Friday 12 February 2021

Bat Cool

Why am I such a sucker for the superhero stories .....

Batmobile Stopped In Moscow

Maybe its because they play to the inner child (or possibly teenage boy), in me.

Ah well, its just a fact that I can't resist them so off we go ......  In February 2020 in Moscow, before the Covid-19 lock downs would have impacted the traffic, police stopped a custom-made likeness of the Batmobile from the film Batman V Superman (one I haven't seen .... yet).

The traffic police were concerned that it didn't fulfil road safety regulations. The customisation, which must have cost a small fortune had not been done to manufacturers standards, and the car was not registered with authorities, nor certified as roadworthy. So not deemed safe for public roads.

Batmobile 2018 I .... Showroom Cool Before It Was Arrested

The unnamed 32-year-old Moscow man who was driving it, was facing several traffic violation charges .. just for starters. The car was apparently imported as the "Batmobile 2018 I" from the US to Russia in 2018 and was then further customised .... the car's advertised price in late 2019 was reported as being 55 million roubles (US $840,000) on the Russian car-trading website Auto.ru.

Sadly there was no evidence that car had been used to fight crime, nor for very much good at all .... and at that price, and given the age of the driver, was very likely was bought with the profits of exactly the opposite. However I can't help thinking that the Moscow police will all have sat in the car and had selfies taken .....

On the same theme, in 2014 Li Weilei a Chinese man living in Shanghai and occasional film prop maker, made a Batmobile from scrap metal .... the car was based upon an earlier Batmobile from 'The Dark Knight', and cost him and his friends about 70,000 Yuan 7,731 US$ 10,000). 

The Batstationary Of China

Sadly the two-tonne replica only took a couple of months to build and was a non runner, so a Batstationary really .... but a great advertising prop for local businesses despite a somewhat sparse interior, and soon started repaying the costs when rented out as a photo prop.

Then there was Shaheer Khan a resident of Karachi, Pakistan who told the press that he was a childhood collector of Batman toys and always wanted to have a Batmobile, so he and a friend built one in 2016. 
 
Pakistan's Only Batmobile ....


The car was hand built using scrapped car parts, and features a working canopy, which opens from the front. It has aircraft tyres and is drivable, with a fully functioned interior. It apparently satisfies whatever road worthy rules apply in Pakistan, as he cruises the city .... needless to say its a selfie magnet.

Finally and I really could have gone on, as once you start looking there are a lot of very keen mechanical minded Batman fans out there, beavering away on their favourite Batmobiles. For instance there are possibly ten other replicas of the 1989 Batmobile alone out there.

So lastly, there's Zac Mihajlovic, from Camden, south west of Sydney in Australia, who hand-built a street legal version of the batman car from the 1989 'Batman' film starring Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson as the Joker.

The Australian Batmobile Does The Good Work Of A Super Hero

This is the last sleek one, before they went all punk futuristic .... and possibly only one based on the 1989 version that can be legally driven on public roads. .... and this one is a real super heroes vehicle  .... because he uses the car to help a sick children's foundation (Make-A-Wish), and has turned down six-figure offers for his home-made Batmobile from an Arab Sheik - just so that he can continue helping the foundation make children's last wishes come true.

As you might guess, this vehicle attracts a lot of attention, even on one occasion the news helicopter from Channel nine TV, filming him as drove along the Gold Coast freeway. It took two years to build, including using some parts from the car used in the original film. It has an adjustable suspension, and a working afterburner, as well as a suitable interior .... he dons a batman costume when doing the charity work.

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