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It was a concept car that became an iconic part of classic TV. From blueprints to the Batmobile, explore the rich history of the 1955 Lincoln Futura!
One Car with Two Renowned Looks
Some car designs are so famous that people across generations will recognize them immediately. The Lincoln Futura is one of those cars. If you don’t know it by that name, you may know it as the Batmobile. It became forever tied to the caped crusader when it was used in the 1966 hit television series, ‘Batman.’ We previously mentioned the Futura in our ranking of the best Batmobiles. It also made our list of the Top 10 TV Hero Cars of All Time.
There’s an interesting history behind this classic, though. It went from once being sold for $1 to being auctioned for more than $4 million. Just how did it go from being a concept car to a memorable part of TV history? Hop in for a ride down memory lane and learn more about the car that only Batman got to drive!
Before Batman: A Conceptual Start
The origin of the Lincoln Futura can be traced back to 1952 when Ford Motor Company designer Bill Schmidt was the head of the Lincoln-Mercury design studio. While he and his friend Bill Mitchell, a GM designer, took a scuba diving vacation in the Bahamas, they were captivated by the underwater life they saw. The aquatic animals inspired Schmidt to create the Lincoln Futura, and also eventually inspired Mitchell to create the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray. Talk about a successful getaway! Hopefully they expensed that trip huh?
At the time, Ford’s Lincoln division was interested in bold, futuristic concept cars that would make the brand stand out and excite car spectators. Benson Ford, a fan of concept cars, approved the assembly of a team to make this vision a reality. John Najjar, a designer and stylist for Ford known for helping design the first Ford Mustang prototype, was part of the Lincoln Futura team.
By 1955, a full-size mockup was made, consisting of a Lincoln Continental chassis and 368 compression ignition engine. To save on the more expensive U.S. manufacturing costs, Ford sent the mockup to Ghia Body Works, an Italian automobile design and coach-building company, in Turin, Italy. There, the body was forged by hand with an overall price tag of $250,000.
A Dynamic Debut
After 11 months of assembly, the Lincoln Futura was unveiled at the 1955 Chicago Auto Show. The finished product was almost 19 feet long and seven feet wide. It was 52.8 inches high. The rear quarter panels were pointy, rocket-like. Plexiglass domes were placed over the two bucket seats. Since this domed concept enclosed passengers, the cabin was equipped with a microphone that amplified outside noises. The body was finished in metal instead of fiberglass. A shiny blue-white pearlescent finish was chosen as a nod to the tropical fish that Schmidt saw in the Bahamas. The Lincoln Futura was finished off with white and blue leather seats. The engine was said to have made 300 horsepower.
Ford was eager to get audience feedback on the number of futuristic styling innovations, so after the Chicago Auto Show, they moved the 1955 Lincoln Futura to the Detroit and New York Auto Shows, too. Then, it was shown at fairs and races, as well as at Lincoln dealership showrooms. Ford also intended to test the Futura with the typical hazards and conditions of the road. The experimental car was to be used as a laboratory on wheels, gaining valuable engineering data for other future projects.
Moving to the Big Screen
Even though Ford intended to use the Lincoln Futura as an experimental vehicle, the Futura ended up being used in films thanks to now-legendary Hollywood car customizer George Barris. He was doing a few projects for Ford in 1959, and helped arrange for the Futura to be used in the movie, ‘It Started with a Kiss,’ starring Glenn Ford and Debbie Reynolds.
The car was sent to Madrid, Spain for the filming of the movie. Producers didn’t like the way the pearlescent paint showed up on film, so the Futura was repainted red. Even in a new color, the Lincoln Futura commanded attention. According to Metro Goldwyn Mayer Studios, the Futura caused such a gathering in the streets of Madrid that special government policemen were assigned to disperse the crowds.
Ford featured the Futura in their own documentary piece about the Ford Design Center in Dearborn, Michigan, but, after that, it sat Barris’ shop in Los Angeles. While Barris was looking through movie scripts to feature the Futura, the balance of power was shifting at Ford Motor Company. Eugene Bordinat was appointed Vice President and Head of Styling.
In a cost-cutting measure, Bordinat ended up using Barris to build customized production cars instead of authorizing work on more expensive concept cars. Through those projects, Barris built enough of a relationship with Bordinat and Ford that they ended up selling the 1955 Lincoln Futura to Barris for just $1 in December 1965. During that same time, Barris and Twentieth Century Fox came to an agreement on using the Futura as the Batmobile for the half-hour ‘Batman’ TV series on the ABC network.
Becoming The Batmobile
The 1955 Lincoln Futura wasn’t the original choice for Batman’s vehicle. Initially, FOX was going to use a 1959 Cadillac, but those plans changed studio executives pushed up the filming schedule. Despite the tight deadline, Barris knew transforming the Futura into the Batmobile was the right choice.
How did he end up modifying the science fiction-inspired Lincoln Futura into one of TV’s most recognizable vehicles? To start, the sharp side fins were crafted into bat wings, extended all the way up to the front windshield. That metalwork was subcontracted to Bill Cushenbury, who said extending the fins into the doors was the most problematic part of the project. After forming the steel body, the vehicle weighed 5,500 lbs. It was powered by a 429 Ford Full Race engine along with nitrous oxide. The work was completed in 15 days at a cost of allegedly around $30,000.
Additional work was done after initial footage was shot. Barris gave the vehicle a makeover with glossy black paint, adding a Batman logo in bright orange to the sides of the driver and passenger doors. It took 40 coats of super gloss paint to get the color just right. The vehicle once fascinated people as the Lincoln Futura became the Batmobile. Barris allowed Fox and ABC to use the vehicle for $150 per episode.
Stuntman Hubie Kerns drove the vehicle for anything involving higher speeds (like the famous opening sequence of the TV show), but actor Adam West regularly drove the transformed Lincoln Futura while portraying Batman. Even though most people would consider it an honor to sit behind the wheel of a one-of-a-kind vehicle like that, West had some issues with how it performed. While West said the car looked wonderful when filmed, the suspension wasn’t very good, making it more difficult to drive. The battery died regularly, the Mickey Thompson tires failed, and the brakes didn’t always work.
This was an aging vehicle that was being pushed to its limits, the engine was replaced with an engine and transmission from a Ford Galaxie. The steering wheel was also replaced with a Ford Edsel wheel because West didn’t like the U-shaped design of the original. During the years of filming, the Futura was insured for $125,000.
An Active Retirement and Lasting Legacy
Several Batmobile replicas were made, using fiberglass and a Ford Galaxie chassis, but there’s just one original. The Lincoln Futura-turned-Batmobile was used at auto shows and other public events in the decades that followed the TV fame from ‘Batman.’ When Barris placed it up for sale at auction in 2013, it sold for a whopping $4.62 million!
After the long-lasting success of the 1960s Batman series, the Lincoln Futura concept car can sometimes be forgotten. Mike Towle, from the Netflix show ‘Car Masters: Rust to Riches,’ took a different approach in 2015, making a replica not of the Batmobile, but of the Lincoln Futura. Whether you recognize it as the 1966 Batmobile or the 1955 Lincoln Futura, an impressive shared history cements it as one of the world’s most famous cars ever created.
Are you Interested in even more automotive history and car culture? If so, be sure to read our other features like Harley Earl: The Father of Automotive Design, Who Was Lee Iacocca?, and Restomod: Bringing Classics Forward. To learn more about George Barris and other influential names from Southern California, click on our What is Kustom Kulture? piece.
