66 Miata Batmobile Build

Thanks Kcghostbuster,
I like how you put 'vision' in quotation marks.
That kind of sums it up.

I recently produced a screenprint called 'The Batmobile'.
It's an improvised imagined history of the car, drawn entirely without reference, and also while drinking.

So for better or worse I guess it's a catalog of my vision of the Batmobile gestalt.

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creebobby said:
Thanks Kcghostbuster,
I like how you put 'vision' in quotation marks.
That kind of sums it up.

I recently produced a screenprint called 'The Batmobile'.
It's an improvised imagined history of the car, drawn entirely without reference, and also while drinking.

So for better or worse I guess it's a catalog of my vision of the Batmobile gestalt.

View attachment 151881
Click to expand...

That's awesome! If you have t-shirts made I'll buy one ;)
 
I REALLY like the front end on your new version, and the design as a whole, but I am a sucker for that style of Batmobile (shades of New Batman Adventures). However, your chibi-66 design is great too. So I refuse to vote in either direction :)
 
Thanks!
There are screenprints of it up on Nakatomi Inc.
It's called the 'Flying Mammal Fin-Moto Print'.

Hadn't thought of doing a t-shirt run but that's a good idea! . . . .

I did want to share this:

Japanese Fin 66 Rear

Before designing the Bat X I worked up the basic patterns for a 66 rear with a 'Japanese style fin', based on some of my favorite drawings from the 66 Bat-Manga, combined with a more simplified, slightly shorter, more sports-car like (think 57 corvette with fins) styled rear to match the 66 front.
It would still have an inverse v-tail and the 59/61 Thunderbird rocket tail-lights.

if I built this rear end I would rework the front that I already have according to the following plan: cut off the cardboard skin plates and make patterns of them, remove the wheel well flare / 2" side buldge, resculpt those areas in foam (and while I'm at it cut out, off and away any possible extra weight on the front end frame), reinforce and clean up the reworked frame with 1" strips of .023 aluminum, then re-skin the front with riveted .023 thick aluminum sheet (or .030 Lexan sheet if a test proves that it would work.)

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So glad this build is back from the dead, and I really like the drunken bat-history sketches too.

As for which to build, I'm a sucker for the '66, but it depends on what effect you're going for. A miata/66 mash-up is definitely a stylized caricature, and there's nothing wrong with that, I personally love it, but it'll always be "cute."

On the other hand, if you go with your original comic-styled version, you may be able to make the car much more "realistic." It won't have the effect of being distorted to fit the miata, so it can look more like a purpose-built comic-adapted batmobile. On the down side, the general public knows the TV and movie ones as the "real" batmobiles. But everyone will still know it's a batmobile of some kind.

So yeah, cute and familiar, or serious and more obscure. I still lean '66, but build it for your inner child, not mine.
 
I just like the work you had done so far and it sucks to see all you've started go to waste as for the 66 I always loved the thing since I was a kid highlight of my cali. trip a few years ago was I got to meet George Barris and actually sit in the original 66 in the back of the shop can't fully describe it, it's one of those things few people ever get to do
 
I guess 'started' is the key word.
The skin that's on the 66 front is not viable - it's heavy and lumpy and susceptible to moisture (and sun) and to use the front I have for anything more than a parade I'd need to tear down and rebuild at least the entire skin with a durable, stable material.

Yesterday I wanted to see how hard it would be to remove the cardboard skin plates one at a time and use them as patterns for a new skin.

Turns out it's impossible. They're glued to the frame, they're glued to each other, they're completely stuck to the foam I used to fill the frame, and they're extremely hard and brittle because of the glazing of polyester resin.
The skin comes off in little chunks at best, and I have to chisel them off with a hammer and pry bar.

One chunk led to another and I tore down the driver's side. I also cut off the driver's side wheel well flare and side buldge. (If I continue with the 66 front I want to streamline the side like the comic version with no flared wheel well or big side buldge. That would take some resculpting of course, but then I could build a smaller more streamlined rear end to match, or, if I built the Bat X rear, it would match the streamlined 66 front.)

All in all from the partial tear down I'm getting a clear impression that it might make more sense to start over with a new simpler design and new materials.
But I'm not going to scrap this front end yet. When I get the chance I'll finish the tear-down and keep the skeleton under a tarp for now.

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Thanks Engelnicht - I might indeed need to call upon you for a helping hand at some point.

I sculpted a 1/2 maquette of a simplified 'sports car style' 66 rear, just to see how the shapes might work out when forced upon the reality of the miata's stubby high rear end.
I made patterns from my blueprints but it turned out funky so I scrapped them and resculpted it freehand.

It kind of has a neat weird space car / 65 corvair feel, with a little Mach 5 in the side view.
Also reminds me a bit of the thick rear end on the MEGO Batmobile.

The fin is maybe a little tall or a little thick?

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Here's a mirror image mockup:

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Anyone like this a whole lot?
 
Cree, dude, I sincerely would love to see you stick with the 66. It's obviously completely your choice but I do think the Mazda would work great with that design and being a convertible you'd get to make the most of it. I think the only problem you've had is the materials but with a lil help from a few willing do'ers I reckon you can nail it. People love helping out/working on cars and even more so on projects like this. I'd ask around man. Bet you'd be surprised how many would love to help out. Good luck!
 
Thanks for the thoughts.

I asked my wife which tail end she liked better (Bat X or simplified 66) and she said, "Well the Bat X looks more Batman."

