Holy Chevrolet! 1996 Caprice Gotham Cruiser Batmobile Current bid: US $150,100.00 Reserve not met [ 33 bids] Price: US $299,999.00 Batmobiles are cult objects – subjects of books, film lore, and websites. Fans collect comic books showing the various iterations of Batmobiles, models of Batmobiles, or …. actual Batmobiles. The less well-heeled but truly dedicated build their own Batmobiles. Here on eBay a replica of one of the more iconic Batmobile designs, from Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992), with frisky bidding to $150,100, reserve not met. If you don’t want to wait out the auction, there is a buy-it-now of $299,999. This car is based on and titled as a 1996 Chevrolet Caprice and it is street-legal. You can fight crime driving this back home from St. Petersburg, Florida. The body is a single fiberglass piece dropped onto a Chevy Caprice chassis with the usual modern power steering, power brakes, air conditioning, and automatic transmission. Just like the “real” ’89 Batmobile, the canopy slides open electrically. Visibility is nil, which is why it is equipped with multiple cameras so the driver can move it around without smacking a turbine or a wing. It sits on air ride suspension and has crime-fighting features including motorized faux machine guns that rise out of the front fenders and a working afterburner. (Of course, the inventory of tricks incorporated in the “real” Batmobile was much more extensive.) If the criminal content in your neighborhood diminishes, the car has a great sound system to keep you entertained until the next rogue appears. The engine is a 4.3 liter Chevy V8 with a dress-up kit. The base car has over 112,000 miles. The car is said to run well. The workings for the ancillaries are installed in the trunk, so you better travel light. The real movie car was based on a 1967 Chevy Impala powered by a 327 cu. in. V8. The front air intake was made from Rolls Royce jet parts, and Harrier jet blades contributed to the front turbine. The interior is suitable for crime-fighting, with a small-diameter steering wheel, and an instrument panel saturated with gauges. It’s worth noting that connoisseurs may not approve of the color scheme here, as the original car was much more subdued. So all of this research provoked more questions than answers, namely – how many Batmobiles are still rolling around? I couldn’t find an answer to that, but for each movie, several copies are made. One or two are actually driven in the films; the others are promotional cars or are used as props. If you don’t want a replica, this one was actually made for the studio as a prop car, though never used in a movie. The ask on this example started at $1.5 million and is down to $750k; it is electric-powered but not actually because it has not been charged or run in years. Or if you’ll settle for a replica but prefer a different style, there’s this one in Dubai that does run, for $300k. Speaking of aesthetics: which Batmobile is the most classic? The ’89 version gets many thumbs up from aficionados, but for my money, I like the ’66 version.
I recall watching two ppl @ BJ who had way too much &/$ or alcohol bid on what I assume was the original Batmobile —IIRC it went for ~$4M before one of their wives probably grabbed him by his balls and made him stop, lol. Of course what do I know—Maybe it was worth that & would go for $6M today. I'd rather have a fleet of concours GSs for that kind of $, lol.
