Wicked looking from any angle

Nobody but nobody gets to drive more bitchin’ cars than Jay Leno. The other day studio driver, Dave Ragan brought the Tumbler Batmobile by Jay’s Garage. What a piece of work this thang is.

Dave tells us there were actually seven of them built originally. Six of them ran, one was for the stationary shots. One thing that is highly stressed in this video is that they were not done in CGI. These had to be real, working cars to do these stunts.

Nobody knows what it cost to build the original prototype; somewhere between one half and one million dollars. These cars were built from scratch by the studio’s Special Effects Division. It took one year to build the prototype. It is built with easily replaceable modular components and runs a ZZ3 Chev Small Block.

A NASCAR quick change rear axle twists those four, 17 inch Super Mudders in the rear. It requires one driver and one wing man to operate all of the special effects. The afterburner utilizes some kind of propane powered burner that is used for hot air balloons.

It is interesting watching Jay climb down into it through the hatch. What he finds is a cockpit filled with gauges. He finds brake handles to his left and right along with a ratchet shifter on his left. We are informed that they always wet down the streets when they utilize those brake handles to perform their stunts.

You have to see the look on Jay’s face when he steps into the throttle on this thing. Then we hear the gears. It uses some kind of straight cut gears. The sound is like nothing you’ve ever heard before.

Leave it to Jay to keep us constantly entertained. Well alright gearheads, tell us what you think of this thing.

 ’nuff said.