In November 1966, George Barris and the Producers of the Batman TV show decided to build copies of the Batmobile to capitalize on the success of the show and the car. Barris Kustom City pulled a mold of the #1 Batmobile and created 3 fiberglass copies. Approximately 8 men worked on building the 3 copies and they included: Dick Dean, Michael Gale Black, Roy “Tubs” Johnson & Richard “Korky ” Korkes.
From a 1967 document, “The demand for bookings (car shows & appearances) has been greater…as we do not have enough cars and can not move them around the country quick enough to fill all the requests. Naturally, another car would bring more income which would be beneficial…”
“Batmobile”–The Barris Kustom Insignia–“Powered by…” The Ford Oval Insignia–“Greenway Productions…Mr. W. Dozier”–“Filmed at “20th” Century T.V.”–“National Periodicals Inc. “67”–“Design Patent…George Barris”–“ABC-Television…Batman”
The #3 was fuzzed in the early 1970’s
The #4 was fuzzed around 1968
The first was built by Jim Sermersheim, a Batmobile fan, who set-out to build a working Batmobile replica. Using magazine photos and the Batman TV show as a reference, he created his custom car from a ’58 Ford Thunderbird. He toured his car around the country (including Canada) for approximately two years before finally selling it. Eventually George Barris would acquire it and the car would become part of Barris’ Batmobile stable. This car is commonly known as the “#5” car.
The second car was built by a British fan in 1966 from a ’58 Chevy Impala. The car was brought to various events in the UK and could be seen in promotional photos with the British band, “Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich.”