[SpiderWebb]

This is not an Alfa and has nothing to do with Alfa History. However, there are some similarities. I hope this is not considered a highjacking of the thread. I am trying to point out the dificulty authenticating rare cars.

This is a tale of torment and confusion. Only the brave (or masochistic) should read any further…

The original Batman Television show featured the wonderful black Batmobile car. But, in reality it was first a ‘Future Car’ from Lincoln, a division of the Ford Motor Company, called the ‘Futura’ (see black and white photo 1).

George Barris got hold of this rare automobile after it was featured in the film ‘It started with a kiss’. Some say he put a Legal ‘lean’ on the car and confiscated it. Here is where it gets good. He needed a cool car for the new Batman television show, so he MODIFIED (Kustomized) the Futura into the Batmobile (see photo 2).

Some say that was sacrilege. Others call it divine inspiration. I’m glad he made the Batmobile, but my heart aches when looking at it, and I wonder what it would be like to drive around in the Futura.

TRIVIA: Some other grand soul felt the same way I did and made a perfect copy of the Batmobile and ended up back-engineering it into a replica of the Futura.

It gets more interesting. He ‘patented’ the Batmobile design. Then he made fiberglass copies of the car (The photo of the fiberglass copy is of recent vintage. photo 3). Some say there were 9 of these. These copies used to be identified because they lacked the rear portion of the bubble canopy for some reason (see photo 4). By now I am sure most if not all have the full bubble back.

In the mean time other 'car guys' decided they wanted a Batmobile of their own, so they built them in their garage at home and in shops all over the world (see photo 5). Some were OK, others were AWFUL. Because George had patented the design, he went after these builders and confiscated many of them. I saw one someone had made out of an old Ford T-Bird. It was not even close to the original, but there it was, in Georges back lot.

Eventually Georges Licensing agreement with the comic book people ran out and he could no longer put the ‘bat logos’ on the car and call it a ‘Batmobile’.

Then Jay Ohrberg picked up the license and created an ALL NEW Batmobile from scratch using an old ford as a base. So now his car is the OFFICIAL BATMOBILE!

Today it seems to be a free for all, with all of the new versions out there. It is a real nightmare trying to figure out what is real and what is fake.

So what is sitting in Georges Garage in Burbank? The Futura, Batmobile, or Black Kustom car that was once on TV?

Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive!