|
|
 Posted 10/19/2005 2:25:52 PM |
|
|
Forum Guru
 
Last Login: 3/20/2024 6:52:37 PM
Posts: 895,
Visits: 642
|
|
  89 keaton build info or what I cut and pasted that might help me build an 89 Keatonmobile.
After reading 39 pages of links to post and all of the links, I tried to glean actual information that a new builder would want to know. There was too much info on fiberglassing and is easy to find so I did not include that.
So below is a somewhat cleaned up gathering of info shared.
Topics include:
What is that?
Where can I get one retail?
How did you do that?
What happened to?
How did you get a mold of it?
What was it based on?
How much will it cost?
Who can I ask who has done this all ready?
How does the canopy work?
I have added this at the highest security level, for two reasons. 1. if I listed your screen name and you want it off, I will edit it. 2. If I missed you I will add you to the list of guys who will be helpful 3. much of this stuff was from the “50 and over” post areas so I don’t want to change it’s availability.
As one of the early guys on the 66, I understand the work that went into gathering this info, and I am glad you guys are willing to share and shoot straight with what you have found. Nice to find a new group of batnuts.
Nate Truman
92.5 wide
141 wheelbase
235” long
Built with 2 69 chevy impala frames
Rear exhaust caps are ecs valves with the butterfly valve removed aircraft part
THE CANOPY operates on the three bar method riding on pillow block bearings at the three attach points. In the first movie the canopy was actuated manually, in the second an actuator was added. The switch in the cockpit is located on the left upper JFS control panel. From the outside the switch is located on the drivers side lower fwd. fuel manifold assembly. There is also a cannon plug attach point for a laptop to access the cars electrical system, next to the canopy switch.
The front canopy lip is raised up either electrically or manually and allows the canopy to slide fwd on the bars. That is why looking at the car the front lip is not sitting flush, not until it is pulled down. There is a large gap around the canopy and cockpit where there is no weather strip. Neither does any of the Jay cars have weather strips
THE REAR TAIL LIGHTS
http://www.eurospares.co.uk/
HEADLIGHTS 1989 CIVIC HONDA
SEATS S SERIES RECARO SEATS
AUTO DRAG CENTERLINE WHEELS
DAYTONA AND 308 FERRARI TAIL LIGHTS
GAS CAPS COBRA LEMANS CAPS (CLOSE TO ORIGINAL CAPS BUT NOT EXACT)
CENTER THROTTLE IS OUT OF WW2 SINGLE ENGINE PLANE
30 CAL. MACHINE GUNS 1919A BELT FED
THE PLAYERS (ACTIVELY WORKING ON A REPLICA AND HAVE SAID SO ON THE BOARDS)
tim homebuilt opel 1970
jack
sgistar
Kevin
Dan Rodriguez bat89
Bill W
CARMEL GUY (not interested in communication with board)
Nitro
Bat god paul
Tim 1989batmobile.com 1:4 scale
Mark Towle
THE GUY TO THANK FOR ALL OF THE GREAT PHOTOS OF THE MOVIE CARS AND WORKED ON THE MATTEL CAR
Autoprops713 DAVE
Missing parts OR “WHAT DID THAT COME FROM?”
GO TO
http://www.chickslovethecar.com/replies.asp?page=7&splash=T&strID=267&txtSearch=
TO SEE THE PHOTOS THEY ARE REFERING TO:
Hey Dan, well it's like Kevin said it all depends on the frame you used. Pay close attention to your lug pattern. The older (74 and older) Impalas had a 5 on 5" lug pattern. The newer Caprice and Impalas have a 5 of 4 3/4" pattern (I think). This is important because Centerline does not make the Auto Drag wheel in a 5x5" smaller then 10.50" width.
As far as correctness goes. The car in the pictures that Dan provided have the following set ups:
Front: Mickey Thompson Indy Profile S/S L60-15. As per Mickey Thompson's website that tire would work best on a 7 to 10" rim size.
Rear: Mickey Thompson Sportsman 33x21.50 15LT. As per Mickey Thompson's website that tire would work best on a 15 to 18" rim size.
The Jay replica in Tallahassee used the same front tire but the rear was a bit smaller:
Rear: Mickey Thompson Sportsman 33x19.50 15LT. As per Mickey Thompson's website that tire would work best on a 14 to 16" rim size.
Just and added note the Mickey Thompson Sportsman are a bias tire and require a inner tube. Bias tire are not really a good street tire. They do not respond to water very well.
