The Batmobile also known as the "Tumbler" you saw in the movie "Batman Begins" has reached iconic status because the car was the face of the movie and the most famous Super Hero Car of all time . But was the Batmobile real, no, it is an illusion because what you saw in the movie does not exist. Intrigued! let us see how this beautiful car evolved for our favorite Super Hero.
The Batmobile was designed by Nathan Crowley. The challenges for Nathan were several, the persona of Batman was enigmatic and the car had to reflect that part of him. Batman unlike many other super heroes doesn't have the ability to fly and he needed a tough car as a crime fighter. The process of creating the Tumbler was like any other regular car and no short cuts were taken, the teams spent more than 9 months and several millions of dollars to achieve this goal.
The first prerequisite was it had to go very fast at more than 100 mph. The car had to have brilliant maneuverability and the potential to leap up to 30 feet and land safely. Secondly, it had to be stealthy to wade in and out of the Bat Cave unnoticed and crucially to sneak behind and surprise the gangsters. Therefore, stealth mode was a crucial requirement, to accomplish this the Batmobile had to have electric motor drive. The designer did not want to create a car using CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) but wanted to build a real one. Nathan began the process of gathering parts for the car from various sources and assembled 6 of them, all in 1:12 scale.
Once he had the desired model he built a foam model of the car. Form model is an important process before manufacturing as it helps to get all the proportions right and secondly this can be used to make body panels and the frame. To make the steel frame, the form model was cut up to get accurate sizing and panel mounting points.
Next the team built a test model and did extensive tests to check on its structural integrity and other configurations.
Now for the actual components and configurations used in the car:
- It uses a 5.7 liter Chevrolet V8 engine.
- The car had 65 Carbon Fiber panels.
- The front tires are actual race tires.
- The rear tires are 37 inch in diameter and the team used the ones available in the market.
- Since visibility was really dismal, two video cameras in the side and in the rear was provided to see outside.
- It sported superb independent suspension setup and one unique feature of it was the ability to project the front wheels about 30 inches out to absorb the shock before a 30 foot jump.
- There is fire suppression system along with other safety features.
- There are several versions of the car, one is the flap version which was used for filming when "flying" and the other the Jet version which has a detachable actual jet engine. Another cool version is the one used for closeup shots, this has the roof opening, windshield slides and the seats glides up
- There is another static version built in the studio used for filming the interior.
- Finally there is a 6 feet long scale model where several jumping stunts were shot.
The several versions make up the Batmobile in the movie, the jet engine version when the car is ready to take a jump, the scale model and flap version used alternatively for jumping across buildings, and the cockpit opening version when you see Batman get in and out of the car, the static version filmed in the studio and finally the race car version which actually drives through the street.
All these different physical versions come together to make up the illusion of the Batmobile in the movie.
BATMOBILE HISTORY
BATMAN - THE MOVIE [1989] & BATMAN RETURNS [1992]
BATMAN FOREVER MOVIE [1995]