The $233,000 Batmobile

It was built for the 120-episode ABC series that ran from 1966 to 1968, and some unidentified private collector sold it at auction to some unidentified private museum in the Cayman Islands (that already sounds suspicious) for $233,000. Apparently, that was 50 percent higher than the upper estimate, thanks to four or five bidders who kept bidding up the price. There were a bunch of Batmobiles made for the series; the original, which is valued at more than $1 million, remains on display at L.A.'s Petersen Automotive Museum. From Bloomberg News:

The first Batmobile was built by George Barris on three weeks' notice after ABC decided in 1965 to serialize Batman, according to the Coys catalog. The television series ran from 1966 to 1968. Barris, described by Coys as ``the greatest custom car builder of all time,'' modified a Ford Motor Co. Lincoln Futura car for the original. Because of the needs of filming and promotional tours, a number of copies were made, Godin said. While four were made of fiberglass, the model for sale yesterday is made from steel and is a functioning car with a Ford V8 engine, he said. It was built by Jay Ohrberg, a colleague of Barris and builder of KITT, the car in the ``Knight Rider'' TV series, he said.