1989 Batmobile car kit?

car kit? you mean the model? i saw one at......i think Newbury Comics i think it was?

 

oh man...that's so awesome!

edit lemme know if you have any luck finding it.

 

driving into work (a grocery store) in a batmobile would be great.

 

anything found yet??? i havent got a car yet, and i owuld love for my first one to be a batmobile D

 

no im ok but thanks for the offer

 

those cars aren't "technicly" available. the patent/copyright is still active. anyone caught with one, would surely have it confiscated by WB. but, on the bright side, word is, the patent/copyright is soon to expire and a few companies are waiting in the wings when this happens.

 

i suppose it is sometthing to do with batman and robin, and how nobody really was interested in stuff like this, the mass public i mean

 

Batdemon Speaks Wisely!
David

 

most of these "89 kits" aretaken from molds of cars used in the stunt shows. wb still owns the rights to those cars. i know of people who have these. i also know people who have made their own versions. they have no worries. btw, ferrari sued many kit car companies years ago.

 

god that sucks, but honeslty to anybody wanting one, how much you think of of those puppies will go for now

 

The patent for the 1989 Keaton Batmobile expires this November. The COPYRIGHT for the name BATMOBILE will stay in effect forever. What this means to you: You will be able to build a "Batmobile", but you cannot legally call it a "Batmobile". It must be called a "Gotham Cruiser" or some other suitable name. You can let other people call it a Batmobile, but you yourself cannot. Now, WB will still likely attempt to curb those efforts by fans to build replica cars, but they tried the same thing for the Barris car so many years ago.

Alot of people are currently making these cars. In fact, I know a guy who actually has a copy of the molds that are exact replicas of the Keaton car. However, in all practicality, you would not want to build an exact replica. Now hear me out...

The original car was so long, there was no way you could make it driveable. Not reasonably so, anyways. Even if you added all the modern amenities, i.e. side view mirrors, a rear window, headlights that are above the legal limit, etc... If you were to go over any bump or dip in the road you would beach the car or shatter the fiberglass nose piece. Especially since the nose piece sticks out so far from the front wheels. This is no traditional lowrider.

There are a few guys out there right now who are sculpting or building bucks and molds for these cars, in anticipation of the November expiration of the copyright. They are modifying the car so as to make it driveable. You can realistically build this car to be 20' or so and still maintain the image and driveability factor. Of course, it would still ride 2" above the ground, so at least one person I know is adding airbags to their car to raise it up when a bump is approaching. A novel idea.

An average enthusiast could realistically sculpt this body using the Polyurethane / Fiberglass composite sandwich method, which you can read more about from my website. www.thebatcave.8k.com (Click the 1989 Batmobile link) New builders can build very professional car bodies on their first attempt, and the cost is not prohibitive at all. The average cost for fiberglass and all related materials for an average size car is only around $900-$1200. If you totally mess up, you can start over and not be in the hole too much. And the best part is, you never need to make a mold or a buck if you use this method.

There are alot of rumors going around about WB taking people's replica cars, taking people to court, etc. While there is indeed some truth to this, it is not as widespread as believed. I have several contacts who both replicate and sell these cars, and it is rather difficult for WB to do much about it unless they find the molds or the people slip up and call it a Batmobile publicly. Remember, copyrights don't expire. The term "Batmobile" is the intellectual property of WB and DC, so we can never steal it. But as was the case with the mysterious #5 Barris replica, (a fan made car that Barris tried unsuccesfully to buy from the builder when he found out about it. He ended up making the guy a rep for him and authenticated the car as a Barris original) WB will have no sway after November.

Check out my website at www.thebatcave.8k.com and go to the 1989 BATMOBILE page. There is alot of info there, and some pics of fan built projects. As you can imagine for legal reasons, I do not put TOO MUCH information out there for the public. But if you are seriously interested, and you have the cash, I can get you a body if you want it. Hell, I can get you a darn turnkey if you really want! Just let me know.

 

i was wondering when people would start coming out of the wings... checked out your site, nice. i seem to remember molds for 89 car being stolen several years ago. i may be wrong, and it was actually the 66 car. have you seen pics of the japaneese car? they have nice buildup pics.

 

that guy his cool, you should chek out his site

 

You're not just saying that cuz your on it, are you DKR? Thanks for the compliment.

Demon, I know molds were jacked awhile back, but nobody can do anything with them. One guy went so far as to trash his mold instead of risking selling it to some undercover WB lawyer. Things have settled down with this car, and the molds are out there all over the place now. People are building their own molds from the original bodies, or from the Six Flags cars, or from their buddy's cars, or other places. They are not too hard to find anymore. A few years ago, there were only like 3 molds in the US, and NOBODY would pull a body from one. It was impossible to get!

Tell me where I can check out this Japanese car. I might have seen it before, but I would need to look at it.

 

im not on there yet,

and youre site is cool, when i get the money im so coming ot you for my batmobile

 

WayneEnt.,
i forget the link to the japaneese site, but pics can be seen at Gotham Garage
click on the "custom" section. it's the 2nd page in.

 

Thanks Demon! I'll check it out soon!

 

deleted.

 

What happened to the deleted post? Was someone being mean or profane? I'm a big boy, I can take it.