Car Design Fetish

“And here we…..GO!” With the Dark Knight movie exploding into theaters July 18, there is plenty buzz about how incredible this movie really is! The latest for the Caped Crusader throws him under the deranged claws of the maniacal, homicidal, psychopathic killer known as the JOKER!

I remember watching the campy 60’s movie starring Adam West and Burt Ward in “Batman” with my older brother for the first time. I was probably around 7 or 8. We would “surf” through the channels, all 13 of them, ripping through that sundial shaped channel knob on our state of the art Zenith TV. Suddenly!!! An out of shape middle aged man in tights and blue satin, dawning the prominent symbol of the bat, along with his panty hose wearing boy wonder side kick, Robin, were climbing the side of a fake Styrofoam brick building. My brother and I looked at each other in complete shock and awe, not because Batman had forgotten to take few laps around the track, but because we could not believe we were watching an actual Batman movie!! We had read the comic books, purchased the action figures, but never saw him in real life!! That was the coolest thing!
Ahhhh….those were the days. How things have evolved and progressed….or in some cases…digressed if looking at director Joel Schumacher’s movies. Recently resurrected from the grave in 2005 with the successful Batman Begins, the Batman Franchise has undergone numerous transformations through the years starting with the campy 60’s series (not to forget the early series in the 40’s as well) starring Adam West and Burt Ward in Batman. Twenty three years later, the world was given a true visual treat with Tim Burton’s perspective on a serious, dark, and gothic rendition of the Batman in 1989.

No matter how campy, serious, or ridiculous the script was; the creators and designers for the vehicles and props were always dedicated to providing the audience with the best they had to offer. Each batmobile had evolved to bring to the audience something new and exciting. Let’s take a look at these films.

Batman – Tim Burton film
I was so anxious to see what this movie had in store for the Batmobile when I was a junior in high school. I was bursting with anticipation and when the design was finally released, it was better than my poor little immature mind could ever have imagined! The sheer brutality of the shape was like nothing anyone had ever seen before. It completely broke any normal automotive aesthetic rule. This is what the production designer of the batmobile, Anton Furst, set out to do; design a car where the crudeness was exactly the beauty of it. Built with an Impala chasis, the car was outfitted with a Chevy V8.

Taking center stage for its design aesthetic was its huge jet turbine. A massive rear end with bat like wings on the sides, an afterburner and huge air intakes give this beast an unparalleled sense of brute power and force. The piping along the side of the vehicle is reminiscent of the old industrial steam engine locomotive designs of the 1900’s. The batmobile was packed with enough features to make James Bond jealous.

Machine guns popped up from the top panels of the car. Spherical bombs from the wheel, bullet proof body, oils slicks, and a cockpit that would not be out of place in a fighter jet.

Following “Batman” and “Batman Returns” was the “Batman Forever” movie. If there was anyone that could take a dark, aggressive, troubled hero and turn him into a sissy, Schumacher would win the award hands down. The batman was surrounded by neon lights, contemporary art, and a comic bookish setting. I only say comic bookish because it lacked the realism and depth of the first Batman movie. Unfortunately the Batmobile had to follow suit.

It was not a bad design, just a little over the top. Designed by production designer Barbara Ling, it retained some of the proportions and some design queues from the first movie such as the long front nose, split canopy, and wide rear fenders with integrated batwings. They also added a fin to the top. The detailing was somewhat over complex with the ribbing on side accentuated by the blue inner glow. The headlight shape seemed so out of place it sort of seemed like an afterthought. It was hard to take this design seriously when it looked more like a full size plastic toy car!

Rather than waste time talking about the dismal “Batman and Robin,” let’s cut to the chase with Batman Begins.

Enter the Tumbler. Designed by Nathan Crowley and Christopher Nolan, the Tumbler is a cross between a Hummer and a Tank. We now have a batmobile design that we can appreciate. Not because of its shape necessarily but because the director chose to approach the whole movie from a palpable and plausible perspective giving more depth and believability to any Batman movie created. We are given a proper evolution of the original Batmobile design from the 1989 film. Both cars signify brute strength, divorcing itself from the norm of conventional automotive design. However each vehicle had a totally different aesthetic though some aspects of the car remained the same such as the afterburners.

At first I was not sure what to think of the Tumbler. I felt that it was too crude and lacked a certain sense of nimbleness and order in its design. However, that soon became its strongest asset. It did not have to be sleek or nimble. Its purpose was for military application and plow through anything in it’s path! The tumbler was armed with machine guns, stealth mode to appear somewhat invisible, and an attack mode that repositioned the Batman toward the front of the vehicle. It is a rugged machine and perfect personification of the Batman. Strong, crude, and in some ironic sense, a little confused.

The Dark Knight

In addition to the Tumbler, a new vehicle that was added to Batman’s repertoire is the Batpod. Similar to the Tumbler in design but has more flexibility and maneuverability, the Batpod looks to be equipped with machine guns at the front fork of the bike. The overall design seems to be minimal with huge tires similar to that of the Tumbler. The handlebars are covered by metal panels probably to prevent any kind of injury.

The Dark Knight finishes off as a class act on its own and continues to evolve and build on the movies that took themselves seriously.