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Andy Di Dia was a clothing designer from Detroit who spent seven years (from 1953 to 1960) and over $150,000 building a car that puts the Lincoln Futura concept car that evolved into the Batmobile to shame. Di Dia’s friend, singer Bobby Darin, bought the car from him in 1961 and drove it to the Academy Awards and movies until donating it to the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, MO, in 1970.
The car’s metallic red exterior is from 30 coats of paint with real ground diamonds for sparkle. The body was made from hand-fashioned soft aluminum. There are hidden headlights and tail lights that swivel as the car turns. Inside, each seat has an ashtray, cigarette lighter, and radio speaker. On the dash are oversized levers that control the air conditioning, heater, and defroster. The car has a 125-inch wheelbase and is powered by a V8 engine.
The car was initially powered by a 365 cubic inch Cadillac engine, later replaced by a 427 cubic inch high-performance Ford engine,[3] and had a 125-inch wheelbase with a tubular aluminum frame and a hand-fashioned soft aluminum body.[4] The car has a Batmanesque set of rear fins[2] dominating the bodyline and ruby red hubcaps on whitewall tires. Writer Daniel Vaughan describes it as
...an exotic vehicle that is overdone in every detail and in every respect, an iconic dream car. Its metallic red paint was from 30 coats of paint with real ground diamonds for sparkle.[5][6] ...The body is from hand-fashioned soft aluminum. There are hidden headlights and tail lights that swivel as the car turns. Inside, the seats each have their own ash tray, cigarette lighter, and radio speaker. On the dash are oversized levers that control the air conditioning, heater and defroster.
Source: belatednerd.com
Images: Alden Jewell Collection; Rik Hoving - Custom Car Photo Archive; Westly Shealy Photostream
