Evolution of the Batmobile

In the comic books thru-out the 40s the Batmobile was basically a late 30s 2 door sedan with the bat mask over the grill and a large fin on the roof. There was variants of the design from time to time such as the headlights being either on the front of the fender or top of it, some times there was the absence of the front or rear bumper and some times there was a light on the rooftop. One major change happened in 1944 which was the additional of the fender skirts over all 4 tires with a red strip down the side.

The new Batmobile in 1950 resembled a Studebaker with the nose of a Chrysler Imperial inside it held a complete laboratory with cabinets, work stool and counter. The nose of it had knife edges to it so it could cut thru barriers, a searchlight on the roof that was also a bat signal protector, a plastic canopy windshield, rocket thrusters, television and radar screens. The 1952 version of the Batmobile was basically the same except the tale fin became more sleek, the color changed from black to blue and for the first time the Batman symbol was painted on it. In 1955 the Batmobile lost the laboratory on the inside and a bubble dome was created over the passengers of it. In a particular episode in comic #219, Batman and Robin went to investigate at a classic car convention and they decided they needed to blend in, for this they ended up with the 1905 Marmon complete with the Bat mask on the front, insignas painted on the doors and the Bat fin on the rear. Altho pretty much everything stayed the same as time went on the biggest change on the Batmobile was the roof. The biggest revamp of the Batmobile came in the early '60s, it became faster and smaller, more like the 2 seat roadster. The one large fin at the back was changed to two smaller ones and the bat mask on the front became a symbol further up on the hood.

During the mid to late 60s there was many different versions of the Batmobile in the comic books and also for the merchandise but the basic design of them were always based on the 1966 Batmobile, the Furtura. In 1967 one of the batmobile was based on Jaguar XKE roadster. Some of them had different features such as a solid bubble canopy, bulletproof tires, ejector seats, and an anti-booby-trap circuit. The year that Robin went away to college also saw some major changes with the Batmobile as well. It became a 2 seat coupe with bulletproof chassis and body panels. In 1970 the designer for the batmobile decided it needed to blend in more and all the Bat insignias were removed except the bat mask on the hood. Starting in 1972, in order for Batman to blend in more, the designers to use the Corvette. This car had absolutely nothing on it to resemble the batmobile, even the next years car, the Ford Mustang, had nothing to show it was the batmobile. In '73 when Batman finally made it back to television in the cartoon series, Superfriends, the Batmobile was back to the basic Furtura again. All in all during Batman's rain as the Caped Crusader, he's had close to 200 different versions of the Batmobile. Some with major changes some with small changes, some in the comic books, some in coloring books. Some on towels and some in the movies. You can see the complete History of the Batmobile in further detail.

Well you'd think they'd change the batmobile drastically however the first batmobile was still the same basic design as the 1962 version. With a few modifications such as smaller fins, a jet engine, full roof and self-sealing tires. A few of the other batmobile designs came from such cars as Dodge Viper, TVR Speed 12, Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR, Dodge Viper, Opel Speedster, 1961 Chevrolet Impala, Ford GT90, BMW Mille Miglia and the Lamborghini Reventon. Or you could always find out the details of them all at the History of the Batmobile.