The batmobiles

So I'm not sure where it all started, but I began buying them at car boots and comic cons and the collection grew. I tend to buy the smaller ones as they take up less space and obviously cost less. The collection mostly lives packed away so I thought it might be a nice idea to photograph it all so I knew what I had and then I was asked by a fellow Batman fan if I was going to share the photos online, so here they are.

The other advantage is of course I can refer to this page myself when out and about and not end up with any duplicates. So without further ado, here is the blog page noone asked for...

 A Corgi with a Bat head shaped ram.

 Your bog standard Lego kit, came with a Riddler Dragster.

 Batman vs Superman Hotwheels, in my opinion the Batmobile reflects the film, some good bits but very forgettable.

 2004-2008 Animated series The Batman from Hotwheels. A manga influenced series with a limited pallete and bizarre redesigns of a lot of the characters.

 A Corgi Batplane, the wings fold back, presumable to become a submarine?

 Hotwheels, a bizarre dragster spoiler on the back.

 Bike from 1978, no visible manfacturer.

 The classic 66 Batmobile, a Corgi casting from 1976.

 1995, no manufacturer mark, Batman Forever. Very light plastic so possible promotional toy?

 Hotwheels Bane tumbler from Dark Knight Rises.

 Hotwheels tumbler, from Batman Begins.

Hotwheels, strange to see in purple. Couldn't really say it is based on a particular design. 

 Hotwheels, based on '89 Batman but with added flame decals.

 Narrow gauge Batmobile from Ertl. From Batman Returns. For those that don't remember Bruce makes the car thinner to fit down a small alleyway.  I have had the joy of seeing the original of this car in the Lake District in the aptly named museum "Cars of the Stars!" (Exclamation mark mandatory.)

 Ertl again, Batski boat. Bruce drives this through the tunnels of Gotham to face off against the Penguin in the climax of Batman Returns.

 Talking of Penguin, here he is in his own Corgi car from 1979.

 Jokermobile from Hotwheels, 1983.

 Batman Animated from Hotwheels.

 The Adam West Batman Batcopter. After series one of Batman 66, they made the movie, mainly so they could get the budget to buy props like the Batcopter.

 Batcopter, the card art looks Jim Lee in style, so I am presuming the copter is also based on a design from the comics.

Batman Brave and the Bold, in the series the car at moments can transform into a giant robot, now if they could make that?

 Finally they got the car into a game properly (Gotham city racer does not count, it sucked, although I did play it to conclusion out of Batloyalty.) Arkham Knight is a near perfect Batman game and I shall take this opportunity to to boast that I have 100% completion.

 Not just fashion in the 80's had its moments...

 The Batman again. Seriously, the Joker had dreadlocks and bare feet.

 I can only assume the design was due to technicalities of the staging?

 The '89 Batmobile, one the best designs, so why did they have to make the front wheels so big?

 Come back to me in twenty years and I still won't have decided if I like this design or not. It looks nothing like a bat, yet it is kinda intimidating.

 Brave and the Bold again, this time with the red trim borrowed from the '66 design. Love this series. I never thought anything would match up to the Bruce Timm and Paul Dini Batman and this manages to take a completely different direction and be just as good a quality animated series.

 A giant Hot Wheels collection '66. With working steering and opening doors.

A Lego Tumbler. Tiny version.

Another tiny Lego mobile, no specific design.

Lego Batwing, similar to the design from the '89 movie.

The Bat-pod. No rider, I always found it weird that Hot Wheels bikes had no riders, a bit like when Transformers disguised themselves as bikes without riders.

The Arkham Asylum car. If I remember correctly car disappointed in the game.

The ol' reliable '66 again.

This design again, but in blue.

The '89 Design again but with large front wheels, but with the bizarre flame decals again.

A Hot Wheels black humvee with Batman logos. Released to coincide with Dark Knight Rises.

A Hot Wheels Monster truck.

So, you know those bizarrely tiny little books you can buy from the perspex spinner at the till in Waterstones? That come with with a small novelty item? Well, here are two of those items. The car reminds me of the the Batmobile from the Knightfall saga from the nineties

Another Hot Wheels monster truck, this time a lot larger. The wheels are around 20cm in diameter. The buttons on top make some random noises and make the wheels spin.

