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The Home-Built Dark Knight Batmobile

Posted by samzenpus on from the taking-the-little-jokers-to-school dept.

ElectricSteve writes "RM Auctions recently declared James Bond's Aston Martin DB5 to be 'the world's most famous car,' but there's no doubt that there is another contender for that title — the Batmobile. One thing that muddies the waters a bit is the fact that the term 'Batmobile' actually describes at least three different vehicles: the modified Lincoln Futura concept car from the '60s TV series, the vaguely Corvette-shaped 1989-and-beyond movie cars, and now the car from the most recent two movies, the military-spec Tumbler. Michigan-based movie props artist Bob Dullam really likes the Tumbler, so he did what any of us would do in his position — he built one of his own from scratch."

10 of 87 comments (clear)

  1. As seen on Discovery channel by Drakkenmensch · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Saw it on Discovery's Daily Planet, the man is seriously talented to duplicate something so complex that doesn't have any sort of available blueprints.

    1. Re:As seen on Discovery channel by gearsmithy · · Score: 2, Funny

      I don't think that's egg on your face....

  2. It just shows.... by balaband · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...to which extents Engineers are willing to go to get laid. Amin, brother.

    1. Re:It just shows.... by Gaygirlie · · Score: 4, Informative

      Tbh, it works; if someone built me a Batmobile I'd definitely sleep with him.

    2. Re:It just shows.... by Nitewing98 · · Score: 4, Funny

      "It's the car. Chicks always dig the car." --Batman

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  3. Street Legality: Nope! by splutty · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It's a damn shame that to make this thing street legal, you actually have to crash a bunch of them.

    And building like 10 of them, is going to be a real issue.

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    1. Re:Street Legality: Nope! by confused+one · · Score: 4, Informative

      It could be handled like a kit car. Most of those (kit cars) wouldn't pass modern crash testing because they're based on older designs. But, you can get them titled, inspected & certified for use on the road and insured.

    2. Re:Street Legality: Nope! by Plekto · · Score: 4, Funny

      So what exactly would be the outcome of a crash test where the car takes out the wall and keeps going?

  4. It's easy in Illinois... by name_already_taken · · Score: 4, Informative

    You made it hard on yourself by starting with a mass-produced vehicle. In that case the State wants to make it hard to make sure you're not trying to pull something like re-titling a stolen vehicle.

    In Illinois, it's pretty easy and not expensive at all. It doesn't even cost any more than titling and registering a normal mass-manufactured car.

    Here's what you need to title a homebuilt or kit vehicle in Illinois:

    • Three photos of the completed vehicle showing front, side, and rear views.
    • Title for the chassis and all bills of sale or other ownership documents for any essential parts of the vehicles, or a certificate of origin from the manufacturer if the vehicle was assembled entirely from a kit. (Now, this could be interesting. Bill of sale for the presumably used engine, or title from an existing car's chassis or floorpan usually works)
    • Completed title (or title and registration) application. (Same form you use to title and register a normal car)
    • Check made out to the Secretary of State for $65 (title only) or $143 (title and registration). (Same fees as a titling and registering a normal car)
    • Sales tax form with a check made out to the Illinois Department of Revenue for the amount of sales tax due. (Presumably this would be $0 for a homebuilt vehicle)

    There's also an inspection by the State, which doesn't sound any worse than the normal safety inspection people have in places like NY State. (Illinois doesn't routinely inspect cars)

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  5. Re:wait.... by Jbcarpen · · Score: 2, Informative

    That's to make pure aluminum transparent. There are alloys that are transparent all the time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium_oxynitride

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