Criminals of Gotham, beware. Batman may soon be back in business.
A Caped Crusader-inspired car built by a teenager back in the 1960s, purportedly the first of its kind, has been sold.
Car collector George Albright of Ocala, Florida, put the unique creation on Ebay this past week, but pulled the auction after an automobile restorer read about it on FoxNews.com.
Mario Borbon, owner of California’s Sacramento Body and Paint, brought the car to the attention of his business associate, Sid Belzberg, who is the coowner of Toy Car Exchange, the company that ultimately paid an undisclosed amount for the car.
Albright says they plan to bring the car back to its original condition.
The car was designed and constructed from scratch by Forrest Robinson of Westmoreland, N.H., who used it as his daily driver until a representative from All Star Dairies offered to rent it from him for a couple of years to help promote the company’s line of Batman-themed ice creams and drinks.
Robinson sold it shortly after retrieving it, and the 1957 Oldsmobile-based car was left to rot by its new owners for the next several decades, but its fiberglass bodywork held up remarkably well over the years.
Albright was inspired to sell the car after seeing the original George Barris-designed Batmobile from the TV series sell for a bat-tastic $4.2 million dollars at a Barrett-Jackson auction in January, but set his sights a little bit lower with an asking price of $19,800.
Borbon hasn't seen the car in person yet, but given the condition of the bodywork, he thinks they might be able to complete a frame-off restoration in about eight months.
After that, the sky's the limit. The pair is known for restoring the 1949 Buick Roadmaster from the movie "Rain Man," which was auctioned last December for $170,500.
Crime doesn't pay, but sometimes a little elbow grease does.