Convertibatmobile: 1998 Lincoln Mark VIII Batmobile
Batman felt the simmering rage coming out from the deep dark place he normally kept it hidden. With one swift movement he pushed aside the thick drapes to let a flood of midday light into the Wayne Manor guest bedroom.
“Whoa whoa, Bruce, it isn’t what you think.” Robin jumped from the bed and attempted to cover himself with a nearby cape. “Its not like…well…I didn’t think you guys were a thing anymore after that last thing…you know…”
“This isn’t about her” Batman gestured dismissively to Catwoman’s sleeping form –still under the sheets. “This is about what happened last night.” He felt the rage flooding inside his mask.
“Well, uhmmm…ya see, last night was a bit foggy, perhaps you can let me know what happened — did I reveal your secret identity again…? Was this about the Batcredit cards, because I swear I’ll pay that back” stammered Robin as he squeezed back into his tights and scanned the floor for his utility belt.
“No. The Batmobile. What did you do to my Batmobile?”
Robin crept cautiously to the window and look down at what was left of Bruce Wayne’s 1998 Lincoln Mark 8 Batmobile offered for $1,000 in New Haven, CT via craigslist.
“Oh…yeah…that…”
“You’ve killed it, you little insignificant sidekick. That Lincoln was inheritance from my dead parents, its 4.6 liter V8 and IRS rear end was used by 3 generations of the Wayne family…and now…”
“Look, it was the Riddler’s idea, we were doing Jäger shots and he said ‘the Batmobile should really be a convertible.’..”
“You let the Riddler in my Batmobile?”
“Actually, it was the Joker who had the right laser beam device that would cut the roof off and he did most of the dirty work because Catwoman was doing this…errr…you probably don’t know what to know about it…”
“Run, boy wonder, run.” <WHAP> <POW> <BOOM>
TO BE CONTINUED…TUNE IN NEXT TIME…SAME BAT URL…SAME BAT TIME!
Reminds me of a time in college where, after an afternoon of "case racing" my friend Matt decided (and we all agreed) that his [mother's] Lumina should be a convertible. After liberating a sawzall from someone's tool shed, we proceeded to remove the roof, B and C pillars down to the door panels with all of the grace and finesse you'd expect from a bunck of drunken frat(ernity) bros.
The end result was a tetanus-inducing masterpiece. After hitting the first speed bump the sag in the middle was so severe that neither front, nor rear door would open, and since he'd cut the b pillars with a sawzall, hopping into the thing resulted in stitches if you weren't careful. An off-camber uphill driveway entry turned the windshield into powder so we removed it (and the windshield frame / a pillar). After the 3rd or 4th rain, the car would no longer start with a key and had to be hotwired. About a month later the center started dragging like a fat wiener dog's belly and he had to have it hauled away. Which is probably a good thing, considering neither of the front seatbelts worked after the b-pillar-ectomy and those velour seats were like moldy sponges after a few weeks.
Still, fun while it lasted. I'm sure the same can be said about this Lincoln. Wonder if the driveline would fit in a Crown Vic with a manual trans behind it?
Also forgot to add, if it runs as good as the seller says it does, this would be a great LeMons/chumpcar entrant. Just tie/gusset the cage into the windshield frame and pray it doesn't rain. Oh and do something about that air suspension, methinks that's not much of an asset on a track…
What can the poor car possibly have done to deserve such treatment?
But I did not remember that these had IRS. LeMons indeed!