lincoln futura concept

zellerware · Jun 6, 2008

here is a great pic of one of the coolest concepts ever...

skipstitch · Jun 7, 2008

Holy Sad Fate BATMAN!

unclescooby · Jun 7, 2008

somebody is repoppin this thing as an actual full sized car on Ebay lately. The listings have been terrible with little tiny pictures but I recall that it was like $7k for the kit. It's actually a futura too and not a batmobile.

Tom davison · Jun 7, 2008

A32Flathead · Jun 7, 2008

Atomic batteries to power....turbines to speed....

Mac the Yankee · Jun 7, 2008

Trouble is if you actually built one of those repops as a Futura, every time you drove down the street some fool would ask you what you did to "The Batmobile"...

zellerware · Jun 7, 2008

nice concept model.. are these for sale? how much?

Tom davison · Jun 7, 2008

It was for sale at Barrett Jackson but I was afraid to ask the price.

Insane 1 · Jun 7, 2008

I have always loved 50's concept cars, and I've posted these pics before, but this is my favorite pics of this car, plus the web sight has alot of info.

speedtool · Jun 7, 2008

I'm sure there are other threads about the Futura on the HAMB.

VirgilHilts · Jun 7, 2008

Hard to believe Ford spent 250K on it when you see it in that shape. That is a 55 Mercury concept beside it.

Car was originally a pearl light blue. It was painted red for the Debbie Reynolds, Glen Ford movie.

Another cool Futura Batmobile site

http://www.javelinamx.com/Batmobile/

A pic in happier times.

Tom davison · Jun 8, 2008

I saw it in Barris' back lot when he had his shop right off of Lankershim '65 or so before he made it into the Batmobile. It looks like that photo could have been taken there.

autowerksracing · Aug 1, 2008

the only fullsize reproduction i know of

oldspwr · Aug 1, 2008

The www.1966batmobile.com web site has a great forum for just the Futura. Lots of pics, etc... I spent some time working on a '66 Batmobile replica for a friend and visited that site frequently.

The red Futura in the post above was actually built by the late Bob Butts, who was the first person to build replica Batmobiles. After he built a few Batmobiles, he reverse engineered one into a future. Really cool car...

Tom

ZenixNet.com · Nov 8, 2009

The only reproduction built by Bob Butts is currently in my dad's possession. Here are some photos I took. It is currently missing the bubble dome, but we are going to get one made.

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In 1955, a guy from Italy took a 1955 Lincoln and made a concept car called the 1955 Lincoln Futura. He tried to get this car to catch on, but it never did. After it was used in the movie “It started with a Kiss” in 1959, it was sold to George Barris for one dollar. George Barris is a famous custom car maker some of the Batmobile’s. The car sat by his shop for 6 years and slowly deteriorated. In 1965 George was asked to make a car for the Bat Man series. He had 3 weeks to do it, so he took the remains of the Futura and made that into the very first Batmobile. At this point the Futura is gone forever. 25-30 years later, another famous custom car maker named Bob Butts asked George if he could take the original Batmobile and cast a mold of it to remake a Futura. George approved, and so Bob made a mold of the original Batmobile (remember the original Batmobile is made off of the Futura). Based off of pictures, Bob recreated the Futura. He only made one replica, and that is what we have.

pimpin paint · Nov 8, 2009

ZenixNet.com said: ↑

The only reproduction built by Bob Butts is currently in my dad's possession. Here are some photos I took. It is currently missing the bubble dome, but we are going to get one made.

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In 1955, a guy from Italy took a 1955 Lincoln and made a concept car called the 1955 Lincoln Futura. He tried to get this car to catch on, but it never did. After it was used in the movie It started with a Kiss in 1959, it was sold to George Barris for one dollar. George Barris is a famous custom car maker some of the Batmobiles. The car sat by his shop for 6 years and slowly deteriorated. In 1965 George was asked to make a car for the Bat Man series. He had 3 weeks to do it, so he took the remains of the Futura and made that into the very first Batmobile. At this point the Futura is gone forever. 25-30 years later, another famous custom car maker named Bob Butts asked George if he could take the original Batmobile and cast a mold of it to remake a Futura. George approved, and so Bob made a mold of the original Batmobile (remember the original Batmobile is made off of the Futura). Based off of pictures, Bob recreated the Futura. He only made one replica, and that is what we have.
Click to expand...

Wow!!!! what a kool post, thanks for bringing this to light!
Any other pictures of this available?

I beleve " the guy from Italy " was Lulgi Segre with some help from Mario Boano! They both worked for Carrozzeria Ghia of Turin Italy. Ghia did a fair amount of design/assembly work for both Ford & Chrysler Corp.

