Published: July 14, 2008 09:18 am            

ATTRACTION: Holy Tumbler Batman!

Really, how else would Justin Talusz and his wife Patricia spend their seventh wedding anniversary.

With Justin and their three children, Margaret, 7, Katherine, 5, and Oliver, 2, dressed from head to toe in Batman “gear” the family made a pilgrimage to Terrapin Point Sunday to get an up close look at two of the coolest vehicles on the planet.

On the way to New York City for tonight’s red carpet premiere of the movie “The Dark Knight,” Batman’s Tumbler, the updated version of the famous Batmobile and the new Bat-Pod stopped long enough for visitors to the Falls to check them out.

“I knew about this (Batman fascination) when I married him,” Patricia Talusz said of her husband.

As his children gazed in wonder at the vehicles, Justin Talusz said their is no other “superhero” quite like Batman.

“Batman is the only D.C. Comics superhero who doesn’t have super powers,” he said. “He has trained himself to perfection and he is the personification of good confronting evil”

One other thing, Talusz notes, Batman has “cool toys.”

“It’s all about the toys,” he said. “I think (the Tumbler) is fantastic. I loved it in the first movie. Seeing (the Bat-Pod) up close, I’m looking forward to seeing it in action.”

Who wouldn’t want to see the Bat-Pod in action. The sleek motorcycle with 30 inch front and rear wheels is capable of doing 100 mph and comes with a pair of front mounted 20 mm automatic machine-guns.

“You are literally lying on the bike as you ride it,” said Moses Paskowitz, the vehicle technician who looks after both the Tumbler and the Pod. “When you do a wheelie you are standing straight up on it.”

Of course the Tumbler, introduced in the movie “Batman Begins,” can more than keep up with the Pod. Looking very much like a Stealth fighter jet on wheels, the 5,000 pound vehicle is capable of going 100 mph, traveling 50 feet in the air and accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in “five seconds flat.”

“It is an ominous looking vehicle,” Paskowitz said. “It’s not based on any other vehicle on the road today.”

With a 5.7 liter Chevy engine, the Tumbler is constructed of solid steel plates on a tubular steel frame, with 30 in wheels in the front and 45 inch wheels in the rear. Driving it for stunt work requires both a driver and a navigator.

“You have some blind spots, so you need (the navigator) when you’re driving over 60 mph and jumping over cars,” Paskowitz said. “It can be a little difficult to navigate.”

The Tumbler and Pod are both valued at over $2 million.

As impressive as the vehicle specs are, for the throng of fans gathered around them it was much more about just the thrill of being close to movie magic.

“It’s just unbelievable all the people you see (around the vehicles),” Paskowitz said. “The reaction we get from people from 5 to 55 is the same, everyone loves Batman.”

Even a 16-year veteran of the entertainment industry like Paskowitz has to admit, getting to drive the Tumbler is something special.

“I mean, this thing (the Tumbler) drives over cars. This is the coolest car in the world,” he said. “Batman is just a regular guy, but he has all the cool toys.”

Five-year-old twins Joseph and Matthew Riddle couldn’t have agreed more with Paskowitz. While Matthew punched at his stuffed Joker doll, Joseph pondered the idea of driving the Tumbler.

“I might get hurt,” he said at first.

Then after a moment of thought, he said, “Maybe when I grow up.”

Contact reporter Rick Pfeifferat 282-2311, ext. 2252.

        

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