Anthony Scaramucci has a story about the one that got away. It's a good story, but the ending he gave it hasn't happened yet.

On October 27, the former White House communications director posted on his X account that in 2003 he bought the Batman Returns Batmobile, the one from the movie with Michael Keaton, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Danny DeVito. His punchline was "Sold for $7 million." It's a neat lesson about selling too soon. The problem is that nobody has bought anything yet.

What's actually on the block

The car he seems to mean is the hero car from Tim Burton's 1992 sequel. Julien's Auctions and Turner Classic Movies will offer it on Monday, November 23, at 10 a.m. Pacific. The sale happens live at Julien's studio in Gardena, California, with online bidding too. The estimate is $5 million to $7 million. Julien's says this is the first time the car has ever been offered at auction.

So $7 million is the top of an estimate, not a sale price. In auction terms those two numbers are very different. An estimate is the auction house's opening pitch. The consignor may also have a confidential reserve, which is the minimum they'll accept. The car could blow past it or never sell at all. You won't know until the hammer falls.

Also, "first time at auction" doesn't mean the car has never changed hands. Movie cars are often sold privately, and it's possible a private sale is how Scaramucci owned it. Julien's says Carl Casper and Hollywood Productions built three cars for the film. If he owned one, only a paper trail can show whether it's the same chassis Julien's is selling now. A post on X doesn't count as a title history.

The hardware under the theater

Julien's describes the hero car as a hand-built fiberglass body on two Chevrolet Impala chassis spliced together. Power comes from a Chevy V8 through a three-speed automatic. The auction house also says the car still wears its original gloss black paint, has a radio-controlled flaming exhaust rig, and has been screen-matched to most of the movie's driving scenes.

The drivetrain is the easy part. A Chevy V8 and a three-speed automatic aren't exotic. The harder part is the frame. Two production frames welded into one isn't something a factory ever certified. A new owner should have the welds and mounting points inspected before trusting the car for anything more than rolling onto a trailer. A frame stretched that long can flex, and a fiberglass body can crack when it does.

The original paint is a different problem. It's 34 years old, it's the main thing that proves the car's history, and it can't be replaced. Repainting would wipe out a big part of the value. So expect climate-controlled storage and no sunlight, ever.

That brings up the flamethrower. A system that sprays fuel and air out the back on command was fine on a closed film set. In a private collection, the buyer should assume it's display-only. An insurer writing an agreed-value policy on a movie car is likely to ask whether the flamethrower still fires.

The benchmark everyone is chasing

The number Julien's is aiming at is the record for a Batmobile at auction. The Guinness World Records listing shows George Barris's 1966 TV Batmobile sold at Barrett-Jackson in Scottsdale on January 19, 2013, for $4.62 million including fees. The $5 million low end sits just above that record.

Watch which number gets reported after the sale. Pre-sale estimates usually leave out the buyer's premium, but final results often include it. A hammer price under $7 million could still show up as "$7 million" once fees are added. Scaramucci may end up roughly right on the number. He's just early.

The timeline is the strange part

Scaramucci was a guest on the Adam Carolla Show in an episode published October 22. Carolla collects cars, and the talk drifted toward expensive ones. Five days later came the X post, using the past tense for an auction scheduled for late November.

Before you bid

Before the 23rd, get the build paperwork and have someone look at those frame welds. And if the hammer lands at $7 million, does Scaramucci get to say he called it?
Images Via: Julien Auctions