There are two kinds of people in this world; one who are Batman fans, and others who need to go on a self-realization journey. This is another Batman post so get ready. Meet Zac Mihajlovic from New South Wales who is 29 years old and has created a Batmobile for himself. His Batmobile is a street legal version of the car that was used in 1989 Batman movie, which starred Michael Keaton.
After two years of building, Zac is now the owner, may we add, proud owner of the only registered and working replica of the 1989 Batmobile in Australia that he can drive in on public roads and amaze folks all around him. He claims that he has been offered a six-figure sum for the car, but he has refused on the account that he wants to make sick children happy and said, “It’s my absolute pride and joy. I feel like if I do nothing else for the rest of my life, I’ll die happy.”
Zac recalls that he was merely 5 years old when he was introduced to Batman and it was then that his obsession began, “At the time, being a five-year-old kid, it scared me but I never forgot it. I just love Batman because he’s one of the only superheroes that don’t have powers so being able to connect to him on a human level is great.” Zac has a passion for Batman and for building cars, you combine the two and then it was only a matter of time before he created what he did. He said, “It’s about committing to something and trying to do something that no one else has done; that was a big motivation for me to do it.”
Zac came up with this idea about four years ago and started the work on it while collaborating with his friend, Scott Cos, while taking guidance from his Engineer grandfather John Greece. According to him, it took Zac two years just to collect all the required parts and by stroke of luck he was able to get his hands on a number of parts that were actually used in the original car shown in the movie. He said, “It’s got adjustable suspension, it’s got a working afterburner, which is from the film – no machine gun, sadly, no grappling hooks, no bombs that come out of the wheel, but beyond that, it’s pretty close.”
While talking about the reaction he gets when he is on road, he recalled an incident and shared, “I was on the freeway and there was this noise, I thought something was wrong with the car, but it was actually the news helicopter from Channel nine chasing me down the freeway. That was pretty memorable.”
Zac disclosed that a Sheikh from Dubai offered him quite a large sum of money for the car while a couple wanted to ‘christen’ the car and offered to pay him whatever he wanted. However, Zac is not interested in selling the dream machine and told about how he has paired up with the Make-A-Wish foundation to make dreams come true for the terminally sick children. He stated, “It’s a brilliant, brilliant charity because it gives kids, sadly, their dying wish. I dress up as Batman and I surprise the kids – sometimes it’s knocking on someone’s door and surprising them, or sometimes it’s taking them out to dinner.”
For all the female Batman fans, we have sad news. Zac already has a girlfriend, Annabella Leone, who said, “We’ve been dating for about four years – and I can just say I was with him two years prior to the Batmobile. I have the passenger seat and if any girl out there wants it, I swear to God, she’s dead.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2laEjANuEag
