How far would you go as a Batman fan? No matter how far you do, you’ll have a hard time catching up with this guy. 26-year-old Shaheer Khan from Karachi, Pakistan, a mystery performer by profession, has materialized his Batman fantasies by building himself a fully functional replica of the Batmobile. And not just any other Batmobile – the most sinister and celebrated one at that – the Tumbler.
It’s not clear what vehicle underpins Shaheer’s Tumbler, but there’s no running away from the fact that it looks the part. Said to be the most accurate representation of the Tumbler, strictly aesthetically, this Pakistani Tumbler was built using a 1/6th scale replica model of the actual one from the movie. Although we have to say that another Tumbler replica from another part of the world, built by Parker Brothers Concepts in Florida does come close.
Khan further insists that this is the only fan-made tumbler that has a movie-accurate cockpit to quite some extent. It has a proper seat, space for one occupant (that’d be Batman), and car-like controls. All the exterior panels are hand-made, while the outer structure was first carved out in wood and then entirely in fibre. As for the footwear, Shaheer’s Tumbler runs on machinery tires at the rear and aircraft sourced ones up front. It even replicates the iconic front canopy opening from the original.
If you’re looking for mounted machine guns, grappling hooks, and oil slick dispensers, you’d be disappointed, but this is certainly the best replication of the Tumbler that rolls in this part of the world. Shaheer built his Tumbler with the help of mechanical engineer Tanveer Ul Haq from Lahore, whose credentials include building Pakistan’s first Ferrari replica.
No Batmobile is ever complete without a Batsuit, so Shaheer had one built for him. The custom made suit cost him around INR 3.40 lakhs and had to be shipped to Pakistan. After which, it took almost two months for it to be put together. It is made to his exact body measurements and created from the same molds from which Christian Bale’s suit was created for the movie, and hence is claimed to be an exact replica of the original, again, strictly aesthetically.
