Motion Pictures it started with a kiss-batmobile

I saw a BATMOBILE on a car hauler in FW Tx the other day. It was in a parking lot up on top of the hauler. It was very very accurate in the bodywork dept but wasnt painted yet. Talked to the truck driver as he was standing by the rig and he said it came from Alabama and was going to Utah.

 

from the movie






The Futura did a publicity tour and visited a Camden, NJ dealership August 26, 1959, just 9 days before the film's release.

 

Link to a May 1966 letter from Ford Motor Company Special Vehicle Manager to 20th Century Fox Television about The Futura. It states an agreement between Barris and Ford took place on Dec 21st 1965.

http://www.geting.se/viewimage.php?image=145878-17.gif

 

Dean Jefferies was to build the 60's Batmobile and had started a car based on a Caddy, but the Studio wanted it on such a short time frame that he could not meet. So Barris was contacted and he sent the Futura out to Bill Cusenberry who did all the metal work on the conversion.
The previously posted photo with Barris in it is of one of the glass copies that were made to keep up with filming and shows where the car was to be displayed

The photos with the masking tape on the body was earlier mods for a movie that never happened.

 

That was probably in Evansville at Shemershines (spl?) body shop. I remember being in there back in the mid 70's and they had pictures on the wall of them building one of the Batmobiles. If memories serves me right they said it was used in a few episodes on tv and was a display car used to promote the show. They where mostly a Corvette shop I believe so they where used to glass work. I was in there buying mechanical Vette parts for a rebuilt wreck we where working on.

 

its not hard to find information on the 60's Batmobiles, look on these and get accurate information.

http://www.batmobilehistory.com/

http://www.1966batmobile.com/

http://buybatparts.com/joomla/index.php/replicas

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=270670

 

I can clear a few things up. There has never been a cast taken of the lincoln futura before it was turned into the batmobile.
what you are referring to was the "futura in the woods" thats what (Mark Racop @ fiberglass freaks) bid on- restored and took moulding off to turn into a batmobile.

so where did the "futura in the woods" come from? well that cast was taken off a batmobile. (I dont know if it was number one or a copy)
but apparently the casts were so bad that the copies werent that accurate either. I dont know if it was bob butts or marty marino who made that.





I have talked to Mark and this still exists & he is willing to take a cast off it for the right price.

http://www.batrodz.com/packages_roadster.htm

this guy does a cheaper body, if you were going to get one to cut up, id get this. its not taken from anything, but considering how off the others are, i dont think its going to matter.

Everyone knows about that awesome replica pictured that was modified from a batmobile body.

onto the barris argument, i dont personally care, my interest stops at ford. Im not saying he didnt work on it, I just dont recall any pictures of him cutting into number one. only before and afters.

there are pictures of him working on 2/3/4 now unless you actually know anything, I dont think its wise to assume. can you tell which is which?



that big hole cut in the rear was actually filled back in btw.

 

Jay Orhberg can build you either car.

 

I had my roadster in a Starbird show at Fort Smith Arkansas around 1979. A "Batmobile" movie car was an advertised draw and I got areally close look at it. I thought then it was a POS. The phone was actually "Playschool" brand and chips in the flat black were either fiberglass or real thick bondo.

 

Yeah. There was one Batmobile out on the show circuit that had gotten beat up so bad,they flocked it,like black velvet rather than try to bodywork it. How freekin' cheezy is that?

 

And Ed learned how to blow bubbles with a from Darryl Starbird. Darryl was the first non-Detroit guy to blow a bubble top (not Ed or Ron Aguirre). Darryl showed Ed how he did it during the time they toured shows together with Starbird's Predicta and Ed's Outlaw in 1960.

Joe Henning's original design for the Beatnik Bandit called for a Model T coupe-styled top. Ed changed the design to a bubble after the touring experience with Darryl.

