Most people remember the original ’60s Batman series for two things: spandex and George Barris’ Batmobile. Perhaps the former is best forgotten, however.
For the October 1989 edition of Classic and Sportscar (as it was then), Richard Truitt visited American Scott Chinery, who owned one of the five original Batmobiles – and you can revisit this story via the Classic & Sports Car magazine archive.
Despite the fact the 1958 Ford Thunderbird-based creation’s tiny radiator restricted drives to 15-minute jaunts, Chinery’s car had recently skyrocketed in value, because the release of Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman film renewed interest in Adam West and Burt Ward’s original TV show.
Chinery’s Batmobile was extra special, as ‘King of the Kustomizers’ – and creator of the original car – George Barris, explained: “There were five original Batmobiles,” he said.
“They were all working cars, but only two were metal cars: the one Chinery’s got, which we call the number five car, and my number one original car. The number two, three and four cars were fibre-glass.”
Our Batmobile story starred from p40 of our October 1989 issue