Automobiles Review

Tag: Oldsmobile

  • 1963 Batmobile Sold for $137,000 at Heritage Auctions [VIDEO]

    In the beginning of last week we told you that the original 1963 Batmobile went on sale at Heritage Auctions. Well, now the car is sold this Saturday and the lucky owner has spent only $137,000 USD for it. This is only a tiny fraction of the $4.2 million that a buyer paid last year for another version built for the television show that aired during the 1960s.This Batmobile was born in 1963 and was developed by Forrest Robinson.

    The story begins with a design sketch in 1960 and then an actual build of the car which was finished in 1963. This means that the “’63 Batmobile” is the earliest known car in existence that was sanctioned by a DC Comics licensee.The car was put up for auction by Toy Car Exchange LLC. This is an online marketplace for collectible cars, which bought and restored the vehicle.

    The car retained the original frame, parts, and engine, and was given a second life.For this project, Forrest Robinson customized his 1956 Oldsmobile 88 with a 324 Rocket engine to resemble the single-fin vehicle depicted in DC’s Batman Comics from the 1940s and 1950s.

    The body of the Oldsmobile was replaced with custom-designed body, measuring 17 feet by 83 inches. It featured Batmobile’s iconic bat-nose front end and pocket sliding doors.Eventually, the Batmobile was abandoned in a New Hampshire field and, for almost fifty years.

    It did not resurface until 2008, when the car was discovered by Bobby Smith. He sold it to a rare car dealer in Chicago, who then re-sold it to auto historian George Albright and then it was purchased by Toy Car Exchange LLC. The vintage car restorer Borbon Fabrications restored the car.

    httpv://youtu.be/8SGnrXoWeoM

    1963 Batmobile by Forrest Robinson
    1963 Batmobile by Forrest Robinson
    1963 Batmobile by Forrest Robinson
    1963 Batmobile by Forrest Robinson
    1963 Batmobile by Forrest Robinson
    1963 Batmobile by Forrest Robinson
    1963 Batmobile by Forrest Robinson
    1963 Batmobile by Forrest Robinson
    1963 Batmobile by Forrest Robinson
    1963 Batmobile by Forrest Robinson
    1963 Batmobile by Forrest Robinson
    1963 Batmobile by Forrest Robinson

    Video Source: YouTube

  • Original 1963 Batmobile on Sale at Heritage Auctions [VIDEO]

    The officially licensed Batmobile was born in 1963 and was developed by Forrest Robinson. The story begins with a design sketch in 1960. After finishing it, Robinson and Len Perham, begun building the car in the Robinson family barn. Then, the completion of the car continued in 1963, which is exactly two years before the George Barris customization of the TV Batmobile was started.

    This basically means that the “’63 Batmobile” is the earliest known car in existence that was sanctioned by a DC Comics licensee.Robinson’s earlier car is instantly recognizable as “more authentic” by comic book fans. It features, seen in DC’s Batman Comics from the 1940s and ’50s, the prominent front-end bat-nose and rear-end single fin.

    The car was custom-built from the ground up. As a basis served the 1956 Oldsmobile 88 frame and the famous 324 Rocket engine. The body of the Oldsmobile was replaced with custom-designed body, measuring 17 feet by 83 inches. It featured Batmobile’s iconic dorsal fin, bat-nose front end and pocket sliding doors.After the built up of the car finished in 1963, Robinson painted it in space-age silver.

    The car became a stunning piece of art-on-wheels. Robinson initially used the car for regular driving, but when Batmania started in earnest, the car caused such a sensation that ALL STAR Dairies and its New Hampshire affiliate, Green Acres Ice Cream, leased it for a promotional campaign.For this purpose, it was repainted in official Batman colors, and of course – badged with official Batman labels.

    Then it toured the Eastern United States as “Batman’s Batmobile”. It is kind of irony that Forrest, who needed cash to start a fabricating business, sold the car for only $200 USD.What was the destiny of the car? It was abandoned in a New Hampshire field and, for almost fifty years, remained a long-forgotten piece of American Pop Culture. Until 2008, when the car was discovered by Bobby Smith.

