Lincoln Futura 1955

The Lincoln Futura was a concept car designed by the Lincoln division of the Ford Motor Company in 1955. It was displayed on the auto show circuit in 1955. Futura’s styling was extravagantly impractical even by the standards of the ’50s, with a double, clear-plastic canopy top, exaggerated hooded headlight pods, and very large, outward-canted tailfins at both ends of the vehicle. Nevertheless, the Futura had a complete powertrain and was fully operable in contrast to many show cars then and now. Its original color was white, and was one of the first Pearlescent color treatments, using ground pearl to achieve the paint effect. The Futura was powered by a 368 cubic inch Lincoln engine and powertrain; the chassis was that of a Lincoln Mark II.



The Batmobile-to-be was the brainchild of Lincoln Mercury's postwar chief stylist, Bill Schmidt. Inspired by a scuba-diving encounter with a shark, Schmidt sketched a low, long, wide, and flat vision of the future with a predatory full width grille, ominously hooded headlights, and killer tail fins. Built by Ghia in 1954, the $250,000 dream car was dubbed the Lincoln Futura. It took just three months to ready the concept car for its debut at the Chicago Auto Show in January 1955. From there, the futuristic Lincoln was driven to a show in Detroit. On March 3rd, just before the NY Auto Show, with Benson Ford at the experimental steering wheel and Schmidt in the passenger seat, the Futura cruised from the United Nation's building through Central Park to the Tavern on the Green (restaurant) for a photo session. The Futura went on The Ed Sullivan Show, which Lincoln sponsored, then to a guest shot on Dave Garroway's TV Show.

Unfortunately, the excesses of the Futura seemed woefully at odds with the design ethics of the Sixties. And so it happened that the unwanted car ended up in the possession of George Barris. In 1965, Barris was commissioned to build the Batmobile for ABC's upcoming Batman TV series. But because the show was about to go into production, he had only three weeks to build it. He quickly realized it didn't take much work to modify the Futura for the part. While retaining the chassis and the basic shape of the car, Barris overhauled the nose and tail with numerous bat like shapes and references. Barris in '66 would assemble 3 more Batmobiles using bodies based on the prototype mold and built on a production car chassis.



article:
http://www.1966batmobile.com/background2.htm

No Sluggards, Ford Motor Co. engineers didn't turn to the sloth for ideas for the Lincoln Futura, called by Benson Ford a "$250,000 laboratory on wheels." Rather, they studied the shark and the manta ray, among other fish.



The result, enthusiastically, acclaimed by company officials as "sculpture in steel," is one of the most revolutionary and advanced vehicles ever driven on the public highways. Given its world driving premiere in New York, the Futura represented the flowing lines of nature, transferred from water to land. From study of these fish-like characteristics, Ford officials hope to arrive at ideas that can be adapted for production cars.

Almost 19 feet long, the Futura is 84.6 inches wide, with a wheelbase of 126 inches, and is only 52.8 inches from the tip of its twin plexiglas contourmatic top to the ground. A special experimental chassis adds to its road hugging appearance, with six inches clearance at the center member of the frame.




Feature incorporated in the steel bodies beauty include "shark fin" rear quarter panels; a 330 hp. Lincoln experimental overhead valve V-8 engine; push button Turbo-Drive automatic transmission, with controls on a center pedestal armrest; indicator lights on the "speedboat" cowl to show the gear being used; air scoops atop the rear fenders to direct air into air conditioning system and to cool the rear brakes.

An electronic device prevents the car from starting with the top up and the doors open. Warning lights are contained in a central focus cluster in the steering column binnacle. A compass is mounted on the cowl, while a circular radio aerial combined with an "audio approach" microphone adorns the low rear deck. The "mike" designed to pick up and amplify the horn signal of a car approaching from the rear.




To preserve the uncluttered line of the instrumental panel, controls are contained in separate compartments in the lower half of the panel and each compartment has its own flexible, roll-down door.

Not content with incorporating features of the shark and manta ray into the car, officials decided to paint it with a lacquer made from distillation of-yep, you've guessed it--fish scales, giving the body an iridescent quality.

Car Life magazine, July 1955

ELLE TU LA BATMOBIL  

Debbie Reynolds & The 1955 Lincoln Futura in Spain, LIFE March 1959
"In 1959, the 1955 Lincoln Futura played an important part in the movie "It Started With A Kiss," starring Debbie Reynolds and Glenn Ford. The car made a worldwide tour to promote the movie, along with its stars.
The plot of "It Started With a Kiss" called for the Futura to cause such commotion in Spain that international complications were exploded. The Futura filled the bill as called for by the script. In fact, the car caused such excitement while scenes were being filmed in Madrid streets that special government policeman had to be assigned to break up crowds which assembled against regulations.
location sequences filmed in Madrid, Granada, Seville, Barcelona and Segovia.
The Lincoln Futura did the film promo rounds in 1959 painted in a fresh coat of bright red paint due to the original frost blue metallic not filming too well in colour."

Bo Butts repliqua