GALION, Ohio - So there you are, driving down Harding Way, Ohio State Route 598, normal as can be. There’s the Off Center Café, there’s Lil’ Bellas, welcome to the neighborhood, there’s the Batmobile, there’s Wendys…Whoa! Did you say the Batmobile? Yes, the Batmobile has taken up residence in Galion.

When he was a little boy, Jim Hedges, proprietor of Memory Lanes and owner of the Batmobile, used to run home from school everyday to catch the Batmobile in action. “I didn’t care about Batman and Robin,” said Hedges. “I made sure I was in front of the TV because I wanted to see the Batmobile.”

Hedges is an avid classic muscle car collector and restorer. His shop showcases his work that’s later displayed at car show around the state. “I said to myself at a very young age, ‘I will someday own the Batmobile.’” That day was December 16, 2006, but the process began some eight months earlier, in April, when Hedges contacted Mark Racop of Fiberglass Freaks in Logansport, Indiana.

“Mark is an acknowledged master at making Batmobiles,” said Hedges. So good is Racop that George Baris, the original creator of the Batmobile, has stated that the recreations Racop produces are the most accurate he’s ever seen. Baris goes to Racop for custom made parts. “Mark spent 12-16 hours a day, six days a week working on this,” said Hedges. “I would get emails from him sometimes at one or two o’clock in the morning showing me the progress.”

The original Batmobile was based on the 1955 Ford Futura prototype. Hedges’ version uses the modified body of a 1973 Lincoln Continental for the base, and then there are the gadgets in which the Batmobile is famous. “Everything but three buttons works,” explained Hedges. “The back shots out a six foot flame, the parachute, I could’ve even got them (Fiberglass Freaks) to install the emergency turn switch if I’d wanted.” When asked about the engine that powers the Batmobile, Hedges will only say, with a wry grin, it consists of Atomic Batteries and turbines.

The appearance of the Batmobile in town has caused quiet the stir as town folk go about their business until they see the familiar black and orange car sitting at the front of the shop. “It’s like having Shaquille O’Neil or something move into town,” said Hedges. “I used to get a fair amount of foot traffic into the store, but absolutely nothing like the foot traffic I’ve seen since the Batmobile arrived.”