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Is $495K a Bargain for a Real Batmobile?
For over a week each January, the collector car world focuses on Scottsdale, and the mega-auction held at Barrett-Jackson’s proprietary venue called “WestWorld.” For a few short minutes this Saturday, though, it was more like Adam WestWorld, as one of the original Batmobiles customized by legendary builder George Barris for television, movie and promo appearances crossed the block and sold for $495,000. Nearly half a million dollars for a campy TV prop sounds like a lot of money, and it is, but relative to what other Batmobiles (both real and fake) have sold for at auction, the number was surprisingly low.
The Batman television series ran for 120(!) episodes over three seasons from 1966-68, with Adam West as the caped crusader and Burt Ward as Robin rounding out the dynamic duo. While the Batmobile had been around in the original comic books going way back to the late 1930s, the TV version was an entirely new concept. And speaking of “concept,” the Batmobile took direct inspiration from the Ghia-built Lincoln Futura concept car from 1955. Originally, the studio planned to have California customizer Dean Jeffries come up with the Batmobile, but George Barris got the job instead as Jeffries couldn’t do the work in time. Barris only had a couple of weeks and a limited budget to come up with something, though he also had the Futura concept car that he had purchased directly from Ford.



Once completed, the car was a major hit, and Barris created three more Batmobiles with fiberglass bodies on top of 1966 Ford Galaxie underpinnings. The one sold this week at Barrett-Jackson is billed as “#3,” and according to the auction company, the car made appearances in the TV show, in the movie, and at multiple promotional appearances at car shows and dealers via a traveling display advertised as “Direct from Gotham City.”
Eventually, the Galaxie-turned-Batmobile wound up in the Imperial Palace collection in Las Vegas, and in 2011 went to the late Dr. Stewart Berkowitz, whose collection included multiple TV and movie cars as well as faithful replicas also sold in Scottsdale this week (we covered some of them in detail here). Berkowitz also had the car restored, and from the chopped-rim steering wheel to the Bat Ray projector switches to the double-bubble windscreen and jet booster in the rear, everything is there in all its cheesy glory.


Oddly, though, the car kind of underwhelmed on the block. Bidding started low, stayed slow, and wound up at a relatively modest number. Replica Batmobiles, many of them built on later Lincoln chassis, have sold in the $200,000-plus range, and another one brought $319,000 in 2022. Yes, $495K for Batmobile #3 is a lot more, but think about what a Cobra replica is worth next to the real thing.



Consider, too, that Batmobile #1, the car originally transformed from concept car to hero’s wheels, sold at this same auction 12 years ago for $4.62M. Naturally, the original should be worth more given its richer history, but for it to be worth 10 times more (or 12.7 times more, if you count for inflation) seems like quite a stretch. Maybe fewer people care about the old show these days, or maybe this was a case of the right bidders just not being in the room. Either way, this piece of ’60s TV history was the biggest surprise of the week.
My favourite show car of all time. Beautiful!
Rockets to power. Turbines to speed. Alfred get out of the way!!
Atomic batteries to power , Turbines to speed .
This is the first time I have seen a 1966 Batmobile with a hood or entire front end that is hinged at the front.
All original 66 Batmobiles are that way. I assume you didn’t watch Batman? The Ma Barker episode starring Shelley Winters clearly showcased the hood in that episode.
Not a bad result considering. That hinged front is new to me.
Maybe prices will go down more as people realize you can’t eat a Batmobile…
The original had a saw coming out of the grill. Mortar tube that fired bombs. I figure that was #1. Anyway it’s the right car for that one person.
I would rather have the one here in Ohio. The guy built it from one of the kid offered.
It was so well done even the jet engine shoots fire out.
It may not be one of the original copies but if you can’t have the original… may as well shoot flames.
He built a car from a kid? That’s legal in Ohio?
You guys are hilarious!
I mean that in a good way 😜
Love the Batmobile, I’d ruin it though I’d have to have a Chevy powered.
I’ve been up close to this car. I am Batman, after all. Big Barris fan overall. However, one of the issues I see in this iteration of my car is that, especially by today’s customization standards, a lot of what you have here looks like parts accumulated during a few trips to Pep Boys.
Honestly, I’d rather the Futura had survived, and been restored if needed.
Can’t say I’m much of a Barris fan – his talent was in self-promotion and taking credit for the work of others – but to be fair his brother Sam turned out some nice ’50s customs.
Say what you will, but we’re still talking about him and paying big bucks for cars with his name on them all these years later!
Personally, I think the buyer of the original overpaid. I cannot imagine that car selling for that much again. The price paid for the #3 car seemed reasonable to me.
I’m waiting for a real car guy to buy one of these and put it back to the Futura, a real piece of car history, not pop history.
The Ohio man’s Batmobile is very impressive:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvLBBzn3-0o
That Ohio one is certainly very impressive, but if I was putting in that much work I would make it like the TV one, not modernized interior details.
Nothing holds a candle to the replica that the gentleman in
Ohio built. The engineering smarts, time, effort and to say the least the amount of $$ spent on his creation are on display in this video . If you have not watched the video and are a fan of the original Batman series do yourself a favor and watch it.
This Barris Batmobile didn’t present all that well… Should’ve had proper Radir wheels and no white lettering on the tires. Plus it was never in the show or the movie. My father and I paid $64,000 in 1984 at the Kruse auction of the Chicago Historical Automobile Museum for the #4 Barris car. That is $193,000 in today’s money, adjusting for inflation. So Batmobile values have substantially outpaced inflation ove the last 40 years. The #1 car is best, the #4 is second best as it was the dragster and actually appeared in one episode of the show. With all the replicas on more modern running gear, this #3 is just not as tempting anymore, plus the earning potential for appearances is just not there like it was 40 years ago.