Fisher Price, the middle "fin" turns like a key in the ignition and makes engine noises.

Fisher Price again, the ram jumps forward at the push of a button.

I must have put at least three quids worth of two pence coins into arcade machine trying to win one of these suckers. I gave up and then bought one with tickets at the prize booth instead. I'm going to say he isn't actually the Joker, but one of the Joker gang members from Batman of the Future.

Talking of Batman of the Future (or Batman Beyond) here is his "car". All four wings fold down for "flight mode".

A giant Tumbler, the buttons make side panels pop open and fire rockets.

A Fisher Price Batwing, pull the wings back and discs fire out the front.

Ertl set from 1989. I found these on a holiday site gathering dust at the back of the toy section of the on site store. 

Dick never got his own car, it wasn't until Tim Drake took over that Robin got his own four wheels.

Not really a lot to say about this one. I found a bunch of Corgi on a stall at a wargame show, it's bizarre where you buy things sometimes.

Matchbox the Bat. Weird that this one time Matchbox got the licence. 

An Ertl 89 Batmobile. Don't get excited, the turbine sound is more of a clicking noise.

The ol' classic again. This time a reproduction of of a model kit. You can't tell in the photo but I really have painted a tiny Bruce and Dick. Allegedly Burt Ward was once injured when the door flew open in a high speed turn during filming.

Check out the fin on this one!

The Tumbler again, from a magazine bit part, part one, £1.99 each issue after that horrendously more. You get the idea.

Yep, 1944 they promised us the hover car. I swear if he wasn't in a separate comic universe I would say Howard Stark stole this design.

The classic again, from the bit part magazine. Nice to see it in the bat-cave. A customised 1955 Lincoln Futura. There were five Batmobiles made during the run of the series.

Keaton with his car. I have to admit to the '89 film being the reason I got into Batman. Yes I used to get up ridiculously early on a Saturday morning and watch Adam West and Burt Ward (sorry Dad!) but Tim Burton's Batman flicked a switch in my imagination.

From Grant Morrison's Batman and Robin, Bruce takes his son Damian under his wing as his new Robin. Either designed by Frank Quitely or Philip Tan.

The Batman Forever car. It always annoyed me the way it "bounced" as it drove along. It really didn't seem a practical vehicle for fighting crime.

Another Tumbler, this one with a stop and go motor.

An Ertl '89 with enclosed cockpit.

A couple of Corgi's, with and without driver.

The Batwing, from Ertl again

A Batman Begins Micro Scalectrix set. The police car lights light up, strangely though the police car is still quicker than the tumbler.

A Fisher Price Batwing.

An Ertl '89 with open cockpit, I guess Bruce needs a ride that can fit his cowl in. In a strange coincidence, the original costume for Michael Keaton's Batman, the ears were too tall and had to be shortened so that the cockpit could be closed.

A metal Ertl '89

Two Ertl Keaton designs. The yellow symbol denotes it being tied in to the '89 Batman movie, the grey symbol is a re-release to coincide with Batman Returns '92.

I really must stop finding these in boxes of cars at carboots. I just can't help rescuing them.

Push the light down in between the windscreens and the little battering ram pops out.

One cannot discuss the helicopter without mentioning the bat shark repellant. Someone once asked me how he knew it was a "batshark"

A slightly stumpy version of the '89.

Brave and the Bold, note it has a split cockpit as if it has two seats, yet open it up there is one seat, go figure.

Ah, the animated series. Possibly one of the greatest pieces of animated television viewing ever. It still holds up today and gave us Harley Quinn. It also gave us the brilliant two part story Heart of Ice, Mr Freeze suddenly has his own tale to tell.

The original vehicle, Batman just drive the family saloon.

And finally, the Justice League car. I watched the movie again recently and I am a superhero movie apologist, but year, it is quite flawed. I notice noone has made a toy of the godawful Nightcrawler thing from the tunnel fight.

Anyway, that is the lot for now. There may be more to come. Who am I kidding, there most definitely will be more at some point. Comments, rants, shouts of despair at favourite not being listed yet most definitely welcome.