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00:06 COMM: For most comic-book fans, owning a Batmobile
is just a pipe dream. But here in Australia one Batman fanatic has made the dream a reality.
By hand-building his own version of the iconic vehicle.
00:19 ZAC: What makes this Batmobile different is,
it's street legal. Like I can take it down and get groceries if i wanted to. The reaction
to the car has been insane.
00:27 BOY: It looks awesome!
00:34 COMM: Zac Mihajlovic started building his
replica four years ago with the help of his very own Lucius Fox… Grandfather John Greene,
a retired engineer. During the two-year build, the 29-year old was even able to get some
of the parts from the car used in the original film.
00:48 ZAC: The Batmobile behind me is the 1989 Batmobile
and this was the Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson. It's go adjustable suspension, it's got a
working afterburner, which is from the film, no machine gun sadly, no grappling hooks,
no bombs that come out the wheel but pretty much beyond that… yeah it's pretty close.
01:08 COMM: There are thought to be 10 other replicas
of the 1989 Batmobile but Zac believes he's the only one that can legally driven on the
public roads.
01:17 ZAC: The first time I took it out was definitely
an experience. I was on the freeway on the way to the gold coast and there was this noise
and I thought something was wrong with the car. It's actually the news helicopter from
channel 9 that chased me down the freeway. That was pretty memorable.
01:33 COMM: And not surprisingly the replica has
won him plenty of admires, including the ladies.
01:37 ANNABELLA: My names Annabella Leone and I'm
dating Batman. We've been dating for about four years and can I just say I was with him
two years prior to the Batmobile. That's my seat there, the passenger seat and if any
girl out there wants it, I swear to god, dead.
01:51 COMM: And Zac has also had this fair share
of bizarre requests
01:54 ZAC: I've had a couple ring me up and say
I know this is gonna sound weird but we want to christen the car, so to speak. And I sort
of said I'm not really interested and they said we'll pay what you want! And we'll bring
plastic sheets and I'm like you've just made that worse, so no thanks.
02:13 COMM: Businessmen from across the world have
offered Zac big bucks for the Batmobile, but he has decided to use his powers for good
by teaming up with the Make-a-Wish foundation. who make dreams come true for terminally-ill
children.
02:25 COMM: Today he's using his comic-book car
to impress families at the local shops.
02:30 ZAC: It's a brilliant, brilliant charity charity
because it gives kids sadly their dying wish. I dress up as Batman and I surprise the kids
sometimes. It's knocking on someones door. Obviously organised. Some of them run for
their lives and it takes a bit of warming up to get them back into, into the Batmobile.
But some are just super pumped.
02:51 COMM: Over the last three years Zac has helped
more than 40 children and has no plans to stop.
02:56 COMM: While he may not be using the Batmobile
to fight off the Joker or The Penguin. In the eyes of many, he's very much a hero.