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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowCompany: Fiberglass Freaks
Location: 602 Erie Ave., Logansport
History: The company was born out of Mark Racop’s intense passion for Batman, seeds planted when he started watching the “Batman” TV show as a preschooler in his family’s living room in 1967. That zeal led him and four buddies in 1983 to buy a 1974 Monte Carlo and convert it into a Batmobile over three summers. By 2005, Racop’s conversion talents began receiving attention on the internet, and (BAM!) his business building Batmobiles for others took off.
Product details: The Batmobile replicas are built from molds created from a replica sculpture of the 1955 Lincoln Futura that Racop acquired at auction and that was used to create the original Batmobile in 1965. The exacting conversion process can take up to three years in these supply-challenged times. The company typically employs eight to 10 workers, depending on how many cars are in production. Its top-of-the-line Platinum model sells for $299,999.
The Batmobiles come with a bluetooth Batphone and a flamethrower. (Photos courtesy of Fiberglass Freaks.)
Notable client: Ventriloquist Jeff Dunham, known for his stand-up act and Comedy Central specials with politically incorrect and grumpy puppet characters.
Fun fact: The company’s replicas are so precise that, in 2010, DC Comics authorized Fiberglass Freaks as the only officially licensed builder of the 1966 Batmobile. DC Comics sent a “spy” posing as a customer to scope out Racop’s work before bestowing the honor.
Website: fiberglassfreaks.com
—compiled by Greg Weaver, childhood owner of a Batman cape
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