If you’re an American of a certain age, seeing a be-finned big black convertible with red or orange accents is likely to leave the Neal Hefti’s theme to the 1966 Batman TV show stuck in your head. No, the 1959 Buick Electra 225 wasn’t the Batmobile, either on TV or in the comics, but it does look like one. Here’s why.
1959 Buick Electra 225 convertible in Sable Black with red leather upholstery / Mecum Auctions
Like many people of my generation, I grew up with the Batman show in syndicated reruns, in the long fallow period before the rights issues were sorted out to allow an official DVD and Blu-ray release. I also have a more than passing interest in the history of the Batman character, which reached its 85th birthday in 2024. (Years ago, I created an annotated timeline called the Golden Age Batman Chronology, which is now part of Mike Kooiman’s Cosmic Teams website.)
1966 Barris Batmobile
Even after decades of comics, movies, and animation, the most famous Batmobile is still the one featured in the 1966–1968 TV show with Adam West and Burt Ward (and its 1966 feature film spinoff). As many auto enthusiasts probably already know, that Batmobile was developed by California customizer George Barris based on the 1955 Lincoln Futura, a Ford Motor Company concept car.
1955 Lincoln Futura show car / Ford Motor Company
Originally designed by Bill Schmidt, John Najjar, and Stan Thorwaldsen, the Futura was built for Lincoln by Carrozzeria Ghia in Italy for $75,000. It used a modified 1953 Lincoln chassis (left over from a test mule for the Continental Mark II), so it was a “runner,” although it was not pleasant to drive or ride in — it was strictly for looks. Ford displayed the Futura at various auto shows in the mid-’50s, beginning in January 1955.
1955 Lincoln Futura in its original color / Ford Motor Company
George Barris later saved the Futura and a number of other Ford show cars from being cut up for scrap, instead finding them new roles in Hollywood movies and TV shows. In the mid-’60s, Ford agreed to sell him the car for a dollar, to avoid liability issues.
Not long afterward, Twentieth Century Fox and Greenway Productions commissioned Barris to create the Batmobile for the upcoming Batman TV show. Barris decided to customize the Futura, which had been languishing in the lot of his North Hollywood shop since 1963, substituting a new Ford Galaxie chassis and running gear. (He also created several duplicates for filming purposes, also on full-size Ford chassis; all had modern Ford FE engines.)
Barris subcontracted most of the metalwork on the Futura-Batmobile conversion to fellow customizer Bill Cushenberry / George Barris photo via Dean’s Garage
In later years, some Ford fans decried the 1966 Batmobile as a ghastly desecration of the original Futura, but if the car hadn’t ended up in Barris’s hands, it would almost certainly have been scrapped years earlier. “Ford wanted to have the vehicles chopped and squashed and I kept saying ‘no,'” Barris said in a 1995 interview. “It’s ridiculous to destroy these things that can be used.”
Barris owned the original Futura Batmobile until 2013, two years before his death / George Barris photo via Dean’s Garage
The Batman producers paid Barris $5,000 for the custom work, but allowed him to retain ownership of both the design and the car itself, which he rented to the producers for $120 per episode. Surprisingly, Barris was able to obtain a U.S. design patent on the modified Futura, which was issued on October 18, 1966 (USD205998). He owned the original car until 2013, when he sold it at auction for $4.6 million.
Figs. 1 to 3 of the Barris design patent, USD205998
Figs. 4 to 6 of the Barris design patent, USD205998
Although Barris was responsible for creating the TV car, there had been Batmobiles in the comics for 25 years before that. Batman had used several less-distinctive cars in the first year and a half of his comic book appearances, but the Batmobile as such first debuted in the Spring 1941 issue of the Batman comic book series. Here’s how the Batmobile appeared on the cover of Batman #20, about two and a half years later:
Cover of Batman #20 (December 1943/January 1944) by artist Dick Sprang / DC Comics
The Batmobile was a regular fixture of the comic books and of the 1943–1947 newspaper comic strip, and was featured in some of Batman’s guest appearances on the Adventures of Superman radio show. There was no live-action version of the ’40s Batmobile: Although Columbia Pictures produced two 15-chapter Batman serials in the ’40s, one in 1943 and the other in 1949, they were done on the cheap, so the early onscreen Batman and Robin had to make do with ordinary cars, with no budget for even simple custom work. (How things change …)
Cover of Detective Comics #156 (February 1950), by artist Dick Sprang / DC Comics
New-car fever came to Gotham City in Detective Comics #156 (February 1950), where the old Batmobile was wrecked and an injured Batman retreated to his underground Batcave to build an all-new model:
Unveiling the new Batmobile in Detective Comics #156, script by Joe Samachson, art by Dick Sprang and Stan Kaye / DC Comics
Today, major developments in Bat-paraphernalia like this are likely to be the subject of intensive meetings with the licensing staff (and the corporate suits would be skinned alive if they let an outside third party own the design rights). Before the 1966 TV show, though, the Batmobile, Batplane, Batboat, Flying Batcave (don’t ask), and other such vehicles were really just storytelling gimmicks. The only reasons for adding or redesigning them were either that the writers and editors thought they could get a story out of it, or they wanted to spruce up the look of the series.
