![Batman costume man behind the wheel of a Batmobile, grinning](/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/wenn20505136-722x730.jpg)
And you thought Scotland was the last holdout of sane, sensible, thrifty citizens.
Findlay Erskine and his son Lewis have built a Batmobile in Linlithgow, a suburb of Edinburgh. Why?
“It was Lewis’ idea for a woodwork exercise, and I was easy to persuade because we’re both Batman fans and I’ve always wanted to cut the roof off a car.”
Of course.
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It seems possible that at age 40, Mr. Erskine enjoys dressing as Batman a little too much, but let it pass. The whole thing was a home-schooling project for Lewis, who is 12.
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Here’s how the car, a Czech-built Skoda, looked before the lads got their hands on it last winter.
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…and here’s how the Erskines looked before their transformation.
![A boy cuts wood on top of a car with a Batman framework nailed on](/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/wenn20505139.jpg)
Now for the woodworking. It does seem like an advertisement for home schooling — at least, from a boy’s point of view.
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“We cut the roof off in the garage, stripped the mirrors, then made a frame around it with MDF board,” reports Findlay Erskine. The plexiglas windows must have been from the advanced ‘Building a Batmobile’ class.
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Proudly displaying the finished product.
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(The shoes are always the giveaway on a superhero costume, aren’t they?)
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The boys also fitted the car with speakers behind the seats, so they can blast the Batman theme song as they motor down the road at up to 60 mph.
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Well, they seem like good eggs. And I’m glad they didn’t force mum to dress up as The Joker.
Final cost for a homemade Batmobile: £150, plus one donated Skoda. So actually, that is pretty thrifty. Plus they’ve already reclaimed some of the cost:
Findlay took the car to the local Linlithgow Marches Festival and the Bo’Ness Children’s Fair, where it won a £5 (GBP) prize last month. He added: “We got a special prize of £5, but the most rewarding thing was the reaction from all the children, who loved it.”
Because everyone loves the Batmobile.
(Photos: WENN.com / Saltire News)