A DIY Batmobile for $1 Million, Machine Guns Included

Proof that some people have way too much time on their hands (not to mention too much money).

Shameful that he didn't do something more useful with all those resources.

Perhaps it's a hobby of his? It's his money, and he can spend it the way he chooses. Sounds like 3DTOPO is having a bad day, and needed to post a smart comment.

It cannot be good enough w/o the jet engine. :-)

I'm not having a bad day, thanks for your concern though.

I think it is wasteful and irresponsible for someone to devote 20,000 hours and $1,000,000 cash on something just for generating looks. Its crap like this what makes our society completely unsustainable.

That time and money could have gone to something that benefited hundreds of peoples lives and contributed to making this a better world.

Its just my opinion that I believe I am entitled to.

Doesn't he benifit hundreds of people, as in the suppliers of all the materials and gadgets he bought to make it. Spending money makes the economy go round.

I doubt the companies that profited were not starving or homeless.

Sure I think people should be able to have fun with their money, but this is just excessive and wasteful.

In fact I think a better word might be "stupid".

3dtopo i couldnt understand why you think this way 1 million dollars is nothing compared to 20000 hrs of working first do the calculations 20000 hrs is equal to the 2.3 years of non limited work in a case that he worked 6 to 8 hours a day this means 5 to 6 years of work so you are saying that a rich swedish guy should not spend 150000 to 200000 dollars per year? for a killer car ?

i think you should think about the word "stupid"

stupid no...usefull to save you? yes.

@3DTOPO

You say it's a waste of time and money. It looks like the embodiment of passion and creativity to me. Humanity has problems, no? We need to find solutions to these problems, yes? As history has shown us time and time again, these solutions have come more often than not from people putting an idea they had on paper, or tinkering in their garages.

Maybe one day Mr.Swede will turn his passion and creativity to an endeavor that meets your self-righteous standards, 3DTOPO. Until then, I'm perfectly content hoping that the people reading this article will be inspired to start their own personal projects. Humanity's salvation lies in their efforts, not in your empty criticism of their work.

@3DTOPO

Do you know the businesses this wealthy Swede paid money to in order to build the car? How do you know they weren't starving or homeless? A project such as this would require the work of skilled craftsmen somewhere along the lines, and there is a good possibility such craftsmen could indeed be "starving artists".

More to my point though, since you seem to believe yourself more of a humanitarian, what exactly are the best uses of people's time and money? Should we all be ashamed for driving anything but a prius, or not eating vegetarian? What about profession... should we all be ashamed for having any savings (since keeping more than what is needed to survive is selfish in your book...)?

3DTOPO
you bring nothing to the table. stfu

@3DTOPO

Yeah, i guess this probably doesnt meet your definition of 'art' because it does not depict someone urinating on a cross or some such nonsense. I doubt the builder of this impressive machine wasted anymore 'resources' than are wasted maintaining and powering the 12,000 square foot mansions of environmental champions such as Al Gore or the Kennedy family. And you know what? I could care less how hypocritical liberals such as Gore spend their money while damaging the environment. It is still a free country, if only for a little while longer.

No, the million did not go to the starving or homeless. It went to the employed, hardworking, and valuable part of humanity.

The poor and starving are that, poor and starving. Feed them and they only live and breed to consume more. Stop feeding them, and they die. A noteably tragedy, but a punctilliar one.

Those who do not produce do not have a right to consume. That is a basic law of nature.

I raise corn snakes. Sometimes a baby snake won't eat. I encourage it to begin eating many ways: scenting, braining, isolation, etc. I'll even pull out the pinky pump and force feed it once or twice. Some snakes, however, will never learn to eat. I could force feed it its entire life and allow it to breed and pass on its defective non-feeding genes, or I could let it starve and have nature direct her course. (I play God and do neither, I have a hungery king snake as well).

Stop whining about the poor and go do something about it. Either sell all you have and give it to them to consume or go out and eliminate as many as you can (in a merciful way). You have no ground to whine on when the computer you use could have fed thousands.

Ahhhhhh - yea - its really really ridiculously stupid.

That is my opinion - nothing you people can say to make me change it.