Panel from World’s Finest Comics #113 (November 1960), script by Jerry Coleman, art by Dick Sprang and Sheldon Moldoff / DC Comics
The latter was what happened in 1964, when the Batman comics got an editorial shakeup (the “New Look”) to revive flagging sales. In Batman #164 (June 1964), scripted by France Herron, Batman declared, “The original Batmobile has had its day! The trend now is toward sports cars— small, maneuverable jobs!” The new Batmobile was a roadster, with open wheels, an open cockpit, and two gigantic tail fins rather than the dorsal fin:
Pinup illustration of the new Batmobile by artist Carmine Infantino, 1966 / DC Comics
This was the look of the comic book Batmobile when producer William Dozier conceived his pitch for the TV series. Dozier examined a big stack of the Batman comics — some of the TV show’s plots were lifted directly from earlier comic book stories — and I assume he saw various examples of the older and newer Batmobiles. Neither Dozier nor Barris created the Lincoln Futura, of course, but by coincidence, the Futura was pretty close to what you would have gotten if you’d given a concept artist examples of the various comic book Batmobiles and asked for a clean-sheet design combining elements of each version.
Which is also why the 1959 Buick immediately reminds me of the Batmobile: I wouldn’t say the Buick looks like the earlier Futura in any very specific way, but both the Futura and the Buick seem like variations on a similar set of ’50s themes. Also, while the Buick convertible looks the most like the Futura-Batmobile, the two-door hardtop version’s “bubbletop” roof is about as close as Detroit came in actual production to the earlier Batmobile bubble canopy.
Panel from Batman #73 (October/November 1952), script by David Vern Reed, art by Dick Sprang and Charles Paris / DC Comics
1959 Buick Invicta two-door hardtop in Arctic White and Sable Black / Bring a Trailer
Unlike the 1965-vintage comic book Batmobile, the Buick couldn’t become a hovercraft (a trick that was also beyond the budget of the TV show) …
Panels from Detective Comics #351 (May 1966), script by Gardner Fox, art by Carmine Infantino and Sid Greene / DC Comics
… but it gave up little in the tail fin department:
1959 Buick Electra 225 convertible in Sable Black / Mecum Auctions
Thankfully, the 1959 Buick had no atomic batteries (can you imagine, with ’50s ideas of safety?), but if you’re familiar with the workings of the Buick Twin Turbine or Triple Turbine automatic transmissions used in these cars, you wouldn’t be wrong to call out “Turbines to speed!” when accelerating from rest.
The 1959 Buick Electra 225 was powered by the 401 cu. in. Wildcat 445 “Nailhead” V-8 / Mecum Auctions
With 325 gross hp and 445 lb-ft of torque, the 1959 Electra 225 had ample power for pursuing dastardly villains. Motor Life, testing a 1959 Invicta of similar weight with the same powertrain, managed 0 to 60 mph in a brisk 9.3 seconds.
Electra 225 convertibles had standard leather upholstery, optional front buckets / Mecum Auctions
This Electra 225 is fully loaded, with air conditioning, power windows, a power top, and leather upholstery in addition to power steering, power brakes, and Twin Turbine transmission, but you’d have to stock your own Shark-Repellent Batspray.
No Bat-Ray, but full instrumentation and factory air conditioning / Mecum Auctions
There was plenty of room for portable crime labs, Bat-Rays, Batscanner Receivers, and other vital equipment.
