Richmonder won Batmobile in 1989

In 1989, Patrick McLynn was a 23-year-old Virginia Commonwealth University student in industrial design and product engineering hoping to go into toy making. He probably felt like a little kid in a grown-up's body when he was handed the keys to his very own Batmobile that blockbuster summer.

With the Batman film series about to be resurrected when Batman Begins premieres on June 17, McLynn recalls his time behind the steering wheel of the Dark Knight's ride.

On June 19, 1989, Mc-Lynn was at a friend's house when he caught sight of a commercial for MTV's Win the Batmobile Plus $25,000 contest, tied to a video for a Prince song from the movie. The cash was an incentive for the part-time Tobacco Company bartender, whose mode of transit at the time was a bike or skateboard.

To McLynn's great surprise, he was chosen out of 982,950 callers, making his win not quite but almost one in a million. He jumped up and down and started phoning friends, even the WTVR Channel 6 newsroom. They didn't believe him.

McLynn's 20-foot-long Batmobile cost $60,000 and was custom-built on an extended Chevrolet Impala wheelbase by Hollywood Productions, the company that made the movie's Batmobiles. The company provided a plaque for McLynn's Batmobile attesting that it was a replica....................