For The Gothic I chose to use a Hoosier Radial tire for the rear. For rim size I will be using and 15X14 for the rear and a 15x8.5 for the front. I will be using wheel lug adaptors to make the lug pattern 5 on 4 3/4" pattern. As far as back spacing goes I am going to have to re-measure once the body is back on the frame
The nose dome is a constant speed drive to the turbine section, this is where the generator is housed. The replicas use a fiberglass copy from the original. The blade section came from a rotor blade section from a real jet motor. I have been told that the builders used a turbine section from a Harrier Jet, I have not been able to confirm this to date.
Turbine blades can be found on Ebay in the aircraft section..
"There were actually 9 cars built for the films. Each with very specific functions. Two shells were sent to England for use on the set of Returns. One of these cars was assembled by the FX team at Pinewood Studios to become the "turntable" car for use in the clown roasting scene. Both of these cars remain in England today. EVERY screen used car is serial numbered in 3 very specific places. Subsequent promotional cars are even numbered with the special "PR" prefix to their number."
There was two driveable Keaton Batmobiles built for the movies. WB still owns the number one and two cars, both are in storage. They were leased out to OnStar for 3 million dollars for a three-year tour. Both cars received a new gunmetal gray paint job and made six OnStar commercials.
There were numerous promo cars and Jay Ohrburg¡¯s Six Flag cars built to be used for the Six Flag shows. There were cockpit mock-ups built for interior shots, one of the car museums has one of these.
KEVINS ANSWERS TO ‘UNANSERED QUESTIONS” PAGE 19 Photo #11 is a avionics radar display panel, panel #1 is a civilian communication and transponder panel, panel #2 is located on the exterior or wheel well of a military aircraft, it is another communications panel, #4 is a helicopter radio rack control panel, #5 is a military transponder friend or foe panel, #6 is a civilian jet fuel start panel, #6 is a radio panel possibly military. The exhaust looks like ECS butterfly duct valves.
The nose cone is called the CSD and generator set. The generator for the aircraft is housed in there along with the constant speed drives unit.
On the real cars I am told that the Harrier Jet intake and exhaust were used. In most of the pictures I have seen it appears to be right.
Check on ebay and locate aircraft parts and search for engine vains or blades sometimes you can locate an entire turbine wheel intact with blades. If they are to long you can always cut them down to size. You can even contact the sellers to see what else they have. They don’t post everything they have. The cone on the replicas is fiberglass copied from the original car.
HOOD LATCHES CLOSE latches are sold by Shell Valley.
They are not the same as the 89's but it's kind of hard to find the correct ones . Shell Vally also has the correct gas caps.phone number is 877-221-1970. Nice bunch of guys and always willing to help even with advice on glassing or Epoxy adhesive I have even got advice on paints from them
WHEELS
It mainly depends on what base car you used, you need a wheel and tire to fill up the wheel well without hitting the wells when turned clock to clock. Typically 10X15 rims are used. I used a 1” backspacing on the rear rims and 3 ½” on the front. P275/60 R 15 is the largest tire you can use with those rims without hitting on the front end. I used P275/60 R15 on the back. I could have gone a little larger but I needed clearance for the airlift.
This all depend on what your base frame you are using, some builders have to use spacers on the wheels to get the depth they are looking for. I have found that the 91-96 Caprice & Impala are able to fill up the wheel wells nicely. The frame still needs to be extended to 24 ¼” in length to achieve the 141” wheelbase. Many of the Caprices and Impalas came with LT1 corvette motors. If you make the mirror fold they never even get close to the guns.
The rear section of the gundoors are actually side view mirrors that flip!!!!!!
I posted this a while back, so here it is again. You can build on a buget; it just takes a lot longer. The parts aren’t that bad, but it adds up quickly. The labor alone can eat you up alive, unless you have a lot of well-rounded friends willing to help.
Body Kit $15,000-$20,000
Donor car $ 2,000
Frame & engine work $ 2,000
Floor boards, dash
& firewall $ 1,000
Steel for body $ 500
Radiator $ 200
Tail lights both sets $1,200
Gauge set $ 1,200
Seats $ 700
LT1 harness $ 700
Body harness $ 160
Actuators 4ea $ 400
Canopy glass $ 100
Resin, Mat & filler $ 2,000
Headlights $ 100
Turbine blades &
Welding $ 500
Exhaust & welding $ 500
Steering collumn & setup $ 300
Interior $ 2,000
Wheels & Tires $2,000
_________________________
Low Total $32560.00
Most of the numbers are very conservative and doesn’t cover priming and painting and only covers most of the large components. There are so many items not listed here that runs up to thousands of dollars. This is if you do all the work your self, I would hate to see how much labor is involved.
