Batmobile designer’s dragster with *six* V8s is up for sale

On the day we discover the 1,000mph Bloodhound land speed record project may well have been saved from oblivion, we also discover this: George Barris’s 1975 ‘Snakepit’ dragster is coming up for auction.

If you don't know George Barris, you should know his work. He’s the man who designed the original 1960s Batmobile, along with a host of TV and movie cars. Things like the General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard, and KITT from Knight Rider. The Snakepit however, we suspect is less familiar.

It was built in 1975 after a four-year operation. The brief was to build something capable of 300mph. Suffice to say, it never did 300mph. But it is a wild slice of 1970s prime-Barris concept car.

Principally because there are six Cobra-Ford V8 engines, with 12 Holley carburettors, a pair of automatic gearboxes, a pair of fuel tanks, and – deep breath – 48 exhaust pipes. Also, as you’ll spot from the pictures, a steering wheel positioned in a way that makes bus drivers appear low slung and hunkered down.

Had all of these various mechanical items worked in unison – a tall order, one suspects – it was meant to produce 2,000bhp.

None of this matters however, because you don’t want a 300mph 1970s dragster. You want a 1970s dragster designed by the man who did the Batmobile. As such, this one-off, original Barris creation is being offered up for auction by H&H Classics next February, with no reserve. In 2006, this very car was sold for €27,255 via Bonhams (about £24k). Wonder how much it’ll go for this time around...