BATMAN’S iconic Batmobile has been reimagined, in monster truck-form, by a custom car genius in Colorado. Zack Loffert, of Littleton, Colorado, built what he calls the ‘Big Batmobile’ using the body of a 1973 El Camino, the frame of a 1976 Chevrolet K10 truck, and massive 44-inch tyres. He now uses the car, which took three years to build, for charity and to drive to children in hospital who need a special visit from “Batman”. Zack told Barcroft Media: “When I’m driving it, I watch people’s mouths and they say, ‘Holy cow’, or ‘Look at that’. Zack is currently focused on building a super hero-themed playground that will be the first handicap-accessible playground in the state of Colorado.
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MotorTranscript
00:00 When I'm driving it, I can watch people's mouth and they say, "Oh, cow!"
00:25 My name is Zach Lauffert.
00:26 I'm the owner and builder of Big Bat Mobile Colorado.
00:32 I supply hot rods and classics for movies, commercials, film, photo shoots.
00:37 I get to play with grown-up Hot Wheels all day long.
00:49 My favorite thing to build by far has been Big.
00:53 The reactions that this thing gets and people know it from Colorado to New Zealand.
00:58 I get messages every day from people all over the world, mostly asking for birthday parties,
01:04 but that's probably my favorite build by far.
01:16 This is where we keep all the cool toys.
01:19 We supply them for movies, commercials, photo shoots, music videos, weddings, and all kinds
01:26 of crazy stuff.
01:27 We do a lot of charity events.
01:29 We're currently trying to build a superhero playground and we use it to raise awareness
01:33 for that.
01:38 The engine is a 350 76 Chevy block matted to an automatic transmission.
01:44 The B&M is a ratchet shifter.
01:46 That's what kicks it into gear.
01:48 The top speed on Big if you're downhill is probably 70 miles an hour.
01:52 I've had a passion for cars since I was a kid.
01:55 I didn't go to daycare.
01:56 I went to auto shops and I've been around them since I could walk.
02:01 The car before it turned into Big Bat Mobile was a 73 El Camino.
02:06 The biggest thing that people notice on Big Bat Mobile is the 44 inch tires.
02:11 Second thing that people see on Big is the texture of the paint job.
02:16 This is all Rhino liner like a giant tank.
02:19 Of course you have your Batman decals all over.
02:25 We wanted to make it a monster truck but also be able to drive it to every location and
02:29 that's part of the fun.
02:31 From start to finish Big took three years.
02:35 The best part about Big is when Batman suits up and he goes inside Children's Hospital
02:40 it's just an unreal feeling.
02:42 Seeing that is amazing.
02:44 So if you come around the back you can see the additional seats that the kids love to
02:48 ride in.
02:52 The idea came from a Subaru Brat.
02:54 The cool thing is with these big 44 inch tires they work as a ladder so you can just step
02:58 right here, come up, sit down.
03:03 You have a great advantage view.
03:05 You have seat belts for safety.
03:08 Locked in and you're good to go.
03:11 Once we go in the Big you can see the doors are customized.
03:17 Batman sits here.
03:18 He's got his roll cage for safety.
03:20 This was actually the toy that started this design.
03:24 And then of course his trusty key chain.
03:29 So he knows which Batmobile to grab.
03:32 So now we're going to take it for a drive.
03:34 Alright, let's start her up.
03:37 Oh we got to get the wheel locked.
03:43 It's wheel locked on this side.
03:46 Does Batman ever have this problem?
03:49 Batman always has this problem.
03:51 Alright, let's start her up.
03:57 I've got a couple other designs for new Batmobiles in the future but right now we're focused
04:02 on the playground.
04:05 The total cost of building it, I just didn't want to keep the receipts.
04:09 Better not to know than to keep track.
04:12 I had a dream and it wasn't going to stop me to what it would take to build it.
04:14 (music)
04:17 (music)
04:20 [BLANK_AUDIO]