Replica Batmobile on sale for £120,000

Batman fans can now buy a fully roadworthy replica Batmobile, complete with rocket exhaust flamethrower, chromed rocket tubes and double ‘bubble’ windscreens, for £120,000.

The cars are built by Mark Racop of the Indiana-based group Fiberglass Freaks and can be made to order for UK customers through the wacky gift website Firebox.com.

Mr Racop, a fan of Batman since the age of 2, studied all 120 episodes of Batman in creating his Bat 1 replica car in 2000.

He has since made 10, one of which was bought recently by Mark Perkins – the only British owner of a Batmobile.

Mr Perkins runs Character Cars, a replica film car hire group which boasts James Bond’s 007 Goldfinger Aston Martin DB5, Starsky and Hutch’s Ford Torino and Del Boy’s van from Only Fools and Horses.

While the Batmobile’s top speed is limited to 90 miles an hour, its litany of extraordinary features; such as a flashing read beacon, automatic Batbeam antenna grid and glowing Detect-a-Scope radar screen, could make it expensive to insure. The car is seven foot wide and almost 20 feet long, weighing 1.75 tonnes.

Despite its status as an official DC Comics approved, 1966 replica, the Batmobile has been brought up to date with a six speaker sound system and dash-mounted DVD player.

A spokesman for the insurance group Direct Line told Channel 4 News: “If a non-superhero wanted to insure a replica Batmobile, we would have to be convinced that it was only being driven for social rather than business use. Then, we would consider the driver’s experience and previous claims, and would have to have a high claim excess as replacement parts would be hard to find.

“A 40-year-old man living in the suburbs might be looking at an annual premium of several thousand pounds depending on his individual circumstances, plus a compulsory excess of at least £5,000 payable if he made a claim.”

The Batmobile has already featured on the TV programme Top Gear and tends to bring traffic to a standstill wherever it goes, said Mr Perkins.

“Jeremy Clarkson – all three of them – just laughed and laughed. It gets so much attention – mainly from men aged 40-45. It brought Windsor to a standstill recently – the police had to move me on,” he told Channel 4 News.

He said he pays around £4,000 a year to insure the Batmobile, which he bought as a replacement for a model he bought in 1988.

“The new one is made of fibreglass and so has nicer shapes,” he said, adding that his older version – now for sale – is made of light steel.

Mr Perkins has set his sights on adding Lady Penelope car from the Thunderbirds series to his collection next.

FAB1 is a modified pink Rolls-Royce with a bulletproof bubble canopy that is currently owned by the Heritage Motor Centre in Gaydon, Warwickshire.

“I know who owns it and we’ve been in negotiations but sadly I don’t think the museum is going to give it up,” Mr Perkins said.

Firebox buyers found the Batmobile online during their search for the next bizarre, aspirational product.

Their top ten sellers currently include giant blanket/jumper, the Slanket, and the magic wand remote control – which combines the controls for your TV, digibox, satellite, stereo and any other infra-red device.

A spokesman for Firebox told Channel 4 News: “We are not expecting loads of interest, it is a novelty item – a bit of fun.”