A crowd gathered as Casey Putsch released the pneumatic hatch on the coolest car any of them had ever seen. He handed his license and registration to the police officer, as if being pulled over in a homemade Batmobile were no big deal. Word must have gotten out on the police radio because soon bike cops were pedaling up to see the thing.
The 29-year-old racecar driver and builder was cruising downtown Columbus, Ohio recently in the 365-horsepower, turbine-powered machine hed built himself. The car was completely legal except for one thing: No front license plate.
Oops.
Kids and octogenarians fumbled with their phones to get a shot of the car as the officer let Putsch off with a warning. Putsch, dressed to the nines like Bruce Wayne, and with a model friend riding shotgun, flipped the switches to fire up the turbine engine and pulled away.
Fans have been building replicas of the Batmobile since Adam West wore his satin cape and high-waisted utility belt, but Putschs is among the most faithful renditions weve seen. He drew inspiration from the Dark Knights ride in Tim Burton's 1989 Batman. Its as close to the real deal as physics permits, right down to the front-mounted turbine engine.
The Batmobile is the sweetest car ever thought of in fiction, Putsch told us.
