This Batmobile was originally an 1956 Oldsmobile 88. courtesy Heritage Auctions
This Batmobile was originally an 1956 Oldsmobile 88.
The interior of the car was completely restored. courtesy Heritage Auctions
The interior of the car was completely restored.
The design of the roadster is meant to mimic the style of classic DC Comics' cars. courtesy Heritage Auctions
The design of the roadster is meant to mimic the style of classic DC Comics' cars.
The car's original engine has been completely rebuilt. courtesy Heritage Auctions
The car's original engine has been completely rebuilt.
Greased lightning! courtesy Heritage Auctions
Greased lightning!
This Batmobile made its debut at the Sacramento Autorama roadster show. courtesy Heritage Auctions
This Batmobile made its debut at the Sacramento Autorama roadster show.
What, you think there should be a different license plate on here? courtesy Heritage Auctions
What, you think there should be a different license plate on here?
Just as every generation has its own Batman (we’re Team Keaton, FWIW), every generation has its own Batmobile. Whether it looks like a Lincoln or a war machine, it’s still clearly the non-discreet hero whip of the Dark Knight. In 1963, that roadster was a tricked-out Oldsmobile 88 that toured the country promoting All Star Dairies’ Batman-themed ice cream.
“Batman’s Batmobile,” as local newspaper clippings referred to it, was created when All Star was an official DC Comics’ licensee, but the car went missing sometime after 1966. It had been returned to its original owner (All Star had merely rented it), who turned around and sold it for $200. It eventually wound up in a New Hampshire field, where it sat for decades before being discovered and excavated in 2008. (It looked like this when they found it.) The car—now completely restored—will go up for auction next month. Opening bid? $90,000.
“This is a great piece of lost pop culture and Americana,” Margaret Barrett, director of entertainment and music at Heritage Auctions, which is handling the auction, said in a statement. “After it was removed from the field, it went through a few owners before the most recent owner, Toy Car Exchange, put the car through a painstaking frame up restoration with the original engine and other original parts lovingly restored and rebuilt.”
Heritage expects the roadster to bring in a lot more than its opening bid—perhaps $500,000 or more—and it might be worth every penny: After acquiring the car, Toy Car Exchange took it to a shop in Sacramento that spent three years stripping it and restoring it. The final ride looks as slick, if not better, than the Batmobile from the 1966 Batman TV show—and definitely better than the Tumbler from the Christopher Nolan films. And if that isn’t worth the price of a new Lamborghini, we don’t know what is.
Check out the Batmobile in the gallery above. It goes on the Heritage Auctions’ block on Dec. 6.
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