Cinema: The Batmobile gets a makeover in Pas-de-Calais -
20 Minutes
For three weeks, the Batmobile has been under repair in a small garage in Achicourt, a town bordering Arras.
A meeting on Instagram between a mechanic and a collector started this incredible story.
Responsible for rolling it again, the northerner mechanics are playing big.
Impossible to miss it.
Imposing with its six meters long and an impressive black body, the famous Batmobile has been sleeping for three weeks in a small garage in Achicourt, a town bordering Arras, where it is getting a makeover.
When we see her for the first time in real life, many childhood memories come to the surface.
While this Batmobile is not the one that rolled onto screen in the first Batman released in 1989, it was cast in the same mold as the original.
A perfect replica that gives stars in the eyes of Julien Mouquet, owner of the FJC garage specializing in the repair of vintage cars.
"I never told myself that I would have the Batmobile in my workshop"
“It's a childhood dream.
I grew up with this movie that I saw hundreds of times.
This is the
Batman
I recorded on K7 video when I was a kid.
I played with the Batmobile in front of the film.
I had a Batman costume when I was a kid.
I never told myself that I would one day have the Batmobile in my workshop.
It's a childhood dream come true, ”admits the mechanic.
But how this famous car from Hollywood ended up in the suburbs of Arras.
The beautiful story goes back to last August.
A garage employee, Jimmy Woods has long been a subscriber to the Instagram account of Franck Galiègue and his company Movies Cars Central.
This French collector has long specialized in the purchase of legendary cinema cars that he rents for private events.
Last summer, Galiègue had just acquired the Chevrolet Malibu driven by Ryan Gosling in
Drive
.
A room on Instagram at the origin of the arrival of the Batmobile in the garage
“When he bought the car, he posted a video of a mechanic getting backfire in his face, not serious stuff (
laughs
).
So, I posted a comment like anyone else by offering him real mechanics.
It was really for fun.
Except he liked the comment and we started chatting in private.
It's crazy because he has over 100,000 subscribers.
I never would have believed that.
"
The Batmobile is being repaired in a garage in Arrondissement - F. Launay / 20 Minutes
Because the schoolboy joke will turn into a daydream for the AJC garage and its two mechanics.
For two weeks, Jimmy talks with the famous collector by explaining to him, photo in support, the work of the garage.
Seduced, Galiègue decides to send them in repair the Malibu of
Drive
and the Bumblebee of
Transformers
.
"He swayed us without knowing us vintage cars that are worth thousands of euros", still does not return the garage.
Goal ?
Getting the Batmobile to roll again
The link is created, trust is established and the collaboration will therefore continue with the arrival in early January of the Batmobile in the garage in Arrondissement.
Objective set: to succeed in rolling it by February 3, when it must go into painting.
“It's been ten years since she rode.
Our goal is to redo the engine, the front axle and the brakes so that it can use it like a car every day even if its size does not necessarily allow it.
It is a car that will never be approved for use on French highways.
But we will be able to ride with it on circuits without any problem, ”says Julien Mouquet.
Our file on Batman
If the garage fulfills its mission, it could become essential in the repair of mythical cars.
Moreover, the Cadialla from
Ghostbusters
could quickly land in Achicourt if the Batmobile once again makes its law in the streets of Achicourt, the new northern Gotham City.
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