NOTE: DUE TO SERVER MAINTENANCE BEING DONE, IMAGES AREN'T APPEARING AS OF YET. THIS SHOULD BE CORRECTED SHORTLY
Barris's credits, for the record, include Back to the Future's DeLorean, the A-Team van, and Knight Rider's Kitt.
"I wasn't really aware of Batman before making the car," he says. "I knew the comic books, I guess, but had no idea it was going to turn into such a big thing. I had three weeks to conceptualize and build it. The only idea they had was to cut out a bat face and stick it on the front of a Lincoln. Ridiculous!"
Explains the article, "Barris had a long-standing relationship with Ford and owned a concept car called the Lincoln Futura — an outlandishly long, bubble-windowed coupe hand-built in Italy. It became the base."
From there, wings were added thar rose over the beltline, having begun at the middle of the doors, leading to a sharp rake in the rear. The vehicle also had a painted bucket to serve as what was supposed to be a jet exhaust, as well as a pair of working parchutes that actually could be utilized to allow for a sharp turn.
"I popped them once on the Hollywood Freeway and got pulled over," Barris says. "The officer asked, 'What do you think you're doing?' I told him, 'Just checking the Bat chutes out before you and me go out to catch the Riddler.' 'Now I've heard it all!' he said."
This Batmobile is a serious collector's item, but don't look for it on ebay. "I wouldn't sell it for the world," he says. "It's for my kids."
Barris thinks what they accomplished back then is much more impressive than what's been done in modern Hollywood. "They use computer effects. Our cars actually had to do all that stuff."
For much more detail, follow the link to the original article.