Unlike the closed bodies, the 1959 Electra 225 convertible was 220.6 inches long rather than 225.4 / Mecum Auctions
Unfortunately, the sloping tail made the Buick’s trunk surprisingly cramped:
The AMA specs credit the 1959 Buick with 30.2 cu. ft. of usable trunk space, but I have doubts / Mecum Auctions
At least on the hardtop and convertible, the Electra 225 trunk was probably too small to hold a Whirly-Bat, the collapsible one-man helicopters Batman and Robin sometimes carried in the Batmobile trunk in the late ’50s and early ’60s comics:
Panel from Batman #121 (February 1959), script by Dave Wood, art by Sheldon Moldoff and Charles Paris / DC Comics
When the TV show became a hit, it triggered the first major deluge of Bat-Merchandise, and the Barris Batmobile was at the center of it. I don’t know what kind of revenue split Barris had with the comics publisher (then called National Periodical Publications, today DC Comics), but I presume Barris got a piece of the action — and there was a lot of it, including a popular Aurora model kit and a missile-firing Corgi metal Batmobile toy.
Early packaging for the Aurora plastic Batmobile model kit
The comics belatedly adopted the Barris Batmobile roughly halfway through the show’s three-season run and for a year or so afterward, after which it was pointedly dropped as an unwelcome reminder of the TV show’s no-longer-fashionable campy excesses:
Panel from Batman #217 (December 1969), script by Frank Robbins, art by Irv Novick and Dick Giordano / DC Comics
Still, the Barris Batmobile remained a merchandising mainstay through the ’70s in various forms — it was even re-scaled, somewhat awkwardly, for 8-inch Mego dolls:
1976 Mego Batmobile — the plastic canopies were often lost or broken
Finally, around 1980, DC Comics settled on a new “official” ’80s Batmobile design, to modernize it and probably also so they wouldn’t have to continue giving Barris a piece of the merchandising.
1984 toy version of the ’80s Batmobile from the Kenner Super Powers Collection; package art is by José Luis García-López
There have been numerous other Batmobiles since then, both in the comics and in the movies and TV shows, almost all with their own licensing tie-ins. In more recent decades, there have also been merchandising revivals of the older versions. For example, in the ’00s, Corgi did a whole series of 1:24 and 1:43 scale Bat-related vehicles, including ones that had never been offered as toys before. (The earlier Batmobiles occasionally reappear in the comics as well; a recurring bit is that Batman still has all the old Batmobiles, stashed somewhere in the Batcave.)
The 2004 Corgi 1:43 ’50s Batmobile isn’t terribly comics-accurate, but it is fun / Toys and Stuff
That the 1959 Buick looked like it was straight outta Gotham City was of course coincidental — I doubt most automotive designers of the time had much awareness of the Batman character (not nearly as ubiquitous in those days as now), and you can tell that most contemporary Batman comics artists were not what you’d call car guys.
1959 Buick Electra 225 convertible in Sable Black / Mecum Auctions
However, just as Barris was able to make a satisfactory Batmobile out of the Futura, it would take very little to make a black 1959 Electra 225 into a persuasive Batmobile pastiche.
1959 Buick Electra 225 convertible in Sable Black / Mecum Auctions
Photo manipulation is not something I’m particularly good at, but blowing up the winged Buick badges into larger bat-emblems wouldn’t be hard, and adding a mini Bat-Signal spotlight and a few other crimefighting accessories would complete the look.
1959 Buick Electra 225 convertible in Sable Black / Mecum Auctions
Amusingly, because there have been so many Batmobiles over the years, even fairly seasoned Bat-fans might be fooled, assuming that it was just was some version they hadn’t seen before. To paraphrase an old ad slogan, when better Batmobiles are built, will Buick build them?
Related Reading
CC For Sale: $84,900! Holy Mint Green Futuras, Batman! (by Stephen Pellegrino)
CC Caselaw: The Lincoln Futura, The Batmobile, And The Building Of Character (by Don Andreina)
1955 Lincoln Futura Morphs Into The Original Batmobile (by Paul N)
We’ve seen a brighter, more hopeful Superman have both box office and zeitgeist success but I don’t think DC is going to take a risk on bringing back campy Batman, especially given that the Batmobile and all the other Bat-Equipment serves as a reminder that Bruce Wayne’s only real superpower is money. That zeitgeist that absorbed hopeful-Superman like gentle rain on parched ground, isn’t looking as positively towards billionaires as it had just a few years ago.
As for the Buick, pretty much everything that could be said about the ’59 GMs has been. They represent the start of the transition, at least for the General, from the ’50s round-cornered and increasingly gingerbread-laden style to the crisper ones of the early ’60s but just the start. Pivoting back to the Batmobile that I too remember from ’80s reruns, wouldn’t its’ fins have looked extremely dated from the very start in 1968?
