Batmobile Builder, Randy Hecht supergenius rare photos found!

OK, So before I do a wrap up on the 4 Monster Jam shows, I wanted to share a “circle of life” moment that happened this past week. I was selling something on Craig’s list, and as a second thought, I searched “batmobile” and “batman” and scanned the few listings. One caught my eye, a guy had a garage full of batman stuff, including a cardboard standee of Michael Keaton. I sent out an email, and mainly due to the seller being persistent, finally decided to drive over to his house and see what he had.

Well, the world of the batman seems to always double back on itself, and this visit was no exception. I finally arrived at the right address, and figured I would rummage through his bins of bat stuff, and go home, but the first thing that caught my eye was a large photo of a guy standing in front of a homebuilt batcar, out of a corvette. I instantly recognized it as the same car that I tried to hire when my now 19-year-old son turned 4 years old, for his Batman themed birthday party! “Where did you get this photo?” I asked. “That’s me, and the car I built, I used to do birthday parties in the 90’s.”

apparently Randy had found out that being the first guy with a great costume paid off in attention and getting hired for events, when he put together a Darth Vader costume in 1977 when Star Wars came out.

Then when the first Keaton Batman movie came out, he bought the best Batman costume he could find, did some upgrades and the batmobile was the next obvious step! As many bat builders do, there is the first try, and then the redo after you learn what to do, and NOT to do. So His first try looked like this:

The side mechanics were not holding up well, and the rear fins started to wobble.
As the batman and his batmobile did appearances around los Angeles all through the 90’s a refit was done, to improve the gadgets and modify the exterior.

With the help of friends and hired fiberglass bodyworkers, he incorporated the licence plate into the upper window shades, relocated the lights to look like the Keaton car, and of course added an “afterburner”.

He “batgadgeted” the interior of the car, and continued to make appearances for years! All this before the Keaton build cars got their hands on screen accurate bodies.

Well after a decade or so, the bat costume was getting tattered, the car was leaking, and Randy was ready to get rid of his bat car, and so sold it for around 20 grand to a guy named Mark Shields out of state, and Mark keeps the car famous on the internet, with his “supergenius” ways.

It was a weird fun bat meeting of two guys who caught the disease of owning a batmobile! Hats off to Randy Hecht and his one of a kind Corvette conversion, he brought a lot of smiles to birthday boys and girls, and managed to even crash the premier of a few batman movies as well!

So here is your first look at the unmasked Randy Hecht, Batmobile tribute car pioneer!

To the Batmobile!

THE LOST BATMOBILE – FOUND!

As one of the top experts in the world on all things batmobile, I know there are few things left that the fans of Batman’s ride have not uncovered or know about after decades of detective work. So when you think you “know it all” that’s when it is fun to find something new! Before the Batman TV show forever changed Batman and what we think is the first “real” Batmobile, there were only the drawings of batmobiles in the comics for batfans to dream about owning. The comics changed the look of the batmobile on a regular basis, and each artist had a different idea of what it would look like (or what they could draw!)

So in the 60’s in the comicbooks, Batman was riding around in a hot little convertible that looked like this:

1964 comic batmobile

Well a batfan built a full scale version of the comicbook batmobile, and was barely seen before the Adam West TV show hit, and as far as the world was concerned, there was only ONE batmobile, and it looked like this:

Well according to the new owner of this lost batmobile, his car is from a private collection in Ft. Lauderdale, the previous owner had it 17 years, he got it from another private collection, where it has sat under cover for close to 30 years. The car has not been seen since Barris’s came out! So here you go bat fans, the first look at this comic version 1:1 scale batmobile!

It is being repainted black, with the correct bat face on the hood, and if you want it for your very own, I happen to know it’s for sale…. get out your bat wallets, bidding starts at $50 grand!

28 star cars gather at CBS Radford lot for a backstage tour!

Ya just never know what’s gonna happen when word gets out on the internet! A new car club formed last year, made up of great car enthusiasts that also work in television and film. TMPCC or Television and Motion Picture Car Club
Their idea was to gather people who work in TV and movies, and who also love cars. With a name like that for their club, it was only a short time before someone pointed them to StarCarCentral.com and that someone was Fireball Tim!

Ken and Tim and the crew at TMPCC had all ready been working to have their second get together on the smaller CBS Radford lot, and it’s also where I just happen to hang out at a lot! So a few hundred emails later a fun event and possibly a new world record happened!

