Everything you ever wanted to know about the Batmobile

There are times when you realize that the Internet is a wonderful thing. Last night, when I stumbled across the impossibly cool site, BatmobileHistory.com, was one of them. Created and meticulously researched and maintained by Long Islander Bill Spencer, the site is the ultimate repository for all things Batmobile-related. The back story behind it is interesting: scale modeling is one of Spencer's hobbies (and boy, is he good at it) and he got the idea for the site as he researched a variety of Batmobile info for a project he was working on.

Every single Batmobile to ever appear in the comic books, television shows and feature films is given its own page and documented for readers. While we're all familiar with the screen cars, it's the comic versions that are the most diverse and interesting. The illustrated Batmobiles differ wildly depending on the era in which they were created and the personal tastes of the artist wielding the pencil.

They're a ton of fun to click through (a task made simple, as Spencer has every car listed chronologically and each car's page has a "Next Batmobile" link at the bottom), and I've pulled out some personal favorites as well as some that might be of particular interest to Autoblog readers.

Read on after the jump for the fanboy frenzy!

[Source: BatmobileHistory.com]

Batmobiles of Interest

• 1966 - The iconic, George Barris-designed, Lincoln Futura-based batmobile from the classic TV series. How many of you think of this car when the word "Batmobile" is uttered? Thought so.
• 2005 - Alex Ross is a superb artist. His interpretation of the Batmobile is expectedly sublime.
• 1944 - The first Batmobile ever to be featured on a cover, it is clearly a product of its era, but is as cool today as it must have been then.
• 1987 - Batman drove a Pantera. Cool.
• 2005 - Featured in Detective Comics #809, this one is obviously influenced by the Opel Speedster.
• 2006 - From a poster that encouraged kids' reading. It's a stealth fighter on wheels. Awesome.
• 1989 - The Anton Furst Batmobile from the Tim Burton films. Very impressive. For a different generation, this car is as iconic as the 1966 TV Batmobile.
• 1993 - The Batmobile as envisioned by renowned artist Matt Wagner.
• 1995 - From Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever film. This car and the subsequent Batman & Robin car are as busy and annoying as the stupid films they appear in.
• 1992 - One of the very best. This art deco stunner is the car from the superb Batman: The Animated Series.
• 2004 - This one actually appeared in a Teen Titans storyline in which Robin "steals" a Batmobile for a Titans mission. It's obviously based on the Mercedes CLK-GTR. It gets crashed.
  
• 1997 - When Warner Bros. retooled and relaunched Batman: The Animated Series as The New Adventures of Batman & Robin, this sleek coupe became the new Batmobile.
• 2005 - "The Tumbler" from the awsome Batman Begins film. While I loved it from the beginning, I never thought there was really anything bat-like about the Tumbler, which is more tank than car. After reading Spencer's page on it, I stand corrected. Click the link to see for yourselves.

This, believe it or not, is just a minuscule sampling of the Batmobiles chronicled at BatmobileHistory.com. Make sure you have some free time when you head over there for a visit. You'll probably be staying a while.