From Symbol of the Atomic Age to Symbol of the Batman

One of the flag ship exhibits in the Motopia? Past Future Visions exhibition is a 1959 Cadilliac Eldorado Biarritz. Only 1,320 were made in its one-year run, contributing to its sizeable price tag then and its value to collectors now. The Eldorado Biarritz was named after a resort in Southern France and was the convertible edition. As opposed to its hard top counterpart the Eldorado Seville named after the city in Spain.

Having been Cadillac’s most expensive car for the entirety of its run this car was one of the first in the Fourth generation to be made. Cadillacs of this era are synonymous with the tail fins and large body shells. This connected with the American public as the interest in jets and spaceships had begun to take off. Motor vehicles are designed to be appealing, not just boxes on wheels, but moving objects of desire that offer their owners pleasure and independence.

After the second world war the Western Hemisphere looked to the future with large aspirations of a space-age aesthetic that reflected both the atomic bombs that ended the war as well as the new scientific and engineering marvels being released into the public sphere. To represent this, much of the new technology was designed to look like it was from a space-age future. With design cues based off of science fiction and fighter jets. It was in this atmosphere the concept car boomed. The literal physical embodiment of the future.

The 1955 Lincoln Futura was no different. A ford concept car designed by Bill Schmidt and John Najjar and built in Italy at the cost of $2.3 million in today’s money. Reportedly inspired by sharks and fighter jets the car was the first to make use of a pearlescent paint. It also contained multiple features such as a telephone in the centre console and an antenna that allowed the drivers to hear sounds from outside the car.

The Futura made its big screen debut in 1959 in It Started with a Kiss sporting red paint. After the film, 20^th Century Fox sold the car to George Barris after for $1 in compensation for debts unpaid and no longer having use for the car.

Not long after, in 1965, 20th Century Fox asked Barris to create a Batmobile for their new television series. Giving him limited time and budget, Barris decided to modify the Futura by extending the fin to the cockpit, adding bat details, adding a butane tank to replicate a jet and painting it black with a fluorescent cerise trim. Barris was also tasked with making the car drivable, which when the Futura was first designed was not a priority. This, paired with the 500hp Lincoln Continental racing engine, made the new Batmobile an absolute dog to drive.

Due to the requirements of the TV show, the Batmobile was replicated three times each with slight modifications and differences. In the nineteen nineties Barris gave permission for replicas of the Futura to be made again. The original Futura/Batmobile sold for more than $4 million.

Since the Batmobile first hit television screens it has since become a pop culture icon and a symbol of a fantastical, post-modern, gothic worlds and an opportunity for artists and engineers to create something people will forever stop to stare at in awe.

Do you have a favourite classic concept car? What is it and where is it now?