I put out the call to all my star car pals, and they showed up like never before, totalling 28 star cars in one parking lot! We had lots of first time new cars for this event! Gary Goltz with his Highway Patrol car is now rolling with the SCC now that his car is all back together and painted! It looked better than new!

New SCC Member Ari brought out his Jurassic Park Jeep and is also ready to roll with us at Monster jams and future events! No claw marks on the car that I could find. The electric fences must be working!

I know you are saying, “Hey, I’ve seen Paul’s Back to the Future Delorian, but this ain’t it! This is from the FIRST movie, before “Mr. Fusion” in the second movie!
Evan brought his BTTF Delorian, and Sean and Danny brought Jay’s Delorian, and I was PROMISED by Sean that the Ecto-1 WILL be at an SCC event this year, right Sean?

See? Now you can tell them apart, compare and contrast!

Now Jennifer has been at several events, but as her Super Pursuit mode KITT is a ways off, she turned her car into Slammin Sammy’s Super Stunt spectacular KITT (Michael and KITT went under cover as a stunt driver and they covered KITT with stars for the performance … how do those Hollywood people come up with these creative ideas?)

We also got our first look at Charger Steve’s newest star car toy, his “Mystery Machine” from scooby doo! Steve always wants his picture on the internet, so
Here he is.


Bob H. cleared out his garage, and even let Fireball Tim drive his Fast and Furious car! His General, and Tango truck were great to have in the photo, and his pal brought one of his two screen used Fast and Furious Trucks that were used to steal the cargo tankers while in motion! COOL! I want to see both of them now!

Mark G. brought his Adam-12 Cruiser and I think judging by how much he paid for that star car central shirt, he’s gonna be with us for a while!

A new “find” thanks to TMPCC is the Jay Ohrburg “TAZmobile” Half Coyote, half Knight Rider 2000 and featured at the WB parks in parades, I didn’t even get to say “HI!” to the owner, but we have his number, and he will have to be in the next big group photo!

obviously I am not going to put a photo of every car in this blog, but I had to include this shot of Oscar’s new set up for his Magnum P.I. Car. Correct flower Lei on the mirror, camera tripod for surveillance, Magnum ID on the sun shade and detective wallet on the center console…. all this from the guy who I had to pester to just get a Detroit Lion’s hat for about 2 years…. Great job Oscar!

Lou and ObiShawn were there but both had pressing engagements so we will have to photoshop them in later, but here’s the pay off, the big group shot!
The beige Clenet car in the middle was the car “Fallon” and others drove on “Dynasty” and the owner of the Clenet company Al, was there and he was happy to pull his car into the pile for the big photo session.

Wait, I forgot the tour. Everyone who wanted, came on a foot tour of the lot.

Hey, Paul found the car show just fine, but there is something batty about that kid in the background!
After the tour, and eating, and lots of moving cars into place, and moving cars out of places, we finally got off a few thousand photos.

A big thanks to Ken, Tim and all the TMPCC gang, Ken had this to say
“Working with Nate Truman and all the Star Car Central members was a pleasure. Nate was able to corral almost 30 famous vehicles from movies and television for The Television/Motion Picture Car Club’s first ever ‘all entertainment industry’ car show held on the CBS Studio Center lot on January 9, 2010. It was great fun to see so many vehicles from some of my favorite movies and television shows”. – Ken Latka TMPCC President and Founder

Thanks again Ken! We organized lighting!

Lt. Nate Truman from the Gotham PD says “You WILL bring your star car to all the events this year, RIGHT? Otherwise, say hello to my little friend….”

2009 Camarillo parade ends a big year for StarCarCentral.com! Secret Batmobile graveyard found!

So the busiest year for StarCarCentral.com draws to a close, but the rain couldn’t stop our last event for 2009!
Five brave drivers and a few other friends and family members braved the rain, and showed up anyway! As I was driving to the starting line in pretty heavy rain, I saw several accidents and spinouts on the 405 and 101 freeway, but I knew my day was probably going to consist of going to the starting line, and sitting there until 11am in the rain by myself. But then I started getting calls. Paul was climbing the grapevine, but there was a big accident, and it was raining and possibly snowing, but he was on his way. Then Jason and Cliff called and said they were still taking their marshmellows through the weather to get to the parade.


