Alongside George Barris’ original Batmobile, the Tumbler has to be one of the best cars depicted in the popular superhero franchise. However, over the years, there have been some more or less marvelous creations with the Dark Knight theme, including the ‘One-Hundred-Year-Old Batmobile’.
Created by Gary Wales, who had George Barris as his friend and mentor, it started life as a 1916 American LaFrance truck, and after serving the Fire Department for many years, it was found missing the original fire apparatus, but with the drivetrain still intact. Thus, Wales saw it as the perfect blank canvas for a custom project, which imagines the Batmobile if it had been built one century ago.
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Beneath the custom body panels lies a 16-liter Seagrave engine, with separate blocks for each piston and 24 spark plugs, 4 per cylinder. It’s paired to a three-speed manual transmission that drives the rear axle via a dual-chain system, a setup that helps it hit speeds of up to 100 mph (161 km/h). Keeping the torque in check are the power disc brakes, and despite being very old, the car also has power-assisted steering, amenities seen as necessary by its maker for creating safe and modern driving conditions. Mr. Wales was awarded with the George Barris builder badge, which is displayed on the dashboard.
Like all of Gary Wales’ marvelous creations, this one has been called ‘La Bestioni’ (The Beast), and is about to go under the gavel at WorldWideAuctioneers on November 23. The auction house hasn’t provided an estimated selling price, but we’re pretty convinced that it will fetch a small fortune. To attend the auction, you will have to take a trip to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
