Lightning Fast Bat Transportation!

I think enough time has passed since the Dark Knight has swept up everyone in it's amazing whirlwind of adventure that I can post some "Bat Goodness"! So here we go Bat Fans, the Johnny Lightning build your own Bat Vehicles. These were released in the early part of the new decade, and have to be one of the coolest if not easiest models I have ever built. The actual finished vehicle is about the size of a Hotwheels car, but they were packaged in a display type box with header card that is similar in size and shape of the Corgi Batmobiles, maybe a little smaller.

Each kit came with instructions, a tiny screw driver, tiny screws (duh), and pre painted parts. You could pretend you were on an assembly line putting together little die cast cars! Each represents a different era of Bat vehicle, or major Bat vehicle, with two of the four representing the 60's. No you are not seeing things the fourth will be revealed tomorrow.

Let's start with one of the coolest of Batmobiles, the 1940's. The 40's Batmobile is a supped up sedan with the recognizable bat fin adorning the roof, running down the back of the car, as well as the "mask" that was used as a battering ram. This version even has the wheel wells that have the bat like scalloped edges. Solid gloss black, chrome accents, this is one bad looking Batmobile. Probably only considered iconic by comic fans, but is easily recognizable as a Batmobile.






Next we have the 1960's comic Batmobile, I say comic because it seems that while they could do a version that was based on the Futura car design, Johnny Lightning was not licensed to do the 1960's Television Batmobile that everyone knows. But this one is similar to the Barris version form the show in so many ways that it's not to far to imagine Adam West at the wheel.







This set also features no bat markings except for the matte black mask that is on the hood of the gloss black car. The interior and any exterior details were all pre painted as before, but one extra feature on this one is the opening hood. This car also included a hitch on the back that comes in handy for the trailer that came with the next set the 1960's comic Batboat!







Again the comic being because the television Batboat was not licensed. Probably one of the coolest of the four sets, the Batboat features similar pre painted details as the above Batmobile and includes a trailer that you can hitch to the car, or lower it's hitch wheel to stand at the ready in the Batcave. I wouldn't try to float this one though, it's made up primarily of die cast, like the others, and would sink rather fast.



This one along with the Batmobile reminds me of the older Corgi sets that included the car, trailer, and boat. I believe there was even a larger rack toy set that had the same set up, but all plastic at a larger scale. I wonder if they ever produced a Batcamper, so Batman and Robin could hitch it up for a weekend of s'mores and ghost stories?