Swanky Devils C.C.
" I like the old millennium better! "

Strange Agent · Nov 8, 2009

That's pretty sweet. It's a wild-looking car. For some reason I think of the Jettson's when I see it.

twochops · Nov 8, 2009

Side by Side.
TwoChops

plodge55aqua · Nov 8, 2009

Tom davison said: ↑

Click to expand...

Those were a Resin Model.. I have a picture here some where of the prototype of this.. these were done back in the late 80s.. I do like that one.. if Im not mistaken.. were sold for around the $800.00 range..

plodge55aqua · Nov 8, 2009

VirgilHilts said: ↑

Hard to believe Ford spent 250K on it when you see it in that shape. That is a 55 Mercury concept beside it.

Car was originally a pearl light blue. It was painted red for the Debbie Reynolds, Glen Ford movie.

Another cool Futura Batmobile site

http://www.javelinamx.com/Batmobile/

A pic in happier times.
Click to expand...

Hey Stu.. That Mercury Concept was a the Guild of Fine Cars in Ontario.. I thought I had seen that before.. its Gold in color now..

drdave · Nov 8, 2009

plodge55aqua said: ↑

Those were a Resin Model.. I have a picture here some where of the prototype of this.. these were done back in the late 80s.. I do like that one.. if Im not mistaken.. were sold for around the $800.00 range..
Click to expand...

A friend of mine bought another prototype car model from the same builder. He said the Futuras were about 2 grand.

NICKEYCHEVY60 · Nov 8, 2009

here's a couple from the Chicago World Of Wheels earlier this year.

carcrazyjohn · Nov 8, 2009

I dont know if it was a rumor but the I heard the futura was found in a junkyard by Barris. I don't know if that's true .

Insane 1 · Nov 8, 2009

carcrazyjohn said: ↑

I dont know if it was a rumor but the I heard the futura was found in a junkyard by Barris. I don't know if that's true .
Click to expand...

Not true

plodge55aqua · Nov 8, 2009

drdave said: ↑

A friend of mine bought another prototype car model from the same builder. He said the Futuras were about 2 grand.
Click to expand...

You could be right in the amount.. heres a photo of the prototype.. I still have the order list here some where..

VirgilHilts · Nov 8, 2009

plodge55aqua said: ↑

Hey Stu.. That Mercury Concept was a the Guild of Fine Cars in Ontario.. I thought I had seen that before.. its Gold in color now..
Click to expand...

Yeah I saw that on their site one day. Not crazy about the styling but it is nice to see it survived!

Johnnyzoom · Nov 9, 2009

That Bob Butts repro is absolutely incredible. I only wish they would have painted it the original pearl. Zenixnet.com, do you know why they chose red?

metalshapes · Nov 9, 2009

ZenixNet.com said: ↑

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In 1955, a guy from Italy took a 1955 Lincoln and made a concept car called the 1955 Lincoln Futura. He tried to get this car to catch on, but it never did. After it was used in the movie “It started with a Kiss” in 1959, it was sold to George Barris for one dollar. George Barris is a famous custom car maker some of the Batmobile’s. The car sat by his shop for 6 years and slowly deteriorated. In 1965 George was asked to make a car for the Bat Man series. He had 3 weeks to do it, so he took the remains of the Futura and made that into the very first Batmobile. At this point the Futura is gone forever.
Click to expand...

There are a couple of names missing here...

Do a search for Bill Schmidt, Carrozzeria Ghia SpA, and Bill Cushenberry.

And the Futura doesnt have to be gone forever.

There are plenty of ( plastic ) versions of the Batmobile, so hopefully someday the damage on the Futura will be undone.

( like it was done for the Chrisman Coupe, after it was vandalised in a similar way....)

ironandsteele · Nov 9, 2009

what a great car that was going to be.... i wish it went into production.

futurabat · Nov 15, 2010

Okay, I don't know how the idea got started that the original Futura was built and designed by some guy in Italy, but since I have spent 30+ years researching this car i'll help you all out here.

The Lincoln Futura was concieved by the chief of Lincoln's styling department, Bill Schmidt in 1952. After several revisions to the original sketches the car was greenlighted as a concept only. No-one ever tried to get this design to "catch on", nor was the car ever intended to go into production. All design materials and a full set of plaster molds were sent to the coachbuilder Ghia in Turin Italy, (because they underbid everyone else for the project) where the body panels were hand formed by the craftsmen at Ghia.

The car was placed on an experimental chassis made by Hess and Eisenhardt of Cincinnati Ohio. They had added tubular crossmembers for strength and the chassis design later became the 1956 Lincoln Premier's stock chassis minus the crossmembers.

The car does slightly resemble a 1958 Thunderbird, and several of the Thunderbirds styling cues came directly from the Futura's original concept sketches.

lincoln futura concept

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