batmobile

$1.55 million Tumbler Batmobile ready to race

The 3,000-mile Gumball 3000 rally turns 15 this year, and there are some pretty impressive cars in the mix.

We have an absolutely clear favorite, though. Saudi Arabian Team Galag, two brothers and second-time Gumball 3000 racers, have built something new to the rally table: a scale model of Batman's Tumbler, built by Florida-based bespoke car builder Parker Brothers Concepts, at a cost of around $1.55 million.

"Every year, the Gumball 3000 plays host to some of the most expensive vehicles in the world," Team Galag said on their Web page. "This year it was decided that we wanted to drive something a little more original. Enter the TG1." … Read more

Google's Brin in a pink Batmobile, wearing Google Glass

When you work at one of the world's most successful -- and occasionally silliest -- companies, it's hard to create wonderful April Fool's pranks.

After all, you're supposed to contribute your best ideas to the company, so that they might be selected as one of the 15 or so that are used to fool the world on April 1.

It's astonishing that any Googlies have time left over for personal japes. You know, like punking the boss, for example.

And yet, evidence has emerged that members of the Google(x) team -- which I believe … Read more

Pow! Bam! Original Batmobile sells for $4.6 million

There is one star of the original Batman television series that hasn't aged a bit in the decades since the show went off the air. The original 1966 Batmobile is still a beauty. If you had a big enough pocket book and were in Scottsdale, Ariz., for the Barrett-Jackson auto auction over the weekend, you would have had a chance at driving it home for your personal collection.

The modified 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car commanded a whopping $4.62 million selling price, taking the crown as Barrett-Jackson's highest-selling car at the annual auction. As we've learned, the cost of being Batman isn't cheap, but this would surely put at least a dent in Bruce Wayne's ample budget.… Read more

If Batman drove a Kia, it would look like this

The Batmobile (in all of its various incarnations) is probably as famous as the Batman who pilots it. However, if you should happen to find yourself in New York this week (perhaps for some sort of comic book convention), you'll be able to get a peek at the car that Kia Motors would like to see as the Caped Crusader's next set of wheels: a top-of-the-line Kia Optima SX Limited. Well, they at least got the color right.

Personally, I'd like to think that if Batman were to drive a front-wheel-drive, Korean sports car, he'd be … Read more

'The Dark Knight Rises' keeps your attention

The official game for the latest Batman movie is here, and it packs a huge punch. Weighing in at around 1.8GB, The Dark Knight Rises for Android boasts impressive 3D graphics, a heavy storyline, and a whole Batcave full of gadgets for you to play with.

While the game's plot isn't exactly loyal to the movie's, it is still incredibly engaging and complex, especially as mobile games go. Fortunately, there's also a lot of story animation to help keep it moving smoothly. All of the characters are there with their own agendas, just as in … Read more

Batman's budget: Being a caped crusader isn't cheap

Back in college I might spend all day and night debating deep questions like: "Hey bro, how much do you think Bruce Wayne spends on all that Batman bling?"

Sadly, I no longer have the time for such deliberations, but fortunately there are still people in college right now who do.

Centives, which is made up of a team of economics students at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Penn., dug into the digits of what it actually costs to be Batman and came up with a real-world tally for all that fictional crime-fighting schwag -- $2.8 million. However, more than two-thirds of that bill comes from over-zealous orders of 10,000 graphite helmets (with the parts sent to different locations and aliases to avoid being discovered), which means that simply finding a trusted supplier for that iconic cowl could save nearly $2 million.… Read more

How much would the Batmobile cost?

A Prius is great on gas mileage, but sometimes saving your city from a megalomaniacal super villain takes priority over saving the planet--at least I presume that's the ethical calculus Bruce Wayne must have done when he opted to lay down some serious green for the Batmobile.

But just how big of a bank account or estate do you need to drive home in the pinnacle of fantasy supercar/weapons on wheels?

That kind of question sounds like a party to the number-crunching superfan Lehigh University economics students who blog at Centives--you know, the same aspiring pop-culture economists who gave us an estimate for building a real Death Star.

They got together and pored over the list of vehicles that have served as the base model for the Batmobile in various comics, movies, games, and other media forms over the last century. It's a very lengthy list that includes everything from the original Batmobile based on a 1936 Cord 812, to a 1955 Lincoln Futura or the more modern Lamborghini Murcielago. … Read more

$620,000 Batmobile replica for sale on eBay

You really can buy anything on eBay. Putsch Racing put its one-off turbine-powered Batmobile for sale on eBay. Priced at $620,000, the Batmobile is a replica of the supercar that appeared in the 1989 movie "Batman." And yes, it's street legal.

This Batmobile was built in just five months by Casey Putsch at the Putsch Racing facility in Dublin, Ohio, and it's powered by a 365-horsepower turbine engine from decommissioned military helicopter. When you start the car, it sounds like it's ready for takeoff. In the eBay listing, Putsch warns that systems take a bit of time to warm up, but once you get going, the Batmobile is capable of a top speed of approximately 165 to 180 mph. … Read more

The 404 893: Where we never rub another man's rhubarb (podcast)

The world's most expensive 3G iPad 2 is up for purchase on eBay with a "Buy it Now" price of $620,000...and it comes with a 1:1 replica of the Batmobile featured in the original Tim Burton movies.

On today's episode of The 404 podcast, we'll about the original Batmobile design and get to more stories, including Beyonce setting Twitter records with her pregnancy announcement at this weekend's VMAs, 260 mph paintballs causing problems for plastic surgeons, and a Dominos pizza location on the moon. We also choose sides in the Chris Brown vs. Jay-Z feud!

The 404 Digest for Episode 893

Beyonce's VMA fallout sets record at 8,868 Tweets per second. Beyonce and Jay-Z's baby already has a Twitter page. The original Tim Burton Batmobile is up for sale on eBay. Paintball shot ruptures woman's silicone breast implant. Dominos to open first generic pizza store on the moon.

Episode 893 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Crave 51: Why robots shouldn't sing (podcast)

In this episode of the Crave podcast we examine the highs and lows of recent robotic advancements, including robot lightsaber duels, emotion-sensing animatronic cat ears, and a robotic mouth that is heebie-jeebies incarnate. We also take a look at a working, turbine-powered Batmobile, and a couple of Android-powered RC toys.

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