MOLD STORY FROM BAT GOD
Jay got a HUGE loan from Bob and put up the 89, the Batmissile, the Miami Vice Scarab and trailer, (Now painted red, Jay loved to paint EVERYTHING red, even had a red 89 for a year or two himself) his girlfriend's Caddy, and a Barris Buggy.
When Jay didn't come through, Bob called me and in his usual voice said "He's a a$$hole! Help me get rid of some of this sh#$!!!"
Batmissile went to Tornado's in AZ, Boat to a client in Marina Del Ray and Jay paid him back for the Caddy.
But the 89 went to the shop of one of his "friends" (Whom we'll still protect. But you KNOW who ran out all of his stuff anyway don't you) to be molded before going to John's for completion to go to the Mid-West Museum. A ton of cars were pulled out of those molds and I repped those cars for years for him and got to know those molds too well.
When all of the crap went down with WB, they came and took out his replicas. His son and I took the #2 molds along with his West molds and Batcycle and split to his hometown of Moline, Illinois. The number one molds were squashed and that made them happy because they thought they got all the cars and molds.
We were happy sitting on the 5th floor of a building that his kid bought as a warehouse, using the bottom floor for "Jesters" Comedy club and making Batmobiles on the top. That famous pic of me cutting the West body in half is because all of the molds were disassembled to get them through the double door but the completed body we took was too big. So I cut it in half!!!!!
The Shield molds are still sitting in the warehouse in Burbank with a 10K price tag on them, Half of the Batskiboat molds are there too (I have the other half) and the Duck molds.
So you see... Jay never had the molds to sell him. Nye and I did! We used them right up to the point the kid sold them to Gary in Schamburg, Illinois because Gary was trying to protect against additional replicas being made and maintaining the exclusivity of his car. The kid told him that these were the only molds in existance and no more could be made.
But that was BS, because we'd already run cars out of it. And if you've got a car, you've got a mold waiting to happen. And that's what I did.
Gary also bought the West molds and the car I cut in half. The kid forgot about the Batbike, because several of the pieces were missing and he didn't know what to do with them. I bought them from Jay and replaced the missing pieces with molds made from parts provided by our mutual Batcycle friend in Northern Cali. Where do you think he got HIS 89 from dude? Same with your friend in Iowa.
I know this because Gary called Bob to get the West car finished and Bob referred him to me. Gary confirmed Nye's story about the molds and asked "What makes you think you can put the two halves of the TV car back together that some a$$hole cut in half?"
I said; "Because I'm the a$$hole that cut it in half in the first place!"
Bob had an additional set of molds pulled from one of the bodies (Maybe even YOURS!) and sold it to our Bat-friend in NYC. He's still got them.
Bob kept the molds of the 89 at the moldshop until he "trashed" them and they ended up in Robert's hands and he started selling them like cheap donuts to anyone.
But those molds are NOT Jay's.
RE: Where did the replicas come from?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey Jack,
Haven't we all gone through this a million times????
Gary in Schaumburg, Illinois has one of the three original Ohrberg molds used to make the film cars. Those molds have all the flanges and vents and traction pads and extra flares on the front end under the turbine. You can see the very intricate hood connection flange in this photo of the original molds on the day Nye (Jay's kid) and I brought them to Moline.
All of the original cars, (Including the ones that went to Pinewood) were made from one of three, identical sets of these molds. The red set (pictured) the black set and the blue set.
The blue set and the black set were destroyed by WB. (The "black and blue" irony hits me as I type this) The red set was shipped to Moline to get them the hell out of Hollywood and away from WB. There is a rumour that an additional set of molds made it's way from Jay's to his friend in Australia. Only our Aussie friends can follow that trail.
But when I left Nye, he didn't have any ability to run anything out of them and stored all of this stuff in town at a place called Tempo Marine. About a year after I left there, I got a call from Gary who'd been passed on to me by Now Silent Bob.
Gary told me he'd purchased the 89 molds from Nye along with the molds for the 66 and a 66 body that had been cut in half lengthwise.
Jay had previously sold him an 89 turnkey with a flip top, fighter canopy roof and a turnkey 66. The "kid" sold him both molds and the 66 shell for 12K. He was looking into someone to complete the 66, but the purchase of the molds was simply to ensure the exclusivity of the 89 he'd bought from Jay. He had no intention to use them. The existing 66 body was a different matter.
About a year after that, Jay offered to sell Star Cars to me. He was opening Ohrberg Models and Talent (See "nod" to that company on the wall in Austin Powers 2) and wanted to get rid of all of his molds and extra cars.
