In 1989 the Batman movie with Michael Keaton was released. How obsessed was I with this movie? Well, when all the hype was over, my husband surprised me with the life-sized cardboard Batman that he had bought from the video rental store. I loved the Batmobile too! I thought it was simply the coolest car on earth (at the time).

The same year as the movie release there was a Roadster Show in town. I had never been to one of the Roadster shows before or had even been interested in going however … THE Batmobile was going to be there. I wanted to see that car!

A friend of mine went with me. I was so excited and as we walked around searching for it, my excitement grew. Then I saw it! There it was! I walked around it and looked at every inch of it, oozing with admiration. The guy working at the booth came up, hovered and made small talk.

In the movie the car had this very cool ‘protective shield’ that covered the windshield to make the car more secure. That was one of the things I wanted to see most on this car. I was looking closely to see where this gadget was hidden and how did it come out to cover the windshield. I asked the guy hovering over us where it is and could I see it work.

I’m a pretty intelligent person however, this guy looked at me like I was an idiot. He said, “This is just a car. It can’t do that. It was all movie technology”. He did it, he burst my bubble. I was crushed, like a kid walking up to a closed candy store.

As we were walking away he shouted to me, “There’s no Santa Claus either”. Ugh. Now, years later, I laugh every time I think about it. That technology was a big deal back then. Think of the difference between 70’s and 80’s Disney movies and technology in movies today.