was also powered by a military Boeing turboshaft. ‘Nuff said.

Joel Schumacher’s later Batman Forever updated the Burton designed car with some fetching cock-lights and also upgraded the grapple hooks strength and ability, enabling the car to travel vertically up walls. It was powered by a Chevy 350 ZZ3 lump.

Batman and Robin brought another spin to this design with more lights and the fins extended to look like wings, but the next total makeover came with Christopher Nolan taking the franchise helm. With him came a comprehensive reappraisal of the vehicle, which drew alot of inspiration from Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, drawing a great deal of inspiration from the comic original in terms of content, look and a dive into the dark side, rather than the comical aspects of the Bat story. And this included the car.

The film’s production designer describes the design to be something of a cross between a Lambo and a tank. Accordingly, it’s a much more functional, urban, muscular contraption, a million miles away from supercar sleek, fey or luxury, aiming more at riot control. Four designs were made, plus a one-third sized model, to achieve all Nolan needed for the filming. Called the Tumbler, it encased a Batpod, which became a supercharged Batbike. Nice.

Weighing in at 2.3 tonnes, it utilised a 5.7litre V8 with a conservative 500HP, however, it retained the use of a propane jet engine in times of need. It also had an ‘attack mode’, where the driver was repositioned into the centre of the car, in prone position. Other add-ons include alot more safety features than previous incarnations: auto-cannons, rocket-launcher, landing hook, integrated fire extinguisher, safety connection to fuel control, stealth mode, obligatory heavy armour, missile launchers, artillery cannon turret, and explosive ‘Caltrops’ that took out vehicles at will. Yeah. Caltrops. 

Interestingly though, it’s never actually called a Batmobile in the series, merely a Tumbler.

But it’s the huge influence of Batman and the Batmobile that spawned so many copycats over the decades. This one is the original. Long may it continue.

To the Batmobile!