Batman TV Series Batmobile
The cult Batman TV series featuring Adam West as Batman was first shown in 1966 and did the most to launch the Iconic Batmobile. The car has previously only been seen in comic books in whatever guise the artist fancied.
Originally Dean Jeffries was given the job of designing the car from scratch, but the production was moved forwards, meaning the job was passed on to custom car builder George Barris, who was given just 3 weeks to build the car.
Barris turned to Ford, and used one of their abandoned concept cars – the Futura concept as the basis for the car. The long fins over the rear wheels and bubble roof were already part of the concept and needed only slim modifications extending them over the doors and giving the bat wing curves at the ends, and Barris converted the front end to resemble a Bat Mask.
The car was supposedly powered by an atomic turbine engine, but in real life was powered by a Ford V8. The cars weaponry included a chainsaw in the nose, lasers, a smoke emitter and nail spreader, as well as 2 parachutes..It also featured some options that have now become standard equipment on cars 50 yrs later such as a built in phone, radar, on board computer, and a rear camera.
Batman TV Series Batmobile Rear