The first thing we negotiated was the purchase of all of the molds and cars that were left behind at Tempo Marine.
These included the Polar Lights Batcycle molds and three cars from Death Race 2000, the Cobra 50 Merc, and the Ferrari LeSabretooth and Barney Rubble car from the Flintstones. But the 89 and 66 molds were no longer there.
Anyone need a giant Bugs Bunny head?
As Kevin has mentioned. Jay put up a lot of cars to Now Silent Bob for a crapload of cash. Much more that a few hundred grand I heard Kevin.
These included the Batmissile, the Miami Vice Scarab and trailer (now painted red) a set of 66 molds that Jay had pulled from a car that Bob had sold him. (Bob tells me one of the wings was lowered on purpose to make the car uneven because he knew Jay would pull a mold from it as soon as he got it. He showed me the difference with a tape measure on one visit, but I was more concerned with the rattlers nested under it than to worry about pics at the time.)
A Caddy that Jay's girlfriend had owned, the molds for the Knight 4000 and the 89 that started it all.
The grandfather of all 89 replicas.
When Now Silent Bob realized that he wasn't getting his cash back, he attempted to sell off Jay's stuff. The missile went to a club/restaurant in Tucson called "Tornado's". Can anyone help out with that?
And the 89 went to Star Cars. The finish work done by the same guy who's building Dan Rodriguez' car.
BUT!!!!!!!
NOT BEFORE, Now Silent Bob sent the molds down to Hemett to have a set of molds pulled from it. The very same molds that are in the above photos provied by others.
But... as I have stated time and time again. Dean's boys went cheap on the molds and simply splashed the car, taping over the grills and traction pads and abandoning the intricate flanges altogether.
THAT is why the replicas don't have all of the "goodies" on them.
Mine don't either. Because a guy in New York came to me with an offer to mold mine in exchange for a second body for Don C. and he f'ed it up. The only way to get all the f'ing gelcoat off my car was to finish the job he started and I ended up with a set of molds I never wanted in the first place.
But my molds were made without separating the two halves of the car and the car was never flipped over to get all the "cool" stuff molded underneith.
This guy poured the gelcoat all over it without a single connecting flange being glassed up. I had to use a whizzer wheel to cut through the glass and gel to insert aluminum flashing in the cracks to re-engineer the flanges that are on them now. Not my most impressive work.
But the molds were there, people have cash, so I ran out a few cars. Everyone seems to be happy with them (Eh Nitro?... Nate?)
But the molds in the U.K. were pulled from one of the two cars Jay shipped to Pinewood, Yancy's running cars like Jack's out of Now Silent Bob's old molds and the rest of them are being pulled from molds pulled off of NSB and Yancy cars.
Gary has never parted with, nor used the molds he has. And THOSE CARS would be the ones to have!
The Six Flags cars were made smaller because the turning radius of the 89 is too crappy for the small arenas provided by the Batman Stunt show. I mean C'mon! Look what they did to the Tumbler!!!!
Somewhere on down the road, someone (Rods and Racers maybe?) pulled a mold off the "shorty" cars and now we've got smaller 89's that won't fit on the chassis anymore.
*****The Batgospel... as handed down by...******
"Where does he get those wonderful toys?"
He MAKES them you idiot!
www.tunergirlz.com
www.codeoneauto.com
Patrick Richmond Va | Posted: 3/8/2005 5:02:02 AM |
RE: Keaton Batmobile
________________________________________
I sold it july 2003 to a private collector in Ill. after owning it for 14 years. I'm done with reporters but if you're interested I'll tell you pieces of the story when I can. I own part of a restaurant so my hours are late (look at my posting time), also my typing skills are lacking. I will tell you this it was great to win the contest since i was and continue to be a huge fan. The new tumbler is is a vast improvement over the clooney Batmobile. The one I owned will of course always be my favorite. I really wish all of you could have had a chance to have one for yourselves. imagine being a geeky 23 yr old college student and winning a national contest and having MTV come to your town and hand you THE Batmobile and a 25,000 check. It was certanly the best summer of my life. Unfortunately it kind of forced me to be a recluse about it. Imagine at least 2-3 people a day for 14 years ask you the same question "hey ain't you that guy that won that car". I know it sounds petty but come on all I did was dial a number 50 times while Prince sang some god awful song. I was one in a million what else can I say it could have been anyone, but I'm glad It was me.
GUY WHO WON THE MTV BATMOBILE
Anton Furst designed the 89 Batmobile; John Evans and his team built the Batmobile in 12 weeks. He also designed most all the weapons and several of the sets.
