Tim Burton's Batmobile Heads to Auction With a $7 Million Target

A genuine piece of Gotham City is about to change hands. One of the hero cars built for Tim Burton’s 1992 film “Batman Returns” will go under the hammer in Los Angeles on November 23, and auction house Julien’s, working alongside Turner Classic Movies, has attached an estimate of $5 million to $7 million to the lot.

Should bidding climb to the upper end of that window, Julien’s believes the car would become the most expensive screen vehicle ever sold at auction. That is a tall order given the company it would be keeping. The 1966 television Batmobile changed hands for $4.62 million back in 2013, while the Mustang Steve McQueen drove in "Bullitt" brought $3.71 million in 2020. A $7 million result would also edge past the 1964 Aston Martin DB5 from "Goldfinger," which fetched $6.4 million in 2019.

The Burton-era cars were not built from scratch. Each began life as a Chevrolet Impala before being stretched far beyond its original proportions, ending up with a 141-inch wheelbase and a nose-to-tail length of 260.7 inches. Julian Caldow drew the striking shape, including the turbine-style nose intake and the wings that arch over the rear fenders, and John Evans’ special effects crew at England’s Pinewood Studios translated those drawings into two running, Chevy V8-powered machines for the 1989 picture.

For the sequel, the producers turned to Carl Caspar, whose reputation rested on hot rods and screen-car replicas — among them General Lee clones used for “The Dukes of Hazzard” promotional tours. Caspar is said to have turned out three Batmobiles for “Batman Returns.” The example now up for sale is described as a hero car, meaning it captured substantial close-up screen time, which explains much of the aggressive estimate.

There is a caveat buried in the record talk. The priciest screen cars ever sold were blue-chip collector metal well before any camera rolled: a 1961 Ferrari California GT Spider from the 1963 film “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” drew $17.1 million in 2016, and a pair of racers from 1970's "Le Mans" -- a Porsche 917K and a Ford GT40 -- brought $14 million and $11 million respectively. The Batmobile enjoys no such pedigree. Take away the film, and what remains is a stretched Impala wearing a cape.