Being Bruce Wayne is expensive, but playing Batman at night is doubly so – dangerous, too. The real (fictional) Batman could never phone it in, but you could, if you can afford it.
A quite convincing Tumbler replica has emerged for sale, and it’s asking half the price of most Batmobile replicas or Batman-inspired vehicles. True, provenance and project details are not included in the listing, but the seller promises that this is a high-quality, high-performance replica car, just perfect to get you in the Dark Knight mood. As long as you trust what someone says online to get you to buy stuff.
Listed as a 2021 Batmobile Tumbler custom build, the vehicle is currently located in Kazakhstan. What with the ongoing war in Ukraine and Kazakhstan’s position as a close ally of Russia, this might or might not play a part in considerations for future ownership. The asking price is $399,000, which is comparatively cheap to the $800,000+ many Tumbler replicas have sold for before, but very expensive if you consider the fact that it’s not a road-legal vehicle. You’d be buying it for bragging rights only, and the occasional drive off public roads.
Wider than a normal car, the Tumbler is powered by a naturally-aspirated Toyota V8 engine mated to an automatic transmission, sending power to the rear wheels. The interior can seat two people and is also custom, including camera monitors for mirrors and a rearview camera to enhance visibility. The suspension is custom, and braking is done via disc brakes. The body panels are fabricated by hand, and the vehicle comes with flashing lights, and the instantly recognizable swamper tires on the duallies in the rear.
“The seller reports that he did most of the work himself, and the pictures show that he’s done a great job in creating this the unconventional thing that’s reportedly the only one of its kind in the world!” the listing on Exotic Car Trader notes.
As noted above, the same seller lists the vehicle as a 2021 one. At least that part of the listing we know for a fact it’s not true, since the seller is a certain Evgeny Bondarenko, who appears to be a 31-year-old influencer. His social media feed is mostly photos and videos of the Tumbler, with an occasional appearance by a Tundra 4x4, which he did not build but is selling. He has content of the Tumbler going back four years, which is when he seems to have started the project. When the international health crisis hit, he’d already taken it for short drives, so the claim that it has zero miles is also not true.
Then again, if you’re willing to pay $399,000 plus whatever it takes to ship this out of Kazakhstan, the exact year the project was completed will probably not matter that much.
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
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