Wow, that is an amazing feet to accomplish. Anyone who appreciates customization, engineering, DIYing and so forth should be impressed. As mechanical engineer i am stunned. As many posters have said, its people like him, inventors, that make this world a better place. who knows what his next project will be.

seriously 3DTOPO, seriously...
i think this guy is just tryin to push some buttons. no one could be so ignorant. i really don't even know what to say. you claim its your opinion, which it is, but how the hell does one create a mind to think like that?

anywho, sometimes its projects like this that get people noticed. not sure how old the guy is, maybe retired and had spare time and money, but if he is not, i bet you car companies are gonna see this and want him to work for them, or even custom car shops. i just can't get over how awesome that real life bat mobile is. wish i coulda helped on it!

Alright guys, I'm going to step out front and take some flak with 3DTOPO... if only for a second. I think and hope that 3DTOPO was brashly pointing to the fact that there is some EXTREME wastes of money in this world. This amazing piece of automobile history, IMHO, is nowhere near as bad when compared to the scandals of walls street and its executives. However this dude spent some serious cash. I guess we could sit on 3DTOPO's side and see some truth to what he is saying, however we don't know the creator of this car's background. Whether or not this gentleman worked hard for his money, or swindled is like those mentioned earlier. Seriously I humbly say that we should focus on the important thing here....

OK back to the car. WOW what a slick piece of machinery. This guy created a 700 hp high tech bat-mobile. This is sweeter than the car in the original series. I only wish I could see where that TV went...

Oh I have a theory on those 20k man hours as well. If he built it himself then yes 3.2 years. What about if this was indeed built in a shop by a crew of custom fabricators. That would severely rack up the hours. Especially if you count the man hours for every single custom part on this car. I'm sure that this thing is made from 35% or more of custom fabricated parts, bodywork, frame, glass?

This is addressed to anyone who is complaining about this:

Can't you see it's a BATMOBILE? HOW COOL IS THAT?

(Answer: very cool)

People - I know, I know, it is so shocking and appalling that someone might think about things differently than yourself.

With a million dollars one could accomplish much more than making a car that looks like it is from a movie.

Not only does it seem like a waste of resources to me, it occurs to me that this person must be obsessed with Batman. Hint: It's just a movie! Grow up! Reminds me of one obsessed with Star Trek (geek alert!).

With a million bucks you could buy 10 airplanes. What is cooler, some car that looks like a prop or a fleet of airplanes?

And while it may have 700 horsepower, the article makes no mention of any actual performance statistics. Just because it has 700 horsepower doesn't mean the vehicle can actually handle that. How fast can it take a corner? How safe is it?

For a million bucks, you could buy a couple sports cars (that would very likely outperform this thing), a couple houses and an airplane! Then you would have 20,000 hours to enjoy them!

After reading 3DTOPO's comments I just had to post about this. I think it's great that someone else out there feels similarly about this situation as I do. Namely, that building this car was essentially a huge waste of resources. However, I think it is pertinent to remember that all is not lost.

The task of building this vehicle would constitute its own unique repertoire of design and engineering challenges that needed to be overcome. The problem solving skills that were used here are the same as those needed to develop new technologies such as the PlayPump Water System which is currently helping impoverished villages in Africa gain reliable access to clean drinking water.

Furthermore, the experience of building such a vehicle could have led him to realize that he wants to do more than just build a toy. Alternatively, although rather unlikely, he could have used the vehicle as a platform to test novel technologies that he felt could be beneficial to those who are underprivileged. I know these last two points probably stretch the imagination a bit, but I like to be optimistic about these things.

That being said, there is still more that can be done to correct what on the surface appears to be a terrible transgression against human rights and equality. Simply, put the car up for auction and either donate all of the proceeds to a great humanitarian organization like MSF or use the money to found a new humanitarian organization.

Of course, before the auction, the value of the vehicle could be increased by doing some publicity tours and possibly even getting people like Adam West to endorse it. In the process the vehicle would be turned into a rare pop culture period piece worth far more than the $1M and 20k hours used to create it.

@3DTOPO and others:

who are you to say this is a waste of money. Just because you would rather throw money away on the poor and starving does not mean everyone feels the same way. As Oakspar77777 said, if you let the poor and starving die off, everyone else benefits from it. There will always be failures in this world, that is fact. The best thing to do is save who you can, and let the rest die off, rather than bringing everyone down in an effort to save them all.

