I’m not really a car guy.
Sure, old cars are cool and I’ve detoured to see the Bonnie and Clyde death car
and visited auto museums in Vegas, Los Angeles and Texas just because you have
to appreciate the workmanship and often sheer beauty that the American
automobile represents, let alone the rest of the world’s great automakers. But
when I heard the original Batmobile will be at the 35th West Coast KustomsCrusin’ Nationals in Santa Maria (May 27-29) well, you need to know about this.
800 auto entries are expected
with cars from as far away as New Jersey and Texas as well as an entry owned by
James Hetfield of the band Metallica. The event is open to American-made autos
that were manufactured prior to 1961 so you get classic, historic and downright
American originals.
As a tribute to George
Barris, who died in November of 2015 and the creator of the original Batmobile,
the actual Batmobile will be brought to the event by his family. Designed
exclusively for the 1966 "Batman" TV show starring Adam West and Burt
Ward, this sleek was styled and engineered with many different special effects
innovations by Barris Kustom Industries. Originally it started off as a
$250,000 1955 Ford Lincoln Futura concept car originally built in Italy. Barris
bought the car directly from Ford for a buck, and started working on it. With a
deadline of three weeks before the cameras were ready to roll, this Lincoln was
transformed into one of the world’s most famous cars and it had its TV debut on
January 12th 1966. Sure I watched the show as a kid but in 2015 when in
Hollywood I went to original Bat Cave where the car was filmed zooming in and
out of the cave, located on the path up to the Hollywood sign.
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| At the real Bat Cave in Hollywood |
Besides the Batmobile and
other cool customized cars there are live bands, food booths, a ton of vendors
and presentations of auto-customizing. All in all, I’d say it will be a smooth
ride.
