hen the Ford Motor Co. displayed the Ford Lincoln Futura concept car in its exhibit at the 1955 Chicago Auto Show, it only hoped to accelerate consumer interest in its line. Built by hand in Italy for $250,000, the Futura was never mass produced, and the model used in the exhibit was eventually sold to famed car customizer George Barris, who for years left it sitting behind his Los Angeles shop. When producers for a new TV show in 1965 asked Barris to build a vehicle for its villain-vanquishing star, he reshaped the Futura’s nose and tail, painted it a velvet-textured black, and created the now-legendary Batmobile.