Beauties on the beach, 1953
18 December 2016The Lincoln Futura negatives, 1955
The Lincoln Futura is a concept car promoted by Ford's Lincoln brand, designed by Ford's lead stylists Bill Schmidt and John Najjar, and hand-built by Ghia in Turin, Italy.
Displayed on the auto show circuit in 1955, the Futura's styling was original by 1950s standards - with a double, clear-plastic canopy top, exaggerated hooded headlight pods, and very large, outward-canted tail fins. Nevertheless, the Futura had a complete powertrain and was fully operable, in contrast to many other show cars.
The car played a prominent part in the 1959 movie It Started with a Kiss. For the movie, it was painted red, as the white pearlescent finish did not photograph well.
In 1966 the Futura was modified by customizer George Barris into the Batmobile, for the TV series Batman. And subsequently sold to Barris. Having originally cost $250,000, the Futura was sold to Barris for $1.00 and "other valuable consideration" by Ford Motor Company. As the car was never titled and was therefore uninsurable, it was parked behind Barris' shop, sitting idle and deteriorating for several years.
Barris sold the Batmobile to Rick Champagne at the Barrett-Jackson collector car auction on Saturday, January 19, 2013 in Scottsdale, Arizona for US4.62 million dollars.
As of December 2017, exact replicas are being produced by Fiberglass Freaks, a company in Logansport, Indiana.The owner of Fiberglass Freaks has the license from DC Comics to produce the 1966 Batmobile Replicas.These vehicles are full-scale, road ready versions.
The Futura negatives
About 10 years ago we purchased a large lot of car related professional negatives on glass. Boxes with hundreds of glass plates were stored for years. Last year we had a look at it. It seems that the collection has something to do with the Ford Motor Company of Holland. Based in Amsterdam til it closed down in 1981. All the images are shot in the 1950s
In one of the boxes we found great images of the Lincoln Futura, large glass plate negatives. The original negatives of the press foto serie. Now we know a lot of this fabulous car, its all over the internet. But who was the photographer? And the model? How many copies are there?
So what we would like to know is the name of the photographer and the model.
Please help us find out more of this stunning picture.
Displayed on the auto show circuit in 1955, the Futura's styling was original by 1950s standards - with a double, clear-plastic canopy top, exaggerated hooded headlight pods, and very large, outward-canted tail fins. Nevertheless, the Futura had a complete powertrain and was fully operable, in contrast to many other show cars.
The car played a prominent part in the 1959 movie It Started with a Kiss. For the movie, it was painted red, as the white pearlescent finish did not photograph well.
In 1966 the Futura was modified by customizer George Barris into the Batmobile, for the TV series Batman. And subsequently sold to Barris. Having originally cost $250,000, the Futura was sold to Barris for $1.00 and "other valuable consideration" by Ford Motor Company. As the car was never titled and was therefore uninsurable, it was parked behind Barris' shop, sitting idle and deteriorating for several years.
Barris sold the Batmobile to Rick Champagne at the Barrett-Jackson collector car auction on Saturday, January 19, 2013 in Scottsdale, Arizona for US4.62 million dollars.
As of December 2017, exact replicas are being produced by Fiberglass Freaks, a company in Logansport, Indiana.The owner of Fiberglass Freaks has the license from DC Comics to produce the 1966 Batmobile Replicas.These vehicles are full-scale, road ready versions.
The Futura negatives
About 10 years ago we purchased a large lot of car related professional negatives on glass. Boxes with hundreds of glass plates were stored for years. Last year we had a look at it. It seems that the collection has something to do with the Ford Motor Company of Holland. Based in Amsterdam til it closed down in 1981. All the images are shot in the 1950s
In one of the boxes we found great images of the Lincoln Futura, large glass plate negatives. The original negatives of the press foto serie. Now we know a lot of this fabulous car, its all over the internet. But who was the photographer? And the model? How many copies are there?
So what we would like to know is the name of the photographer and the model.
Please help us find out more of this stunning picture.