I wouldn’t necessarily agree: The ’66 TV show was a particularly extreme in its ridiculousness, which National/DC was less concerned about than they probably would be now because the Batman character was much less of a cash cow back then than since the ’80s. However, the late Keith Giffen figured out in the ’80s that you can still do all manner of silly or ridiculous stuff involving even a very grim-and-gritty Batman by simply treating him as the straight man: As long as Batman himself doesn’t break character, the bounds of what one can get away with are surprisingly generous. The clearest recent-ish example is the Batman: The Brave and the Bold cartoon show of the late ’00s, which is is frequently VERY silly, but generally avoids making Batman himself the butt of the joke. (The current Batman spinoff Harley Quinn animated series on HBO Max has largely avoided actually having Batman in costume, but they have made Bruce Wayne and his supporting characters the butt of the joke surprisingly often.)
Also, the ’60s TV show is still popular enough to have a lot of traction. From 2013 to about 2019, there was a Batman ’66 comic book series using the TV versions of the characters, with a whole assortment of tie-ins with other campy ’60s and ’70s properties (including The Man From U.N.C.L.E., John Steed and Emma Peel of The Avengers, the character from Archie, the Lynda Carter Wonder Woman, and a reunion with the TV version of the Green Hornet). While Adam West was still alive, there were a couple of animated continuations of the TV show, one of them featuring William Shatner as the tragic Batman villain Two-Face (who never actually appeared in the show, although Harlan Ellison wrote a script to introduce him). So, they’re more flexible about it than you might think.
The point where the Barris Batmobile actually appeared in the comic is somewhat arguable (there seems to have been some initial trepidation about it, maybe due to the rights situation), but it was around 1968, or the latter part of 1967, and then through the latter months of 1969, after the TV show was off the air. There was a real effort to downplay it in the early ’70s, which ultimately didn’t take, in part because the Batmobile kept appearing in other media and merchandising. The advantage of basing the Barris car on a showcar was that even though it was still kind of ’50s in theme, it wasn’t a production car, so it wasn’t like kids were going to see clapped-out used Lincoln Futuras driving around to spoil their immersion, and it had fins because it was the Batmobile, rather than that it was from the ’50s. (As the ’40s car illustrates, Batman had cars with giant fins before it was fashionable.)
If anyone’s curious, in 2021–2022, there was a situation related to the aforementioned HBO Max Harley Quinn animated series where DC corporate DID draw the line on something they thought would sully the image of the Batman character/brand. I am not going to try to relate it here because it’s definitely NSFW, but 1) it had nothing to do with campiness (or the Batmobile); 2) it was very funny; 3) it got DC ratioed mercilessly on Twitter for a week or two; and 4) what the Harley Quinn writers did instead was even funnier, although again NSFW. (If you do a web search for “Harley Quinn Batman Catwoman controversy,” you can read all about it, but maybe wait until you’re not at work.)
One day about 15 years ago, I saw a Batmobile driving on the highway near Indianapolis. I eventually learned that there has been a company building Batmobile replicas for quite a few years. I caught one of them at a local car show about a decade ago. The business (Fiberglass Freaks) appears to still be operating, according to their website.
“Panel from Batman #217 (December 1969), script by Frank Robbins, art by Irv Novick and Dick Giordano / DC Comics”
In true “six degrees of…” fashion, Irv Novick’s son, Wayne (not named after Bruce Wayne, as far as I know) has been a dear friend of mine for 30+ years. Wayne has made a fine retirement income from the sales of his father’s sketches and other miscellanea that were gathered after his father’s passing.
In the excellent movie about the Wrecking Crew, a story is told about recording the theme song for Batman. The musicians and singers all had the sheet music which said “words and music by Neal Hefti” and jokester Tommy Tedesco went around and crossed off the “s” from “words”.
My oldest brother had an AMT ’59 Buick model kit which he built with black exterior and red interior. I believe the tooling was lost/destroyed and that kit hasn’t been reissued and the price for an original is too dear for me.
I’d never seen the 1950 version. It’s obviously based on a Studie Commander!
The ’59 Buick fins are just as outrageous as Cadillac’s to my eyes. Prototypes and early mockups had a third, centered dorsal fin almost up to production. Chevrolet’s will always be the most bat-like though.