Cliff and Jason were snug in their bugs, and even though Jason ran into traffic and got the attention of a police officer, they avoided the ticket and got to the starting line, although Cliff had to do some off roading first!
Jennifer was bringing Stunt KITT (and as we decorated our KITTs we decided in 2010 she should put some “Slamming sammy stunt show stickers” on her SPM car, until it is converted.)

Well I got to the starting line, and I was pretty much the whole line! Even though the rain delayed my arrival almost an hour, I was the only one there! Soon my brother Mark found me, then my Dad showed up with the promised doughnuts and coffee. One by one we took our place, as the rain had miraculously stopped!
Out came the star car banner, and a quick interview for the parade coverage.


So we lined up, to wait and see if the parade was a “washout”. Still no rain!

We conscripted jason’s girlfriend, Sage, and along with Senior Bannergirl Reba, they took the banner down the parade route!

Nate and Jennifer led the pack with twin scanners and theme songs blaring, my Dad called “shotgun” in KITT but didn’t know who “Hasslehoff” was that all the parade viewers kept talking about!

Paul was next, smoking up the place, gull wings open and lights and sounds blaring!
In the back was the pair of marshmallows, and Cliff’s son Justice seemed to be OK with the attention!

At the end of the parade, we all pulled into the parking lot, took down the banner and just as we were all done, it proceeded to start raining again!
We all met up at the party and got out of the rain!
Good food, good friends, a little magic made for a nice end of the year party! Wish more could have come, but we had a lot of food and treats thanks to an appearance by my over scheduled wife! Thanks Susan and Mindy for putting on a great spread!

Looks like Justice knew where to get a refill on his limited edition STARCARCENTRAL.COM water bottle!

I got to have a good talk with Cliff, and we found out we worked just a mile or two from each other, and he is an audio tech! Weird how so many of these TV and movie car owners, also work in TV and movies…. or is it?

Paul pulled a trick out of his jumpsuit and dumbfounded the SCC once again. (I managed to see how the trick was done, but I will never tell….)

Even on my Dad’s quiet street, looky loos started showing up, and asked if my Dad’s T-bird was from “The Truman Show” (His licence plate is “Truman”.)
Which reminds me, I over heard one young fan walk by my Knight Rider car and remark “Hey, that’s the car from GHOST Rider. Accidental Crossgeeking. (Trademark 2001 Nate Truman “The combining or participating in two unrelated geeky pursuits, such as Star Wars and Civil War Reenacting, or Batman and Robocop for instance.)
Heck, it’s easier just to show you!

This is Ronald McDonald in Cliff’s Herbie. Crossgeeking. Ronald does have a big red shoe he drives, but he traded up for a Children’s Hospital event!
As the party went along, everyone posed with my secret project in the backyard….

Nate, Paul, Jennifer, Reba, Jason and Cliff – not pictured but was inside eating Mark (Hornet) and son Matt, Brian Horace/Herbie, Dave Herbie, and all my family!

Brian drove all the way up from his parade (that WAS rained out!) to check out the bat and have some chow with us! It was sad that many SCC regulars couldn’t make the party, we all missed you! (And then ate your food!)
Finally everything was packed up, and I returned to my car, only to find out why KITT doesn’t like parking under trees when it is windy and rainy!

Motor for Toys with Herbie, John Schnider, and Starsky and Hutch!

The star car guys are always in demand, and so as my “cats” are known to do when I try and “herd” them, they go in all directions!
At the same time as the parade, there was also a Motor4Toys event that Jason “herbie” and Lou “Starsky” went to, and while they were there,
they bumped into John Schnieder from “Dukes of Hazzard” fame.

Even though he was a “Duke boy” he told Jason that his first love was Herbie!

Lou and Lynda were also there, with the Stripped tomato, and Lou had John sign his car as well. Why? Is it just because Lou is a celebrity magnet? no.
The Torino was also featured briefly in the dukes of hazzard! Don’t believe me? Check out the link!
Zebra 3 made its first cameo in the first Season/ First Episode of
Dukes, why not have a Duke Boy sign Zebra 3 ?

http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_15919-Ford-Gran-Torino-1976.html

The car shows back in the 70′ and 80’s loved this cross fan boy stuff, there was a Herbie bug that was seen all the time in Knight Rider, and KITT jumped over the General lee (the stuntman, Jack had done several seasons of the Dukes, before switching over to the Knight Rider show)
All sorts of “crossgeeking” (that’s my word, trademarked 2001 nate truman) back then, who can forget in the title sequence of the A-Team where the actor Dirk Benedict who played “face” and was also “starbuck” from the original Battlestar galactica, did a double take when a Cylon walked by?
Crossgeeking. It’s not just for cars!

