How much for that Batmobile?

If you've ever wanted to be Bruce Wayne and play Batman, the first thing you need aside from a cape and mask is a Batmobile. But Batmobiles just don't grow on trees. And the real deal very rarely shows up for sale in your local auto trader. But last night that all changed. For the last few weeks it's been reported all over the net that George Barris was going to bring Batmobile #1. The original car built for the Batman TV series to the Barrett Jackson Scottsdale auction. And he sure didn't fail to bring the circus with him.

Built from the 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car, which Barris purchased for $1 from Ford Motor Co. , was transformed in a matter of weeks to the cost of $15,000 to play the part in the upcoming Batman TV series in 1966. As Barris put it, the car would go POW! with rocket launchers, BAM! with a chain slicer, ZAP! with an oil slick. All gadgets that would make even James Bond envious. The car eventually led to a handful of fiberglass back up cars being built as the Futura based car had a habit of breaking down on the set. After the show, Barris retained ownership of the car. But enough about that.

The folks at Barrett Jackson said this was a deal three years in the making. And they didn't fail to hype up the car once it was consigned. The Batmobile was definitely the star of the show. There were crowd surrounding the car while it was on display and flock of groupies followed the car and King George as it made its way to the auction block. The crowd on the block was just as impressive at over 20 deep. Craig Jackson and Steve Davis actually had to cut Barris off or he would have talked about the Batmobile for hours. When the bidding started it quickly rose to $1 million, then $2 million before stalling at $2.6 million. The reserve was lifted and bidding again took off. $3 million, $4 million. Two bidders, sitting one in front of the other still were going at it, when they decided to flip a coin for who would win. The winner, Rick Champagne was the winning bidder at $4.2 million dollars. Speed's cameras captured the whole soap opera, and quickly interviewed Champagne who told viewers he's been a buyer at Barrett Jackson for 15 years and he came with all intentions of buying the Batmobile for his collection. He joked that he plans to tear down a wall and park it in his living room.

By: Austin On 08:43

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The Car Show on Speed: Canceled

This one is a little hard to swallow. If you're a die hard car guy like me, then you undoubtedly tuned in for The Car Show. It has come to my attention that the show has been canceled after one season. Speed channel's answer to Top Gear, The Car Show was hosted by all around car guy Adam Carolla, auto journalist Dan Neil, friend to AAM and Smoking Tire.com founder Matt Farrah, and at one time former NBA star John Salley, The Car Show was a practically perfect mix to be a true U.S. version of Top Gear. It was almost a perfect storm for everything to work against the show. It was on Speed, but didn't focus on Nascar, circle track, or drag racing, but instead focused on cars and car guys. Then there was the removal of John Salley from the hosting team. Which I can understand, you could tell he was really out of his element. Salley may have liked car, but he seemed like a small fish swimming in shark infested waters with the die hards of Carolla, Farrah, and Neil. Another big blow was the steady schedule changing. Speed changed the format of the show and took it from an hour and cut it down to a half hour show. The Discovery Channel reformatted their HD Theater channel and turned it into Velocity which is another network that is catered to car guys. There's some other non car shows on the network, but the car shows they have cater to the true automobile enthusiast. I know that I'm really upset to see The Car Show canceled, and I don't normally voice my displeasure unless it's absolutely necessary, so I voiced my opinion to Speed via their feedback page, and I would highly, highly recommend that you do to if you are a fan of The Car Show. Let the folks over at Speed KNOW what kind of shows you want to see.

Image source: Speed.

By: Austin On 07:42

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