Batman imitators take their characters to the road with authentic style in muscle vehicles around metro Adelaide
Phil D'Alfonso’s replica of the Batmobile from the 1989 Batman movie, on show at the 2022 Royal Adelaide Show, with D'Alfonso (inset bottom right) wearing his authentic Batmat cape from The Dark Knight film. Top left: Phil Peake in his Batman mark in his blue Corvette driving past the Capri Theatre at Adelaide's Goodwood featuring a Batman film.
Images by Daniel Keane and Malcolm Sutton, courtesy ABC Radio Adelaide
Batman could turn up anywhere – at traffic lights or in a supermarket carpark – around Adelaide.
At last count in 2022, at least two Batman reincarnations were liable to be seen cruising around the Adelaide metro area in their high-powered machines. One of them, Rino D'Alfonso, had a replica of the vehicle driven by Michael Keaton in the 1989 Batman movie.
D'Alfonso spent a huge amount of time and effort working on his 6.1metres by 2.2 metres replica. His Batmobile was custom-made in Queensland from a Holden ute. He changed the interior, dash and motor to make it more true to the film original. D'Alfonso added to his Batmobile collection as part of his love of all things Gotham: costumes, collectables and comic book characters. He also presented the authentic Batman experience by wearing the carbon fibre outfit used by Christian Bale outfit in The Dark Knight.
Having the 1989 Batmobile fulfilled D'Alfonso’s childhood dream and he liked to create "happiness and smiles” by taking it to children's charity events. He’s also had it hired for weddings.
Another Adelaide Batman imitator, Phil Peake, also delighted in making “the kids go nuts". Peake began driving around Adelaide’s business streets with a Batman mask after he bought his dark blue Corvette from 2009 for no other reason than to have fun. With the Corvette being a left-hand drive, he often was sitting in traffic directly next to other drivers and their children.
Unable to modify the Corvette to look like a Batmobile due to road rules, Peake instead added two small Batman stickers to the front and rear windscreens and bought a mask. Peake was a collector of classic cars, including two other Corvettes that match two different superhero masks that he wore occasionally: The Flash and The Phantom. Peake said he had always had an interest in classic cars but didn’t have the money to pay for them while he was married — but then his wife "took off. So I went crazy."
Before he started collecting cars and superhero masks, Peake spent 27 years as a competitive bodybuilder known as "Mr Abdominals" who won five national titles in Melbourne and Adelaide.