The Futura design amazes me; it’s almost like Ford’s designers knew it would someday form the basis of the Batmobile.
What a find, and comparison!
Looking at that 1959 225, it’s easy to suggest that GM’s early-to-mid-60s bucket seat design dates back to the 1950s.
This was a chock-full essay—-combining bits I know (and experienced as a 1960s kid learning what “camp” was) with oodles that i didn’t. Nice job!
I’m a Ford guy, but I find that Buick really snazzy (in terms of peak tailfin era)—wow!
The Futura’s style is stunning. This design could r i g h t f u l l y claim to be “Born From Jets”.
So very close!
In the 2001 live action TV series “The Tick” Nestor Carbonell’s character “Batmanuel” drove a ‘60 (LeSabre?) convertible dubbed the “Batmanuel-mobile’…absolutely perfect automotive casting!
While the overall effect of the ’59 Buick leaves me somewhat cold, it is a well-proportioned and relatively clean design and presents a most welcome contrast to its tasteless, lumpy, bejeweled 1958 predecessor.
I agree that a revival of the campy version of Batman is unlikely to materialize, at least not within the next five years – the darker versions are too recent in the public mind to go too far in the opposite direction. I have seen the new, more optimistic version of Superman and enjoyed it, finding it grounded in modern sensibilities without beating the audience over the head about it.
For my taste,I think the`59 Impala coupe would be a great Batmobile. The rear end treatment is practically there! Remember the old ‘Courageous Cat’ cartoon series? The ‘Catmobile’ had fine late 30s-early 40s style, a cat shape front and exhaust pipes from the hood back into the body like a Cord 810. Plus a rear stabilizer fin because it flew like a jet. And the show`s theme song? Puts the ‘Peter Gunn’ theme to shame!
Yes, I thought Courageous Cat was a great cartoon. I remember watching it while eating Campbell’s Soup for lunch in front of the TV when I was little. Loved the “dum-dum-dum-dum; dum-dum-dum-dum–dah-dah—–BAM!” theme song too!
I later found out that the Frog character was based on Edward G. Robinson.
The Catmobile Cave and the Bat Cave must have been in New Jersey, across the river from Gotham City (New York City).
Courageous Cat certainly inspired parts of the Batman TV show, because there are so many similarities.
I find that two tone ’59 Invicta glorious .
The details of this article are terrific .
-Nate
The Batmobile was fascinating. Julie Newmar was exponetionally more fascinating.
Yes, I found Julie Newmar as Catwoman to be very appealing, even at a young age. I loved that belt she wore!
This is a landmark and definitive article on Batman and the Batmobile. So well researched and put together. I learned a lot of things I didn’t know.
I’ve been a fan of the Batman TV show since Kindergarten days. I liked the fact that Mom’s ’62 Mercury Comet S-22 was kind of like the Batmobile, with the fins and all. I asked Dad if we could rig up something to make flames come out of the exhaust, like on Batman. Dad said no.
The ’59 Buick is a strikingly beautiful car, all models. However, the ’59s did have some engineering and longevity problems, and so few survive. Few appreciated their beauty in later years. One of my favorites of all time.
I got this novelty license plate for the front of my ’59 Chevy: “BAT-1 Gotham City”.
What a superb paean to a long-lived tract of utter junk culture.
That angry, angry Electra is probably my favorite crazy car from that crazy ’59 GM circus: frankly, I love it, dangerous and pointy coming or going. If one is going to go over the top, and beyond, let it be shouted about. Even the ’59 Caddy’s face is a coy thing by comparison.
I (obviously) saw the ’60’s show only as repeats in the ’70’s, and simply didn’t get the jokes, so I just found it yawnful. When I saw it again older, getting the jokes didn’t much improve it. And as for the Michael Keaton revival, the poor bloke has the charisma of a boiled potato, so it was no good either, and by the time he’d got into THAT Batshitmobile, I’m afraid I was snoring.
In a box somewhere I have a toy of a ’40s Batmobile with a Batshield (?) up front that can be released to be a Batbatteryram?. I loved the 60s shows until they had recycled the main villains (Joker, Riddler etc) so many times I outgrew it. Milton Berle as ?Big Louie?.
One thing I recall from the ’49 serial: Batman and Robin are driving a ’49 Merc convertible and Lana Lang ( the “Lois Lane” of the serial) asks Batman if Bruce Wayne knew he was using his car and BM snaps back: “Yes!!”