    He sold it to a rare car dealer in Chicago, who re-sold it to auto historian George Albright.In 2013, 1963 Batmobile was purchased by Toy Car Exchange and transported to Borbon Fabrications to be restored to pristine condition. The vehicle retained the original frame, parts, and engine, and was given a second life.

    Now the car is to be found at Heritage Auctions and is currently on sale for at least $90,000 USD.

    httpv://youtu.be/8SGnrXoWeoM

    1963 Batmobile by Forrest Robinson
    1963 Batmobile by Forrest Robinson
    1963 Batmobile by Forrest Robinson
    1963 Batmobile by Forrest Robinson
    1963 Batmobile by Forrest Robinson
    1963 Batmobile by Forrest Robinson
    1963 Batmobile by Forrest Robinson
    1963 Batmobile by Forrest Robinson
    1963 Batmobile by Forrest Robinson
    1963 Batmobile by Forrest Robinson
    1963 Batmobile by Forrest Robinson
    1963 Batmobile by Forrest Robinson

    Video Source: YouTube

  • The Ill-fated Oldsmobile Diesel

    1978-Oldsmobile-98-THUMB1978-Oldsmobile-98-651

    Sometimes automotive companies do silly things and the story of General Motor’s diesel V8 highlights one of the best (worst?). Here’s the story. During the mid-1970s, meeting new federal EPA emissions regulations was causing many issues for car manufacturers and their dealers. The solution, at least to some executives at General Motors, was to rush a series of diesel engines to the marketplace. This is because diesels were not subject to the same emissions requirements as gasoline engines. Besides Mercedes and Peugeot had both been quite successful selling diesel cars in the U.S. so why wouldn’t General Motors be? Though the new GM-designed diesel engines were destined for all the GM car divisions, the design responsibility fell to GM’s Oldsmobile group. Working at a frantic pace, the first Oldsmobile-built diesels hit the dealer lots in 1978, and there were problems. Oh boy, were there problems.

    To begin with, Oldsmobile powertrain engineers based the design on the division’s existing 350-cubic-inch V8. It is an urban legend that GM engineers simply slapped new diesel heads on the standard 350 block and did little else. This is not the case by any stretch. The new block was reinforced substantially internally and was built of a sturdier cast-iron alloy; the blocks weren’t really the problem. The trouble came from the cylinder heads and the fuel system. In particular, the cylinder heads. They broke an awful lot resulting in massive problems for GMs dealer network.

    To understand the GM diesel debacle it helps to understand a little about diesel technology. Diesel engines operate using a compression-ignition scheme. As gas is compressed, its temperature goes up, and, in the case of a diesel engine, it’s compressed until the diesel fuel in the combustion chamber ignites. This leads to much higher combustion chamber pressures than are present in a gasoline engine. Once again, much higher combustion chamber pressures than in a gasoline engine. Typically, diesel engines have more and stronger head bolts to compensate for the diesel’s higher cylinder pressure. The Oldsmobile diesel, however, maintained the same 10-bolt pattern and head bolts as gasoline engines so that common production tooling could be used for both the gasoline and diesel engines. This was a big mistake. There were also other issues with the engine: a fuel-pump timing chain that stretched and poor dealer service training, to name a few. And, even in good running order they were just plain loud, and belched quite a bit of smoke; all to provide acceleration that can best be described as modest.

    Production of the Oldsmobile diesel lasted from 1978 and 1985 and it caused a class-action lawsuit that saw owners reimbursed for up to 80 percent of the cost of a replacement engine upon failure. The engines were so bad that they spurred legislators in several states to draft early lemon laws. Ultimately, Oldsmobile-built diesels ruined the American consumer’s appetite for diesels for almost 3 decades. Only now are diesels beginning to reenter the U.S. car market in small numbers—and most of those are from non-US manufacturers. This is quite unfortunate because diesel technology is robust, proven and can lead to tremendous fuel economy.

    Courtesy of: Team Kia New Hampshire