Glen Larson, was the EP on Galactica, and liked that red light so much, he put it in his next show,on the front of a car…. Knight Rider!

Towmater and Herbie Parade with Magnum P.I. and Back to the Future in East LA!

What may be the last event of the year due to rain this coming weekend, a small group of the SCC were in the East Los Angeles Christmas parade that has been going for 47 years! Mike (Towmater) brought his Nana, and Ice Cream for the guys. Mike knows how to get the guys to want him to attend every meet, besides driving a tow truck. Star car guys know all about tow trucks.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for Ice Cream!

A long wait in the morning, led to more eating. Finally a star car with a tailgate, so we can have a tailgate party! That’s a nice spread Brian brought, and Mike is the only star car guy who would let you make a sandwich on his car! Well, maybe Charger Steve, but then it would be a dirt sandwich….

This was the unveiling of the new Star Car Central.com parade banner, so our lovely banner girls Sue and Reba practiced their “Vanna White” poses before they got started.

Again, the opportunity for “crossgeeking” (Trademark, Nate Truman, 2001) is endless with this group, so a replica Michael Jackson sat in Paul’s Replica Back to the Future car, and posed with all the gang. He’s a dead ringer for MJ. Sorry.

Oscar was next, and posed with MJ.

To pass the time Paul entertained the crowd with the magic that is Herbie…. and Brian is giving himself away again with a big smile in the background!

Oh yeah, there was a parade too!

Paul was instructed by Brian on the right hole in his face to put ice cream….

The whole Gang enjoyed themselves, but where ever star car central members gather, they tend to make their own party!

From left to right:
Paul “the Stig” Nigh, Sue, Mike “Towmater” and his Nana, Brian “Herbie” and taking the photo, Reba, Miss January of next years “StarCarCentral.com Banner girls” Calendar.

And of course, for dessert, Paul whipped up a batch of his famous cookies…. I think they are done!

Thanks to Brian for taking the lead on this event, he did a great job, so that means he gets to do it again in the future! The Batmobile had no driver as I was directing our church Christmas play at the same time. Starcarcentral.com has one event left, either a parade and a party, or a wet rainy party. Stay tuned for 2010~

SUPER PURSUIT MODE KNIGHT RIDER PROJECT

For the fans of Knight Rider of the 80’s,
there is more than one “holy grail” when it comes to star cars. First there was the “pilot” KITT, then the 2 TV dash cars with the new nose, then there came the 1 TV KITT, the two tone silver and black KARR with orange/yellow scanner, and in the last season there was the Super Pursuit Mode aka transformer KITT and the magic convertible.
In the age of transformer cartoons and toys, the SPM version with vents and wind wings popping out all over was a kids dream. Well, Jennifer has taken up the challenge, with the help of the Star car central.com team. Jay Ohrburg kindly allowed all of the knight Rider fans to crawl all over his static replica (meaning, the stuff doesn’t go in and out mechanically) that my pal Jack in Texas spent months building from scratch all the panels and SPM add ons for Jay.
and Brian U. was up to the challenge to do the design for Jennifer. Now all she has to do is build it and pay for it!

Jennifer is a long time KITT fan, in fact she owned one before, and had to sell it years ago, but now she has the fever again to get her SPM car. I am just glad she is going to build it (and pay for it!) so I don’t have to!

Nate Truman and Jennifer confer on details comparing her “stunt KITT” with the SPM replica of Jay Ohrburg. Lots to do, but I think she is going to do it!

KNIGHTS OF THE WEST COAST

Once the word got out that Jen Brian and Nate were going to crawl over the SPM car for measurements, all the Knights of the West Coast decided to stop by!

After we all got our fill of the SPM car, we looked around the place and found a few other starcar gems sitting around!
This is Dennis, and he has “inked” his allegiance to KITT and the General Lee on his arms! Now that’s fan dedication! He was just a kid when he met Jen and sat on her first KITT years ago. Vintage TV bringing people together. Awww.

Of course my roots are with Batman, so I headed for the replica Batbike or Batcycle in the back corner for a photo op! Holy no Bat symbols!

After a twilight zone moment we reliazed that all the star car guys were a stones throw from Jay’s secret hidding place when we stopped for lunch coming home from Charger Steve’s show a few weeks earlier, we had a good lunch and talked Knight Rider and SPM over cheeseburgers. No, Brian did not put a french fry up his nose, but he almost turned down a chance to drive Jen’s KITT home! With a little encouragment from Nate, Brian got behind the wheel. I think the photo tells the rest of the story!

