When Ferrari made a Batmobile: the controversial model that aimed at the United States and was a failure

In an interview that he was given when he was 86 years old and he only had to look back,

defined in a few words the unique and careful character of his creations.

For the patriarch, Maranello's classic cars have "a shape, an outline" that brings them closer to a work of art, even when some of the models are multiplied by thousands.

But sometimes the business can more and, following Don Enzo, the line is lost.

Even in the most traditional homes, like the one he led for almost half a century.

Perhaps the most controversial example is the vehicle that the company brought out thinking of making a name for itself in the United States, and almost only in that.

A Botticelli painted by Jackson Pollock.

An aggressive American muscle car that sounded like an Italian symphony.

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In the mid-1950s, the company wanted to enter the United States market.

Although similar to Europeans, North Americans have their own idiosyncrasies: cowboys, grim farmers, tough Rust Belt workers.

That difference carries over to the automotive market.

, of which only 16 copies were made.

Ferrari's Batmobile: the 410 Superamerica Ghia.

Although it was born facing the other shore of the Atlantic Ocean, the 375 also captivated the royalty of the old continent: legend has it that

.

With a powerful engine, the silhouette was already detached from the design that characterized the Italian brand since its inception.

Pininfarina took licenses to adapt to new users.

And he deepened that attitude three years later, when he released his successor: the 410 Superamerica.

"The most extravagant thing that has been seen on a Ferrari chassis," they acknowledge today at the firm.

It was a proposal open to experimentation, which an American businessman used to obtain a sports car very similar to the Lincoln Futura prototype that was being designed simultaneously and that a decade later was rescued for the psychedelic Batman series that embodied Adam West and It was the best Batmobile ever.

Who was behind the controversial Ferrari that looked like a Batmobile

To understand this story, you have to leave Italy and travel to the Great Lakes area in the United States.

The Wilke family was part of the ascendant bourgeoisie of Milwaukee, the most populous city in Wisconsin.

German immigrants, African American migrants from the South, and beer abounded.

In its varied industrial palette, there was a successful letter, envelope and cardboard factory.

It was created by Gustave A. Wilke in 1901. His rise was unstoppable and, in tune with what was happening in the town, it was in full expansion when that strange fireball arrived in the city.

It was Robert, Gustave's son, who made the order to Italy.

Since 1944 he held the presidency of Leader Card, which in the 21st century is already in the fourth family generation.

Bob, as he was known, was also a car fanatic.

He came to introduce the company in the sponsorship of race vehicles and to participate with his own single-seaters in the Indy 500.

Ferrari's Batmobile: the 410 Superamerica Ghia.

He garnered three titles, two with Rodger Ward driving and one with Bobby Unser at the wheel.

Both champions had a brief stint in

.

Mario Andretti fared much better: after participating in two races with the support of Leader Card in the 1968 USAC National Championship, he ran 14 seasons in the top flight and was crowned in 1978 with Lotus.

Robert, in short a maniac for cars, bought five works of the Prancing Horse between 1951 and 1956. The fourth in a row was commissioned in March 1955: a Ferrari 410 America, successor to the 375. The businessman could not contain himself. his anxiety: even before Pininfarina officially showed the original version, he asked Ghia - the other major Turin bodybuilder - for an exclusive restyling.

The Maranello house presented the impressive engine of the 410 range in October of that year. It was inspired by competition drivers and it was not for nothing that it renamed the vehicle Superamerica: it had a

.

Ferrari's Batmobile: the 410 Superamerica Ghia.

For the bodywork we had to wait a few months.

Meanwhile, work continued on Bob's commission, work that took over a year with several trips by Bob to Turin to supervise the construction.

Red, chrome and with shark fins: this was the most American Ferrari

At the 1956 Brussels Salon, the details of the body drawn by Pininfarina were known.

There, a two-seater coupe was discovered, very similar to the Ferrari 250 that was being designed at the same time, although with its own touches: straight lines prevailed and not the soft curves of one of Maranello's most beautiful creations.

Only 35 units were known, almost all very different from each other.

Each one cost almost $17,000, a sky-high value for the time.

"Since they were very expensive and exclusive models intended for customers with high purchasing power, there were differentiating details even in the standard coupés, to meet the specific wishes of each one of them," the company recalls today.

As never before, the pencil was left in the hands of the clients.

Free interpretations were carried out by various design firms, according to the requirements of the buyers.

In addition to Pininfarina, Scaglietti, Boano and Ghia, the person in charge of the Rampant Batmobile, participated.

Wilke withdrew it from the headquarters of the importer Luigi Chinetti in New York.

His 410 Superamerica, with the chassis identified as 0473 SA, exploited the angled strokes.

Chrome prevailed on the wheels, the bumper and in two narrow lines that ran along the sides of the vehicle from end to end.

Also the grill distanced itself from its predecessors.

Ferrari's Batmobile: the 410 Superamerica Ghia.

The passenger compartment had fine leather upholstery and a dozen additional instruments.

In addition,

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It was finished off by a silver version of the brand logo and the company name stamped, letter by letter, on the trunk.

However, what made it so unique -and so borderline- were the notorious side wings in the rear sector.

These bumps already existed on other versions of the range, but Ghia turned them into unnatural adhesions.

The faired wheels, covered up to half of their surface, also stood out.

It flew over the spirit of entering the aerospace age.

Indeed, the car seems inspired by a contemporary: the Chrysler Gilda, one of the striking tests of the American factory to implement turbine engines.

However,

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Ferrari's Batmobile: the 410 Superamerica Ghia.

The chrome lines on the sides, the rear wings and the faired wheels, all taken to the extreme, twinned the Italian sports car that wanted to conquer America with the one that ended up with Batman and Robin in the cockpit.

The Lincoln Futura was a prototype that Ghia also developed in those months and that was even compared to a manta ray.

It was a bet by Ford in its executive division to escape economic problems.

TV producers rescued it from oblivion in 1966 to elevate it to an icon of two industries: the automotive industry and entertainment.

Superamerica did not have the same luck.

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There was no conquest of America.

One of them was kept by Bob Wilke until his death in December 1970. He shared a home with a yellow and blue 212 Export, a black and green 212 Inter, a red and silver 375 America, built by Vignale;

and a 375 Mille Miglia signed by Ghia.

Today it is remembered as the most bizarre Ferrari, an American creation on Italian soil that could well have traveled the dark roads of Gotham City.

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