It is precisely your philosophy that has brought this country to the position it is in. Rather than letting this man enjoy HIS money HIS way, you say he should give it to the poor. What did the poor do to deserve that money? This man no doubt paid large sums to custom fabrication shops for parts, thus stimulating the economy, supporting productive members, and most importantly, fulfilling a passion. Get off your Kantian ideas and come back to reality. It's nice here.

Now for the car... This thing is so incredibly awesome, words don't even describe it. I have been contemplating doing something similar to this (though not as expensive for obvious reasons), but I don't even know where to start. Well done sir, I tip my hat to you.

Cotowar do you really believe the garbage you are spewing?

You are so far from reality it is comical.

Good will didn't cause the global economy to collapse! GREED DID! Quite the opposite. Not sure what planet you are from.

I was just using the impoverished as an example (because a small amount goes a long way for them). The bottom line is those resources good have done a lot of good to a lot of people. Instead he created a novelty that immature nerds drool over.

Having said that, not all poor people deserve to be poor and live a life of poverty. Most of the impoverished were just born unfortunate.

You think all poor people should just die? Who would make you your Cheeseburgers? Who would fill your car full of gas? I think you are seriously ill and less fortunate than many impoverished people. Get a clue!

@ 3DTOPO

using your logic, the time you waste arguing your point online should be put to better use....... go cure cancer with all of your free time Capt Hypocrite

@Archimedesfan

Uhhhh yeah.

I have spent 20,000 hours and a million dollars posting my opinion here. You totally hit the nail on the head.

And yea, one person with a million dollars and just 20,000 hours could totally cure cancer. Totally. Nice to see you are in touch with reality.

I think we should be more positive. This is guy who thought of something and executed it. We should want more people like this than those who are just waiting for dole outs and creating reasons not be make something out of themselves.

@ 3DTOPO

We live in the Obama-world now. You are no longer entitled to your opinion - unless it is already our opinion.

If you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem. Go do something about all the needy people in the world. Become the next Saint, become the next Ghandi. Just stop whining.

@3DTOPO

From what I've read of your posts, you are a real douchebag. Not once have you accepted ones criticisms or corrected someones mistakes without name-calling or whining. As for this series of posts, you need to get thrown off your highchair. There is no way that any one person on this earth hasn't wasted a single penny. Hell, if this guy can't spend a million dollars of his hard earned money (and it IS hard earned, even if he had to get it through unethical means) on something of great innovation and creativity, then any artist who has ever sacrificed anything for his work is worthless. Look at the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo spent many manhours on it, and, undoubtedly, a large sum of money to paint the mural on the ceiling. Hell, he even sacrificed his eyes for it. Would you not call that waste? Shit, all the money spent on the Sistine chapel could have been used to feed the hungry and the poor. And what about the many cathedrals that stand in Europe? All of those cost a hefty sum of money, and the amount of manhours it took to construct those would rack up quickly. And do those help the homeless? A few get shelter or are fed, but with all the corruption in the church when they were constructed, you can be sure that more than a few of the hungry were turned down when they came to the church for help.
Back to waste. According to your previous statements, you want anyone with a spare dollar to give it to someone without a spare dollar? Damn, looks like half of America will be paying for the other half's food, shelter, and other expenses they have. Shit, fat people waste money everyday! How much money do fat people spend on food compared to someone of the same age, with the same career, but with a normal body weight? I'd say 3 times more just on food. And then health bills. If you get diabetes, you gotta buy insulin. If you get morbidly obese, you need to get surgery to become thin again, or maybe just to lower food intake. You need to buy a freaking SUV just so you can fit into your damn car. Then, you need to make your house doors wider, your hallways more passable, pantry bigger, refrigerator larger, and the list goes on. And is this all waste? Yes, because a lot of people CAN help being fat. Are you telling me that fat people waste money? What, do you want them to pay a fat tax to the poor? Shit son.

And as for the bat mobile being a waste of resources? What about other art? What about statues and paintings? Are these all a waste of resources? You need to think things through before writing it.

@Play-Doh

"That being said, there is still more that can be done to correct what on the surface appears to be a terrible transgression against human rights and equality. Simply, put the car up for auction and either donate all of the proceeds to a great humanitarian organization like MSF or use the money to found a new humanitarian organization."

