The 89 MattMobile Build Thread.

Definitelt not flip flop paint. Did that exist in 1990?

there were two colors. Metallic purple and metallic green. It looked like it came out of rattle cans. The best way i can describe it is this: for any deep line or seam on the car, the line was followed with a rattle can. Like a three inch wide stripe with feathered edges. It was more pronounced on the coocoon. But it made the batmobile look like a clown car. It looks great on film, in the dark, under lighting. On that we all agree. To the naked eye it looks like someone made a mistake when they were painting it.

If you guys want to do that on your batmobile builds, I am more than happy to provide what insight I have and I will support your decision to do your build your way without question.

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Interesting.


How does it compare to that '89 that was toured around the show car circuit at the time, with the slightly green-ish paint and the red/blue highlighted edges? I never thought that car looked good but it was an interesting move.

(this older handmade RC version is the only decent pic reference I can find for it on the net)

http://www.chickslovethecar.com/board/Batmobile_Topic39178-21-3.aspx#bm39204

batguy said:

How does it compare to that '89 that was toured around the show car circuit at the time, with the slightly green-ish paint and the red/blue highlighted edges? I never thought that car looked good but it was an interesting move.

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Cannot say for certain as I never saw that car.

progress. Sooooooooo slow going.

The speedo at 0.59 seconds looks like a mecedes one from a W114-W115

https://youtu.be/WQwAmDP2TFs

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Chaank said:

The speedo at 0.59 seconds looks like a mecedes one from a W114-W115

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Interesting! I will look into it! thank you for the tip!

No worries. I've had Merc's all my life, mostly old ones. I might be confused, it could be a W116 too. My last one was a 450sel, so it could be that. If it's not a Merc I'll eat my hat hahaha

Side mech work continues. Agonizingly slow going, but I am getting there.

Hey Matt,

I can't ID the speedo from your video (I guess that's a 1989 car?), but I can identify the speedo from the Batman Returns car. It's a Porsche 911 SC speedo. Hopefully I'm not telling you something you already know

Here's how I arrived at that conclusion. Prop Store sold the Batmobile Studio Process Car and produced this video. At 32" you can see the speedo with a distinct green light at the top. You can get a glimpse of that also in the movie. I've added a screenshot of the actual speedo as well.

damn great video!! thanks for your post!!

NP! If you're interested in getting one of those speedos, I have some more info I can PM you with. Part # etc.

Zerosum is correct. I got my first ticket in my old 1980 911SC for driving with my brights on. The light at the top is a High Beam indicator......mine poped off from behind and didnt know I was blinding every one. This was the first day of ownership haha.

North Hollywood speedo will prolly have a few laying around. The raised Jigsaw piece in the center lower portion is from some aircraft panel.

Zerosum is correct. I got my first ticket in my old 1980 911SC for driving with my brights on. The light at the top is a High Beam indicator......mine poped off from behind and didnt know I was blinding every one. This was the first day of ownership haha.

North Hollywood speedo will prolly have a few laying around. The raised Jigsaw piece in the center lower portion is from some aircraft panel. Same thing with the other raised piece with the white toggle switches below it.

Hey Gang!

It is with great sadness, but a tremendous sense of relief, that I have decided to sell the MattMobile.

If you are interested in taking over the project, and benefiting from all of the research, leg work, and labor I have put into this project, please send me a PM. I have two separate asking prices. One is for the basic shell, body, tires, rims, engine, and a few other pieces. Second price includes all the sourced, found, and built parts, like the ferarri tail lights, the mustang gas caps, the dashboard panels, the steering wheel, the afterburner, head lights, dash guages and some buttons I have collected, side mechs, etc.

Targeting 19k for the base kit, 26k for everything.

The car is located in Torrance, CA if and interested buyer would like to take a look at it.

I should add that the asking price essentially covers the parts, and ignores thousands and thousands of dollars I spent to get it this far. That includes labor, supplies, rent for my shop, all the tools I bought, etc. Just the labor alone that I paid out of pocket for adds another 8k. If I billed at 10 bucks an hour the price would go up a bunch again. It is indeed a pretty good deal.

Wow - hard to believe you're letting go after so much hard work (and name association!) but I definitely get it... The investment of time & money has kept me from jumping in to take a swing at this, one of my all time favorite things from any movie. You've taken care of a lot of the time, and the asking price is really great - but both are still a bit beyond me for now. Perhaps if you're still looking for a buyer after the kids are out of the house! Good luck with the sale though, Matt. I hope the new owner documents their work publicly even a sliver of what you did. It's been great fun watching one come together!

For the curious, my reasons for letting go of this lifelong dream of a project are many. I'll list a few here, just in case anyone is curious. I will start by saying this has been an incredible journey, and I have met some amazing people and had some great experiences due to this car.

1. Heartbreak. I have been silent on all of this during the past few years, but the punchline is I have been ripped off six ways till sunday by a handfull of people to the tune of ten thousand bucks and a couple years of hand wringing. People can be terrible, and money makes terrible people even worse. I have been lied to, betrayed by people I thought were friends, and backstabbed by vendors I had engaged in good faith to help with this project. Its hard for me to look at the car without having all of those feelings surface, my blood boil, and my barely suppressed anger come racing to the surface. It's just tough.

