The Batmobile's Wild, $4.2 Million Ride

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Plenty of rare vehicles routinely cross the blocks at Barrett-Jackson's Scottsdale auctions, but few have stirred as much buzz as the original Batmobile, which sold yesterday for $4.2 million (or $4,620,000 after the buyer's premium.)

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The bubble-topped, 19 foot-long, 5,500-lb two-seater started life as a 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car which had been purchased by customizer/builder George Barris from the Ford Motor Company for one dollar. In 1966, Barris modified the ride into a TV-ready icon in 15 days with a budget of $15,000, and the bubble-topped machine quickly became a part of pop culture iconography. The car stayed exclusively in Barris's family before meeting its second owner, Rick Champagne of?Champagne Logistics,?nearly half a century later.

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Though it's far from the most expensive vehicle?sold at an auction, the laser shooting, parachute-deploying, crime-fighting Batmobile?is a reminder for auto enthusiasts everywhere that sometimes a slice of pop culture history is just as compelling as race provenance, mechanical obscurity, or conventional automotive beauty.

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Source: Speed TV

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/news/auto-blog/the-batmobiles-wild-$4.2-million-ride?src=rss

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