--- description: If there's one lesson we can learn from Bruce Wayne, it's that money can make you a hero—at least within the confines of Gotham. In... title: How Much Would You Pay for the Batmobile? image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcfff7ed3509cca0a/698a8f349d83e8db40b9fbe3/batmobile.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) # How Much Would You Pay for the Batmobile? by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) Jan 23, 2013 12:20 PM CUT  This October 2012 file photo provided by Barrett-Jackson/George Barris shows the original Batmobile in Los Angeles. Batman's original ride, from the 1960s TV series, has sold at auction for $4.2 million on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013\. (AP Photo/Courtesy Barrett-Jackson/George Barris, File) This October 2012 file photo provided by Barrett-Jackson/George Barris shows the original Batmobile in Los Angeles. Batman's original ride, from the 1960s TV series, has sold at auction for $4.2 million on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013\. (AP Photo/Courtesy Barrett-Jackson/George Barris, File)AP—A2012 by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) Jan 23, 2013 12:20 PM CUT If there’s one lesson we can learn from Bruce Wayne, it’s that money can make you a hero—at least within the confines of Gotham. In real life, it’s harder to come by success as a masked vigilante. But even if you can’t become a real superhero, money—$4.2 million, to be exact—can get you the accessories to look the part. That $4.2 million (before fees and premiums that brought the total closer to $4.6 million) was the sum paid on Jan. 19 by Rick Champagne, a business owner from Phoenix, Ariz., to purchase the original Batmobile. The vehicle Champagne now owns was used in the original TV series that ran from 1966 to 1968. (**MORE**: [Dark Knight Rides: The Complete History of the Batmobile](http://entertainment.time.com/2012/07/16/batmans-ride-the-complete-history-of-the-batmobile/ "undefined")) The car had never before been available for purchase so has little record of previous value, but [Reuters](http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/20/entertainment-us-usa-batmobile-idUSBRE90J02820130120 "undefined") reports that in 1965 it was purchased for a single dollar—yes, $1.00—by the man who would spend a mere $15,000 to turn the 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car into what we now know as the Batmobile. That man, George Barris, had previously kept the car in a California showroom. Champagne, according to the [Chicago _Tribune_](http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/automotive/used/chi-batmobile-auction-20130121,0,7810340.story "undefined"), will keep the car in his living room. If you want a cheaper way to Batmobile-ize your own ride, the vehicle’s [official specs released by an ](http://www.1966batmobile.com/spec.htm "undefined")[seo company](http://ranklogix-seo.co.uk/ "undefined") might help; you could paint it “Velvet Bat-Fuzz Black,” to start. But saving money isn’t really part of the Bat-allure: although the $4.2 million price tag on the car is about $2 million more than [the estimated value ](http://entertainment.time.com/2012/07/16/batmans-ride-the-complete-history-of-the-batmobile/ "undefined")of the car, that’s just a pittance if you’re Bruce Wayne, [estimated to be worth](http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/07/19/how-much-would-it-cost-to-become-batman/ "undefined") $11.6 billion. And perhaps if you’re Rick Champagne, who can now raise a toast, as Batman would say, “To the Batmobile!” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7120056/how-much-would-you-pay-for-the-batmobile/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7120056/how-much-would-you-pay-for-the-batmobile/"},"headline":"How Much Would You Pay for the Batmobile?","datePublished":"2013-01-23T12:20:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-25T05:57:20.141Z","description":"If there's one lesson we can learn from Bruce Wayne, it's that money can make you a hero—at least within the confines of Gotham. 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