BAT OUT OF HELL

PERTH-BASED BATMAN FAN ANDREW HE FULFILLED A LIFELONG DREAM WHEN BUILT THIS TRICKED-OUT 1966 BATMOBILE BASE TRIBUTE ATOP A LINCOLN CONTINENTAL

MY FATHER WARNED ME HOW EXPENSIVE WOULD AND TIME-CONSUMING IT BE, BUT ALL I COULD THINK ABOUT WAS HOW AMAZING THE CAR WOULD LOOK WHEN WE WERE FINISHED

BY DAY, Andrew Cox from South Perth is a mild-mannered, numbercrunching financial advisor. But at night, he likes to don the Batsuit, hop into his 1966 Batmobile, and cruise around ensuring the streets of Gotham City, Western Australia are safe. Andrew’s recently completed Batmobile is a childhood dream come true for the 44-yearold, who became enamoured with the car 40 years ago when he would watch re-runs of the Batman TV show in his native Scotland. “It was my first dream car, and I decided I would one day buy a car like Batman’s,” he recalls. Of course, the original Batmobile was built by custom guru George Barris from a 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car, but finding details about it in the pre-internet age proved impossible for Andrew. It wasn’t until 1996 that he found the answer he’d been seeking. “I plugged a telephone lead into a dial-up modem and connected to the internet for the first time, but I was disappointed with what I found,” says Andrew. “My dream car was a one-off Lincoln concept car named the Futura. I was crushed, but not deterred.” A further search revealed a handful of enthusiasts building replica Batmobiles in North America. “Some were better than others, and the better ones were pretty good,” Andrew says. “As my father, David Cox, owns and operates Argyll Restorations, I knew we could produce a replica ourselves. I just needed the time and money to do it.” It took another 18 years for the planets to finally align, and about another year for Andrew to convince his dad to get onboard with his crazy scheme. The first step was to purchase a rare 1979 Lincoln Continental Collector’s Series to use as the base. Andrew and David then built a steel birdcage frame onto the chassis to attach to a dimensionally accurate fibreglass body imported from Canada. “It was moulded by Don Currie, a Batmobile builder who has spent much of his life carefully researching the car,” explains Andrew. “Unfortunately, by the time the shell arrived in Australia it required extensive repairs. My father warned me how expensive and timeconsuming it would be, but all I could think about was how amazing the car would look when we were finished. Despite his advice, I had no idea of the enormity of the project.” The Batmobile was built on weekends, with most of the work done by Andrew and David in the Argyll Restorations workshop. Andrew estimates that when you add up the hours spent, the build took a full year out of their lives. “Pretty much everything we built, bought or had engineered needed to be modified, replaced or remanufactured for one reason or another,” he says. “Often a perfectly good part would arrive, but due to a modification elsewhere on the car, it would also need to be modified. For this reason each day felt like two steps forward, one step back.” Much of the Continental’s drivetrain was retained to incorporate as much Lincoln DNA as possible. The Ford 400M motor was

internals, rebuilt by Roger May using stock electric while a custom radiator with twin made by fans and modified filler neck was MCE Ross Chisari of Leo’s Radiator Service. exhaust Motorsport fashioned a custom twin to accommodate the RHD conversion. at a “After spending my whole life looking left-hand-drive Batmobile, my right-hand-drive Andrew version took some getting used to,” master admits. “Moving the brake system and and cylinder over was no simple exercise, credit to Roger May who made it possible.” the kind This Batmobile has been built with the Joker of diabolical trickery that not even and it and Riddler combined could match, books to would take an entire series of comic detail every modification. was One of the bigger challenges shaft to redesigning the steering into the accommodate seven wires that feed the half-shaped steering wheel and control warning embedded indicator switches and lights, which required some out-of-the-box at RRS electronic genius from Rory Smith May. Installations and engineering by Roger and Likewise, strengthening the floor is no flex securing it to a rollbar – so there doors are between the front and rear when the up on any corner open and the car is jacked – was an involved process. visible Fitting bonnet hinges so they’re not when the bonnet is open, and symmetrically so it slides shaping the half-diamond front beak into the stainless-steel engine compartment bodywork while maintaining a tight gap to the As did the when closed took countless hours. wouldn’t fitment of a working roll-top dash that steering interfere with the electrics, rollbar, column and dash switches. caused Andrew reckons the element that window the most sleepless nights was the a set of canopies. “I originally purchased

BOUGHT OR HAD PRETTY MUCH EVERYTHING WE BUILT, REPLACED OR ENGINEERED NEEDED TO BE MODIFIED, OR ANOTHER REMANUFACTURED FOR ONE REASON

ABOVE: The 1979 Lincoln Continental Collector’s Series that sits beneath Andrew’s Batmobile was once a restored beauty that he bought from Queensland. Only 2040 were produced in white, and Andrew took no pride in hacking it up. “Tearing down a beautiful car to use only the chassis, engine and gearbox still feels like a crime,” he says. “I found a long letter from the previous owner detailing the car’s history and how he went about restoring it. I felt terrible reading it while the car produced a symphony of screeches as Dad’s grinder cut through three thick skins of steel”

RIGHT: The half-shaped steering wheel is a modified Us-sourced Fiberglass Freaks item with working indicator controls and warning lights. Skateboard ball bearings were inserted into redesigned aluminium wheel hubs to allow the centrally located bat symbol to spin and land face-up when the car is parked. “This consumed a lot of aluminium machining and a week of trial and error to ensure they don’t fly off while driving,” says Andrew

ABOVE: The interior signage was done by Fiberglass Freaks and Allmark. Perth Stripes & Signs labelled the full complement of anti-crime Bat-sprays: Anti Lethal Fog Bat-spray, Bat-nesia Gas, Bat Sleep, Bat Wake, Barracuda Repellent, Whale Repellent, Manta-ray Repellent and Shark Repellent

The working flamethrower out back was achieved through no small amount of trial and error. “Few gas fitters are qualified to fit such, or even dared get involved,” Andrew says. “After many months of tinkering and experimenting with gas fitters, we eventually achieved the desired effect, with safety controls fitted on the dash”