2. I think I have also come to the realization that this project is simply outside of the scope of my skills. Which is a bummer, and a really tough thing to admit. I originally thought I could simply learn any skills I needed to learn in order to bring his project home, as that has traditionally been my M.O. which has served me well for decades. Don't know how to do something?? learn!! However building a car from essentially the ground up is a whole different beast. The fact that my personal safety is interwoven with the project makes it an order of magnitude more difficult. I've also realized, perhaps as a result of item number one above, that I just don't have the perseverance to see it through. I find myself wanting to work on other projects more, smaller ones that provide quicker wins. It's weird.

3. My health. For those of you who are IRL or facebook friends with me, you know that I have had a number of non-trivial run-ins with skin cancer over the past few years, with no signs of them stopping. I just had another face surgery a couple of weeks ago, and recently started on a chemotherapy treatment which has revealed numerous other cancerous growths on my nose. I guess stuff like that just gives me perspective. I'm about to get a much needed corrective surgery done on my foot which will put me out of commission for about three or four months. I guess my point is that health problems seem to put things in perspective. Life is short, and I think my time is better spent on things that I really LOVE doing, not things that I am doing simply out of stubbornness.


I still love the 89 car and it will forever remain to me the coolest batmobile ever built. And maybe over time things will change and I will revisit the project. but for now, I think it's just time to take a step back and re-assess.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm going to write up a "lessons learned" post too. I'm sure it's been done before, and was promptly ignored by everyone, but I swear if just ONE person can avoid some of the mistakes I made during this build, I guess it will be worth it.

Westies14 said:

Wow - hard to believe you're letting go after so much hard work (and name association!) but I definitely get it... The investment of time & money has kept me from jumping in to take a swing at this, one of my all time favorite things from any movie. You've taken care of a lot of the time, and the asking price is really great - but both are still a bit beyond me for now. Perhaps if you're still looking for a buyer after the kids are out of the house! Good luck with the sale though, Matt. I hope the new owner documents their work publicly even a sliver of what you did. It's been great fun watching one come together!

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Thanks man, very kind of you to say. And good luck with the kids! I think you have prioritized things properly

Some lessons learned from the MattMobile build project. If you're planning on building one, start here:

1. Your budget should be about 100k. You might not spend it all at once, and you're probably thinking you can do it cheaper. But 100k is a good benchmark.

2. Whatever you think something will cost, double it. This is a good rule of thumb for any project of this size.

3. However long you think it will take, triple it.

4. Micromanage the heck out of any and all vendors, builders, or suppliers. I personally hate to be micromanged. I'm one of those guys where if you tell me what you want and when you want it by, I will deliver it. On the MattMobile project, NOT ONE vendor was like that. All required pestering, follow up, date setting, nagging, etc. You have to be ON these people. Ask for weekly updates. Ask for daily updates. Get their phone number. Call them regularly to confirm delivery dates, etc.

5. NEVER pay in advance for labor. If someone gives you a quote for some work, and wants half up front, tell them no. Give them a TINY deposit. They will have YOUR CAR as collateral. There's no danger of you ripping them off, and EVERY danger of them ripping you off.

6. Get EVERYTHING in writing. Handshake is meaningless. Emails are meaningless. write a contract for everything. Have everyone sign it.

7. Make vendors commit to dates. In your contract, specify that if the dates are missed, you get your deposit back and the car. Do not let dates slip. If someone tells you they need more time, get your car back and find another vendor who can stick to a schedule. If a vendor can't meet the first date, why on earth would you think they would hit the second date.

8. Don't be afraid to call the police, hire a lawyer, or throw a small claims court suit at someone who is dragging their feet or has failed to deliver. Pleading, asking nicely, or throwing more money at it will not solve your problems. A visit from the police will.

9. Along with a contract, be sure to set clear guidelines about delivery dates and what happens if they're missed. I got jerked around for a year by a shell maker who promised up and down a quick delivery, then the DAY he got my money he started making excuses about why he coulnd't get it done on time. I got my money back after a year, but it was a nightmare. If you're buying something from a vendor, your contract needs to cover stuff like this: "you will provide item x within 90 days. If not, a full refund will be given" etc.

10. Whenever possible, don't pay with cash. use your credit card. Or paypal if necessary. With a credit card you can file a claim and most likely get your money back. Paypal gives you some time to open a claim but they don't have the level of customer service that a credit card company will.

Ok that's all I can think of for now. More as I remember.

It's sad to see this project come to a close, but I totally understand the reasons for passing the torch. I think most of us here at the RPF probably have projects we've been working on for years that may never see completion. That's part of the journey, I suppose. I wish you the best of luck with your health issues.

Though the decision is hard, it sounds like the best one for you.

Don't look back, that's not the direction you're going!

Matt-

Adding my voice to the chorus, very sorry to see you let this project go but completely understand your reasoning. It's unfortunate that something that started off with so much enthusiasm and excitement was poisoned by experiences outside of your control.

Please know that all of us loyal followers have enjoyed going along the journey with you. Your lessons learned look rock solid and are certainly applicable across any number of both projects and non-project vendor interactions.

Take care of yourself, keep grabbing for the gold ring and we look forward to following your next project.