Anatomy of a Batmobile... [PIC]

    In 1966, I tried to never miss an episode of the campy TV "Batman" series if only to catch glimpses of that incredible Batmobile built in just a few weeks from a derelict 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car. I had already built the Revell Futura kit years prior because it was so cool looking for its time, but this new creation, for me, was mind blowing.  I only knew of one model, the Corgi, but it just wasn't accurate enough, probably because it was unlicensed. Licensing required paying 4 different entities, Barris, Greenway Productions, Warner Bros and DC Comics. The closest we got to a licensing deal was with Danbury Mint that had actually put out "coming soon" promotionals, but ultimately had to back off and just make a '60's comic strip version. I still have a resin "garage kit" that I spent untold hours just on the body work as the body was just a gravity pour with zillions of tiny bubbles. Finally, Mattel stepped up and worked out a licensing deal perhaps because all the entities involved began to realize original fans of the show were starting to die off!!! Well Mattel went for big production numbers offering the model in 3 different levels of replication from Big Box store cheapies to the Super Elite which was promo'd as a limited edition of 1966.... of course they cheated and sold as many as they could. Well, the Super Elite was virtually everything I gad hoped it would be... except it was replicated in 1/19 scale instead of 1/18.  It kinda made my vision of displaying it paired with my 1/18 Futura somewhat disappointing, but, well, so it goes. The Super Elite was originally selling in the $300 range when I gobbled it up and maybe a half year later I picked up another, still in its factory shipping box, for half price. So I guess the Super Elite was overly produced. Anyway, Mattel's Batmobile detailing allows a direct comparison to the Futura which shows what features Barris kept, what was modified, and what just came from the brains of the Barris Brothers.