Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Heh, never noticed Brian on the right in stripes. Bob is on the right. Ralf is holding Bob's Rick - you just see the headstock. See, I kept the thread on topic!

BTW, I'm in the WMU tee.

Did someone say Batmobile? A guy near Three Rivers Quebec built this one entirely from scratch and a 1964 Cadillac. A real fan.




That's my boy wonder in the second shot, with the builder/owner.

...Dean

Wow. It would be a struggle to build that from a Cadillac...the original was a converted Ford Motor Company concept car, the Lincoln Futura.



George Barris acquired it in late 1965--it was ten years old by then--and converted it into the machine seen in the TV series. As you can see, it didn't take much converting. He basically trashed it. The interior had all sorts of buttons and knobs and control panels that were made from old Fisher-Price and Playskool preschool toys that were fished out of the trash and painted in awful dayglow colors, assembled with hot melt glue onto the gutted dashboard. It was a sad end to a beautiful car...

Then he piled insult onto injury and made molds from the car when he got it back after the first season for refurbishing. A half-dozen fiberglas replicas were made and began to tour the show car and county fair circuits around the USA and Europe. Each one brought more $$$ into the coffers of Barris Enterprises, Inc. They have all been sold to private parties since. Most of the owners claim to own THE original. George had it, last time I checked (1985).

Dean, That is the coolest thing I've seen in a long while. I want it. I would even install a spring-loaded zebra-striped road sign at the end of my driveway if I owned that car!

Paul, thanks for the background information. I've never seen an original Lincoln Futura before.

Speaking of the Batmobile: Back in the middle to late '70s, I remember going to see the Batmobile at a car show. I was disappointed because it had a hideous "flocking" or "suede-like" black finish. Certainly wasn't shiny like the Batmobile I watched on TV as a kid! ;-P

What you saw was the original car. At one point it was flocked to eliminate reflections in filming. Another Barris "experiment"...

Has anyone come out with a kit car for the original Barris Batmobile? I can just the batmoble on a VW platform LOL!! Oh yes!! John your collection of RIC's is outstanding. I like the wood paneled walls almost looks museum-ish very nice and warm.

Thanks Paul, I feel better now!
I saw the real one! I saw the real one!
(It was still ugly, though.)

And thank you Brian.

Thanks for the background Paul. I never knew the original was a Lincoln. What a shame he trashed it! That Futura would have been pretty spectacular to see!

The guy here in Quebec literally stripped the Caddy to nothing. He has a display that goes with the car documenting the whole build, including how he built the body bucks. It looked like a TON of work! The last time I saw it he had installed a flame generator out of the jet exhaust port (the car has a big block chev for power). He actually drives it to the shows, The display goes in the trunk.

...Dean

That beautiful Lincoln toured the show circuit a bit in '55. It was a gorgeous light aqua pearlescent with a silver and light aqua interior. Black is a color it never should have been.

Of the two Barris Brothers (who worked together until Sam's death in the early '50s, I believe), Sam had taste and was a craftsman. George? Well, George...didn't. But he sure knew how to work the phones.