Yes this is the very same man what a great guy...I was visited by Lenny Roberson yesterday and his 66 Batmobile. Lenny travels all around the U.S. with his Batmobile visiting Children’s Hospitals dressed as Batman making children’s wishes in some cases last wishes come true, to meet Batman and see the Batmobile. Lenny is sanctioned by Warner Brothers; a large part of expenses for this endeavor is funded by Lenny himself and donations from his contributors. What Lenny does for infirmed children is commendable.
Shortly after receiving his Batmobile from his builder the hood blew off in traffic and was destroyed. Another hood was sent to him to replace the damaged hood and contained no jell coat and was cut in half to facilitate shipping. The hood was warped and totally unusable. I offered to replace his hood at cost. I took measurements from his hood opening and we were able to fabricate a hood to replace the missing one.
When Lenny contacted me after visiting two hospitals in my state, his car had broken down again and was being repaired before meeting up with me. He stated that the motor was not running properly and the technicians were working on the vehicle noticed that the motor mounts were loose and the motor had gone unchecked would possible fallen through causing catastrophic results.
Lenny finally arrived around 1700hrs and we drove over to the shop to insure the hood would fit his Batmobile and fortunately it did. He didn’t have enough time to leave the car with us to have the hood fitted and mounted to his car so we arranged shipping to have his new builder to attach the hood to the vehicle.
We spent the reminder of the evening going over the problems with his car. Lenny told us that he went over all the specifications of the car with his builder just what he wanted to have incorporated in his car and his builder assured him that he could make this build happen. Lenny’s builder drew up the contract himself adding each of the requested build listed items.
Lenny showed us the bubbling and blistering paint throughout the body. The fiberglass was very thin in areas of the body and the fiberglass was split and cracking through the paint in the rear of the body. The entire lower section of the body was covered with chip guard “undercoating” in an attempt to hide the panel warpage. The red trim paint was only painted on one side of the edges. The two rear Drag Bags were cheaply made and had no pull lines attached. The canopy trim was not fitted to the glass and had gaps throughout the canopy the trim was bent aluminum “L” channel. The canopy glass didn’t fit the beacon arch; a large bracket was installed to act as a stand-off. The rear package tray was what appeared to be metal siding cut to fit, not very authentic. Door poppers were contracted and paid for; they were installed but never worked. The vehicle frame was a custom designed Art Morrison chassis, very nice. The Wilwood Calipers either were not torqued properly or Loctite was not used, the bolt came out and the front brake bound up on the rotor and locked up on the vehicle.
Lenny contracted and paid for a roll top dash that he did not receive.
He contracted and paid for a custom aftermarket pistol shifter that he did not receive.
A back up camera and monitor that he did not receive, a C6 new transmission that was contracted and paid for and did not receive. He did hover receive a used C4 tranny.
A high end stereo system with large power speakers that was contracted and paid for and did not receive. He did however receive a FM radio cassette player.
None of the gauges that were contracted for worked or the lighting worked.
He contracted for an enclosed double battery system that he did not receive. He did however receive a used battery and open tray.
None of the turn signals, stop or back up lights worked.
The tires were mismatched.
The power steering pump did not work.
The trunk and hood was to be opened electrically with actuators.
There was no actuator on the rear trunk lid and the front actuator was not connected just hanging from the lower mount.
The car had serious overheating problems,
Lenny had a local fabricator box in the radiator and installed a much larger electrical fan installed, and this cured the overheating problems. A small 2” box was installed behind the front grill but not wired in. this was supposed to be a horn for the vehicle.
I know there are more problems with Lenny’s build but this is all I can remember at this time. The contract and the Batmobile was built by Don Currie .
Lenny and Me...
Missing hood
2" horn behind grill
Paint missing on tail fins...
Fit & Finnish trunk and doors improper alignment & crack in fiberglass...
Bubbling in paint...
Gas door doesn't fit properly & just flops around...
Radar antenna doesn't work at all just a static prop.
Window trim gaps...
Actuator hanging in engine bay...
More to come...