WB contacted Jay, after the movie to build the cars for Six Flags and some of the promo cars. Jay got in trouble for contract violations and was taken into court by WB. This ended his dealings with the 89 and WB. TFX was awarded the contract for the remaining cars. TFX also built the cars for the other movies. Barbara Ling designed the open cockpit Batman and Robin car.
Black paint for underside that wont be ruin be high heat LizardSkin_ Ceramic Insulation is the amazing spray-on insulation you've seen and read about in the automotive press
the info that Kevin gave you for the tracks and linear bearings is all you really need for the sides. The center is the tricky part. The car that I sent you pictures of just had a piece of flat metal with a curve/bent at the end that a couple of bearings rolled on. What you use for the center track will all depend on your under hood clearance. That Nitro's project he has very limited space so he came up with a really cleaver and functional design that is only around a inch high. I've heard of a garage door track and roller being used but you would need about 3 inches of clearance. Then to make it actually operate you would have to add some type of actuator or drive motor.
Bobby, I’m sorry I really don’t have any firm idea. You may want to ask Nitro to show you his design and Tim also came up with a great concept a while back. Paul says he has a design for the 89, maybe you can buy his idea.
If you use the track and bearing for the side ensure you add a pivot point. This is needed when the front of the canopy lifts up to clear the body to prevent the bearings from binding. This is also why the back of the canopy looks as if it is dipping down. Also the side rails must be perfectly parallel to each other or they will bind.
 
www.StarCarCentral.comwww.Fireballrun.com
|
|
|
|
| Posted 10/19/2005 6:07:36 PM |
|
|
"Tardmonkey of the Year"
Last Login: 9/6/2011 12:10:05 AM
Posts: 3,367,
Visits: 4,625
|
|
Nate, with your job and everything else, I do not know HOW you have time for this foolishness! Awesome job on collaborating all of this great information. 
------------------------
Design and sell your own custom t-shirts, on your existing MySpace page, for free! Download the AP Product Labs app from the app gallery, today.
http://www.myspace.com/approductlabs
|
|
|
|
| Posted 10/19/2005 10:16:58 PM |
|
|
Forum Member
Last Login: 5/27/2009 11:36:04 PM
Posts: 256,
Visits: 678
|
|
WOWIMFEELING LEFT OUT WHAT ABOUT MY 89 GEEEEEEZ..SEE YOU ON SAT NATE WE SHOULD DO DUELING BURN OUTS
COME TO THE MARKSIDE
|
|
|
|
| Posted 10/20/2005 2:25:06 PM |
|
|
Forum Guru
Last Login: 3/20/2024 6:52:37 PM
Posts: 895,
Visits: 642
|
|
|
|
|
| Posted 10/20/2005 6:25:21 PM |
|
|
Has NO LIFE!!
Last Login: 10/27/2014 6:30:59 PM
Posts: 4,811,
Visits: 18,798
|
|
Nate, great job, heck I think I learned something.
|
|
|
|
| Posted 10/21/2005 10:28:14 AM |
|
|
I have the power!
Last Login: 9/29/2023 8:43:09 AM
Posts: 815,
Visits: 3,239
|
|
That was a lot of good info! I had forgotten a lot of those things. If only there were a search function to the forum....(hint )
_______________________________________________________
 
|
|
|
|
| Posted 10/21/2005 9:47:16 PM |
|
|
Yipee-ki-yay...
Last Login: 8/14/2013 8:15:11 PM
Posts: 3,607,
Visits: 3,397
|
|
All those pages... you sure filtered through a lot of crap. It gets slow around here sometimes and we tend to just shoot the sh*t.
Good work.
 
|
|
|
|
| Posted 10/26/2005 5:50:08 PM |
|
|
Forum Guru
Last Login: 3/20/2024 6:52:37 PM
Posts: 895,
Visits: 642
|
|
|
|
|
| Posted 10/26/2005 6:03:45 PM |
|
|
You reap what you sow
Last Login: 9/19/2023 12:52:32 AM
Posts: 7,314,
Visits: 29,372
|
|
Yes.
There was a time when we were all lured to the dark side(thanks mainly in part to Darth Tim). Since then everyone has returned to the light side of the force.
Not sure what happened to Darth Tim, though
 
|
|
|
|
| Posted 10/27/2005 12:11:56 AM |
|
|
Yipee-ki-yay...
Last Login: 8/14/2013 8:15:11 PM
Posts: 3,607,
Visits: 3,397
|
|
| I'm still over here on the dark side... and it's getting darker.
|
|
|
|