A terrible transgression against human rights and equality. How the hell is a person that builds a million dollar car destroying what we as a people call "human rights and equality?" There is no way in hell this has anything to do with our rights. Shit, it's his right as a human on this earth with at least a million dollars to spend a million dollars. And as for equality? We are NOT all born equal. As 3DPOTO has kindly stated, "Most of the impoverished were just born unfortunate." A man born with more money obviously has more influence, power, and opportunity than a crack-baby born to a whore and a drug addict. But then again, choices were made for them to reach that financial, physical, and mental state. We, as sons and daughters of our parents, must live their mistakes and their misdeeds.

@3DTOPO

"Its just my opinion that I believe I am entitled to."

That's your problem. I think that your sense of entitlement has blinded you.

When you spend every last cent of your disposable income on charity, and not a dime on a hobby of your own, then I think you may be entitled to your opinion. Otherwise you are just an anonymous hypocrite.

People - the only way you seem to be able to justify your position is by pushing my opinion to the extremes.

I never ever evenly remotely stated that people should not be able to have a hobby, I never suggested that every last cent be donated to charity and not have a dime for yourself.

I only stated that I thought it was EXCESSIVE.

I can't believe that much is not obvious just by one glance at that picture, or one paragraph of this article.

Name calling really is not required. Where are we, on the 3rd grade playground?

i cannot stand people who think its their responsibility to tell other what they should do with there money. now i dont think poor people should all be killed (im sure they would think the same of rich people) but i do think they should be helped. now this car is COOL to the 10th power. i think it was worth it. and 3dtopo should suck it cuz this thing kicks ass! it IS a work of art. i wish i could have seen it in person i would have freaked out! but back to mr cuz i eat grass all day im better than you: you are not God. so dont judge anybody or what they do. "Judge not lest ye be judged" and the ONLY person who has the right to do that is God. and "Let he who is WITHOUT sin cast the first stone" hmmmmm, who is he without sin? i think we all know the answer to this question... and for all thos who think poor should die: WTF is wrong with you? nobody ASKS to be born and for sure dont want to be poor. thats not cool that you think they should die no matter how smart or educated or "natural selection" you think it is. God put us on this earth to try to save as many people as we can at the expense of ourselves not to hate or rebuke them. i know i sound preachy but come on yall should know better than that. thats just as bad as mr tofu over here.

(@ all posters) All I can really say is, stupid people will be stupid people, and smart people will be smart people. Now, will everyone stop commenting!

Awesome creation!
@all postings regarding 3DTOPO and 3DTOPO: Maybe we all should ask the creator what his reasons for building it?

If the guy built that car is rich then this is not really more wasteful than any rich guy buying a sports car. (There are lots of sports cars w/ million dollar prices and most of them are custom built, just like this one!)

And if the guy is not rich then I am sure he can sell it for more than his money and labor costs.

Either way I do not see any problem here!

Great custom job. Very well done. Way better then the newer style Batmobile or the BatPod (I even like it better then the car from the old show). Love the classics.

About everything on Popsci is an undertaking or observation attained only because some person, group, company, or country threw massive amounts of time and money at it. This is not the place to bicker about indulgence.

@3DTOPO

I agree with you in many ways, and disagree in some ways. First, would it be more practical to spend money on a charity? Sure it would, but would we be living in a democracy if everyone did? No not really. Its our freedom of choosing what we want to do with our money that makes our country a free nation. So I respectfully disagree with your opinion. But yes, I do agree that that seems a little excessive...especially in this economy. But who are we to judge? We do not judge the Lego Hobbyists who spend thousands of dollars and lots of hours to make something out of little bricks, or the penny collector who scours the country looking for that 1961 limited edition penny. But that's just my opinion.

@3DTOPO

Have you thought about all of the time wasted debating this trivial artical? 3DTOPO, you could have been saving the world, whales, or the homeless. This type of thinking comes from two types of people, those with more money than they know what to do with or someone just getting by life (who probably wants a handout).

Bill Gates has given billions to different charity organizations and spent $30 million on da Vinci’s sketch book. Is this excessive too? Should this money have been given away as well? Or should a person have the right to do what they see fit with their time and money? Don’t judge unless you want to be judged!