 

Okay, here's my 2 cents. I worked for a custom car builder, that I KNOW worked with Gene Winfield ages ago. He tells it that the Futura was at Genes place for some resto work, when George got it from him. The guy I worked for built some WILD rides, and didn't need to boast about any other famous cars, and really wasn't that kind of guy. Anybody else know if the Futura was at Gene's?

 

Somewhere in the family photo album is a pic of little-kid-me standing next to a Batmobile at the Des Moines Autorama circa 1974ish. That Batmobile was "flocked". I have read recently that it was done for filming purposes, like to reduce glare and camera reflections.

 

That was the "official" story. I got my info from the guy who used to haul it's trailer around.
Think about it: None of the painted cars had glare problems. Why would they cover one in velvet like Tijuana street art???

 

Here's a couple more from Chicago WOW.

 

The story about forming a bubble top in a Pizza oven is Roth pulling someones leg. To form a bubble top you have to uniformly heat a piece of plastic to a consistent all over temperature and have a small window of time to vacuum or blow it into shape. Very exacting process that must be uniform to have it optically smooth.
Usually it is done on a sign face machine that heats it then lowers it immediately down on vacuum table.
You have to have a very large vacuum tank to draw to the depth of a bubble top.


I used to own a sign company and vacuum formed thousands of sign faces.

 

What car is that resembling a viking helmet ? Barris made ?

 

X Pac.

 

My dad saw the flocked one years ago at a show. So who own's the steel one that would have been the original futura?

 

now dont get mad at me guys because i am in no way making fun of anyone,but we are a traditional hotrod site and we all(me included) seem captivated with a silly ass kid shows car.the batmobile.lol. im sorry but it just strikes me as funny as hell! i dont know why. but some of you have got to see the humor in all this.if not ,well maybe my pain meds are workin alot better tonite.lol ZAP BOW BAM

 

Actually, the threads about the FUTURA being turned INTO the Batmobile. So... yea. Meds are working.

 

Hope this wasn't already posted on here...

Enjoy!...

http://www.cloudster.com/RealHardware/Batmobile66/BatmobileEarly.htm

 

oh, i dunno... Grampa's Drag-U-La and the Munster Machine came off a "silly kid's show" and we get a kick out them.... besides, like several people have noted, the Futura was a damn fine looking FUNCTIONAL concept car from a time when 99% of them didn't even have engines. what it morphed into is irrelevant.

side note: notice how low and small the Futura actually is compared to the average Detroit barge! wide fins and hard-to-see fender ends notwithstanding.... it might have been a challenge for the crew to operate if they were used to more "upright" cars.
Ford originally had it painted in some kind of pearlescent flip-flop blue IIRC; in order to film the movie, it was repainted in red. too bad that factory paint was ruined... photos of it can't replicate it, according to Collectible Automobile.

 

acually i think those cars are kind of a waste of good parts.i was a kid when those shows were on tv and i hated those things even then.but i would never take away from the guys who built them . they are or were a talented bunch of guys.yes the futura was a good lookin car . very futuristic lookin.i dont rememebr what bubble top cars were at a show in chicago back in the late 60s but i rememebr seeing them unload a few in the basment of mcormick place . they had to push them because they didnt have any engine parts on the inside.thT SURE RUINED IT FOR ME ON SHOWCARS AT THE TIME.

 

1955 Lincoln Futura Testing at Ford Motor Co.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9v3lIN9EOY&feature=related

1955 Lincoln Futura - It Started With A Kiss
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHMLqe5y7Ag&feature=related

 

A lot of pix here (click on any photo and then click "visit" on the right to link to a site that may have details, etc.)

https://www.google.com/search?q=it+started+with+a+kiss+car+movie+images&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS777US777&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=OG59g_Xb1gNnNM%3A%2CRLHOvfPmsyfLzM%2C_&usg=__CF56c-c2vhsMLrC8xV3qcFqcvkM=&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjskbOIi5_ZAhUo_4MKHaP_A7sQ9QEILzAC#imgrc=_