I showed Nick the simplified 66 rear and he said, "It doesn't look anything like the 66."

Well I think it looks something like the 66. Maybe the tail needs to come out to more of a point. I'll review the Bat-Manga rears and play with it some more.

The 66 rear is a harder fit than the 66 front - the rear of the real 66 is essentially a long flat low (extra low) plane. The rear of the miata is a short high stubby jelly bean.

One strange thing about the basic bones of the Lincoln Futura is that at it's core it's a very flowery feminine car. If you look at the original concept car, it looks like a giant tube of lipstick turned into an automobile.
Barris beefed it up and made it as tough as he could, but the feminine core is still there.
(Of course, the miata has a feminine aspect to it's bubbly form, which is maybe why the two seem like a good fit.)

In any case,
I haven't decided but at the moment I'm leaning towards the Bat X rear for the following reasons:
1. It's smaller (less mass, less weight, less to build, more practical as a daily driver).
2. It has a simpler modular fin system with a very simple fin attachment area. I could switch out between one and two fins for fun.
3. It's sculpted from separate simple shapes tailored for a DIY sheet/rivet construction style.
4. It's something that has never existed.
5. It's 'more Batman', according to my wife.
 
i gotta admit, when I first saw the thread title I was skeptical.

Thinking perhaps it was something that would never come to fruition.

boy I was was wrong!

I am really enjoying your build and can't wait to see the progress.

Keep up the good work! :cool
 
creebobby said:
Thanks for the thoughts.

I asked my wife which tail end she liked better (Bat X or simplified 66) and she said, "Well the Bat X looks more Batman."

I showed Nick the simplified 66 rear and he said, "It doesn't look anything like the 66."

Well I think it looks something like the 66. Maybe the tail needs to come out to more of a point. I'll review the Bat-Manga rears and play with it some more.

The 66 rear is a harder fit than the 66 front - the rear of the real 66 is essentially a long flat low (extra low) plane. The rear of the miata is a short high stubby jelly bean.

One strange thing about the basic bones of the Lincoln Futura is that at it's core it's a very flowery feminine car. If you look at the original concept car, it looks like a giant tube of lipstick turned into an automobile.
Barris beefed it up and made it as tough as he could, but the feminine core is still there.
(Of course, the miata has a feminine aspect to it's bubbly form, which is maybe why the two seem like a good fit.)

In any case,
I haven't decided but at the moment I'm leaning towards the Bat X rear for the following reasons:
1. It's smaller (less mass, less weight, less to build, more practical as a daily driver).
2. It has a simpler modular fin system with a very simple fin attachment area. I could switch out between one and two fins for fun.
3. It's sculpted from separate simple shapes tailored for a DIY sheet/rivet construction style.
4. It's something that has never existed.
5. It's 'more Batman', according to my wife.
Click to expand...

I think you've done your due diligence. Go off and conquer!
 
Great words of encouragement, guys - I promise to go and conquer soon -
But first,

Yesterday I did just a bit more due diligence and resculpted the maquette of the 66 rear to 'look more 66'.

I didn't want to put the 66 rear idea on the shelf without making a maquette that worked as far as the basic shapes and proportions go.

The shapes are simplified based on my favorite 66 Bat-Manga drawings, while keeping the V-tail of the real 66, simplifying everything to the basic shapes, eliminating the side buldge and making it fit the miata as well as possible.

1. As you can see from the side view, it's very long!
2. It also has LOT of mass - so much so that it's hard to get it to sit right on the body, and the thinner sculpey cracked while baking because of the stress. (I would assume that if it's unwieldy small it would be unwieldy big too.)
On the other hand, it does look pretty darn cool.

I'm still leaning towards the Bat X rear, for all the reasons listed above, but also because I think the Bat X rear would look good with both the Bat X and 66 front designs, but the 66 rear would only work with the 66 front.


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Just discovered this thread, very fun concept. I hope it gets finished without any more wet weather problems. Something I always have to consider up here in the Pacific NW. I've had an idea for ages of making some temporary add-ons for my 78 T-Top Mustang and turn it into something lethal looking with a WWII style gun turrett on the passenger side,removable armor type plating around the windows and a few other body mods. Maybe after getting through my current project list(which always seems to grow). Would be fun to drive to a few of the local NW Cons and enter it in the Art Show for display eventually.

I was wondering if you'd considered altering other existing car parts like the T Bird tail lights. I think the finned rear fenders of a 1960 Cadillac, if you can find any at a good price, might give you the look you want. They may be a little shorter than your concept, but they are from larger car and just might give the look you want on your smaller vehicle. Just a wayward thought anyway. Good luck. Looking forward to more on this project.
 
Hello night owl,
Sounds like you'd be getting into Mad Max territory - which is entirely awesome.
Obviously the cut-it-up and bolt-stuff-on school of customization is a big influence with this project.
Funny you mention the 1960 Caddy - I was admiring the Bat-mobile-ness of a 1960 Coupe DeVille at the hot rod roundup here in Austin last month.

Progress:
I've been collecting tools and fasteners to build the new design.
I got a drill press, a cut-off saw, some cool #8-32 nut plates, and more stuff's in the mail.
(Basically tools and hardware to make the aluminum brackets that will hold everything together.)

Next step is to pattern out the trunk and rear fins in cardboard.
Then I'll get polygal and sheet polycarbonate and aluminum to build the fins.
 
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