I look forward to driving Jen’s KITT and hitting the SPM button in 2010? Stay tuned starcar fans….

Next: Holy Bat Party, and Parades! Jurassic Park Jeep found! Black Beauty Green Hornet visit? Keaton Batmobile graveyard?

Batmobiles and BBQ’s and a bunch of Star Cars!

Sometimes it’s “who you know” that gets the star cars to come out, who it’s for, or what you feed them! Lou and Lynda had all three: the inside track as a dependable star car attender, a great BBQ and a fund raiser for Lou’s High School team!

We had a good line up again, and we all got comfortable discussing star cars…. and Oscar’s hair, and Brian getting 18 inches….

Here Paul shows Brian where he inserts the cookie dough to make his special cookies.

Herbie shows his team spirit and is convinced to buy some raffle tickets.
(He’s such a marshmellow when it comes to charities…)

Lou got the prime spot up front, (well he was there first…. and it’s his show….) and Paul was next in line.

Herbie tried to make friends with Eleanor, but after the show, Eleanor was gone in 60 seconds….

The luxury cars had to hang together, Brian’s BMW and Oscar’s Ferarri, they are even swapping parts now…

Coming in at the end, and the last to arrive, Nate’s Batmobile and jennifer’s in process SPM car AKA the “Stunt KITT” with new “matte” paint job….

I still have to teach Brian some tips for his “action pose”…. Show ended, and we hit the streets to go EAT!

Here’s a shot that you have never seen before, A Bond BMW, batmobile, and KITT as seen through the window of a Herbie….

Jennifer had some trouble with her accelerator on the freeway, and kept passing everyone….

Lou tried to hold back his Torino Horses but he just can’t drive 55….

Jason pulled ahead of all of us, to get some “on the go shots” good job!

“NO MEAT FOR YOU!” Jason tring to use his camera to get the first burger…

On your mark, get set…. EAT!

Thanks Lynda! Good vittles!

The Amazing Paul did magic, that was so amazing, jason didn’t take any photos, or he did, and Paul made them dissapear!

Next up, a secret trip to a secret star car lair….
SATY TUNED, STARCAR FANS!

Adam-12 and Capt. Sully meet!

Mark G. got a special treat at work, he met up with the famous Capt. Sully who did a nice bit of flying and landing in a New York River! Mark got to hook up the training co-pilot equipment, so Sully could get some “stick time”.
Way to go, Mark! One Adam-12, see the man…. in the helicopter…..

Getting there is most of the fun… VEGAS!

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Just a few photos of the trek to Vegas that a team of SCC members took Oct. 23rd. Paul BTTF from the north (Bakersfield) Steve Bandit and Mike Towmater from the south, (San Diego)
and the rest of the team from the west (Oscar Magnum, Lou Starsky, Bob Fast and Furious, Paul Mad max, Obishawn Starwars and Jerry Tuxedo Herbie) had a good time GETTING to vegas. After meeting outside Vegas, and some trouble with Steve's Bandit, the SCC guys helped each other all get there together. Oscar pulled his Ferrari off of the trailer he rented, and they got Steve's Bandit up on it for the last leg of the trip. Good team work guys!

On Saturday the Vegas star cars joined up, a Bumble Bee Camaro, Catherine Hickland’s KITT and Paul Casey’s General Lee along with a vintage police station wagon all rumbled onto Freemont street.

The star cars assembled in front of the main stage, to the tune of their own theme song!

 

A few old TV stars were in attendance (That’s the actor that was “Cousin IT” in the Addams family, chatting up Obishawn)
Mike Towmater with his connections in Vegas set up a great dinner for all the SCC guys (Well, Obishawn went to go see and hear U2) and dispite the challenge of keeping drunks away from their cars, and trying to get food and trips to the bathroom with out any protection for their cars the SCC contingent made the best of it. That’s what I like about these guys, we have a good time where ever we go because of the company!

Next, Semi Valley and Lou’s BBQ and fundraiser car show Nov 7th! The year ain’t over yet! Two Christmas parades, a visit to Jay Ohrburgs garage to check out the only Super Pursuit mode KITT in the world, and …? 2009 has been a big year for Starcarcentral.com and all it’s members!
Truman…. OUT!