It’s sleek, black and low-slung and seems to vibrate with power and anticipated thrill.
This is a car built to impress and punish-the latter if your name is the Joker, the Penguin or any of their henchmen.
This is the Batmobile-the car of “Batman” and “Batman Returns,” not of the 1960s television series.
The celebrated car is under the watchful care of Bob and Ruth Schoonhoven of Palm Springs, Calif. Bob works for Hollywood Productions, the licensing agent for Warner Brothers. And Ruth?
She drives the Batmobile.
“I can’t fit in the driver’s seat,” said Bob, who’s not exceptionally large. It’s just that the Batmobile’s cockpit is more Robin-sized.
This is one of three built in London for 1989’s enormously successful “Batman,” filmed at London’s Pinewood Studios. Two more were constructed for last summer’s sequel “Batman Returns.”
He rattles off the stats for the Caped Crusader’s cruiser: 22-feet long, 8-feet wide, 3,000 pounds, handmade fiberglass body, hydraulic system that raises and lowers the body off the ground.
While the body and look is exotic, the car is built on the chassis of a Chevrolet Caprice and powered by a Corvette 327 engine.
Bob then answers two of the three questions most frequently asked by Batman fans: No, the car doesn’t have the security shields seen in the two movies (they’re added through computer animation); and, no, there is no rocket engine with flames in the rear (more animation).
The third most-asked question? “Can I take a ride?” (The answer? No.)
Celebrity cars are nothing new for Bob, who has traveled with the souped-up roadster of “The Dukes of Hazzard,” “Knight Rider’s” K.I.T.T., the DeLorean seen in “Back to the Future,” the original Batmobile and other special interest cars.
Those all had fans, but the 1980s Batmobile draws the biggest crowds. Its mystique also makes it one of Schoonhoven’s favorites. “It’s a fun project for us to show it off,” he said.
Ruth added that driving the Batmobile has perked her status as aunt. “It’s fun to tell my nephews and nieces that I drive the Batmobile,” she said with a chuckle.
When it comes to what Bob would like to park in his garage, though, the Batmobile takes second place. “I wouldn’t put the Batmobile up against a Lamborghini,” he confessed.
While the Batmobile has the film reputation of high-tech wizardry and speed to burn, Bob says he doesn’t know its top speed. Due to its cost and insurance restrictions, he and Ruth can’t take it out on the highway and push it to the limit.
One of the vehicle’s longest jaunts, Ruth recalls, was when she took a camera crew for “Entertainment Tonight” out for a ride. Outside of that, the Batmobile gets most of its exercise backing out of and into its trailer.
With Bob estimating that he’s traveled some 100,000 miles over the last few years to show the film car, the Batmobile’s odometer-one of the few working gauges on its instrument panels-shows nine miles.
A low-speed circuit of a Waco motel parking lot with Ruth at the wheel-insurance again-isn’t quite like Batman’s adventures in Gotham City.
Speeds of 10 miles an hour or less cause the Batmobile to stall several times, the result, Bob says, of no high-speed driving to burn off carbon deposits.
The Dark Knight’s fabled vehicle, it seems, needs a tuneup.
Where’s Alfred when you need him?
