A young Vietnamese fan of the Dark Knight spent 10 months and over $20,000 building his own functional Batmobile.

Nguyen Dac Chung, a 23-year-old architecture student from Hanoi had always dreamed of driving his very own Tumbler, the iconic Batmobile showcased in Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Dark Knight’ trilogy, and last year he decided to make his dream a reality. He poured 10 months of work and over 500 million VND ($21,700) of his own money into this project and he now has his very own life-size, functional Tumbler. Although it’s only 90 percent complete, Nguyen Dac Chung has already been attracting attention on Hanoi’s street and has been featured by major Vietnamese news outlets.

The home-made Batmobile is powered by a four-cylinder, 400 cc engine and can reach a top speed of 100 km/h. The suspension system consists of 4 front shock absorbers and 2 rear shock absorbers, and the car spoiler can be adjusted thorough a pneumatic system.

Unlike the movie version of the Tumbler, Dac Chung’s vehicle doesn’t use a jet engine exhaust, but does retain the iconic shape of the original. For functional purposes, it has a motorcycle exhaust.

On the inside, the Batmobile has enough room to fit two people comfortably, but it’s nowhere near as impressive as the Dark Knight Tumbler. Nguyen Dac Chung admits that he still has lots of work to do on the interior, especially the lighting, but adds that his vehicle is still a work in progress.

To build his dream car, the Vietnamese student used both domestic parts, but also components imported from the US and South Korea. The tires for example, could only be found overseas.

 

Apart from studying architecture, Dac Chung is also an entrepreneur (he manages his own cosplay production company) and used the profit of his business to finance his Tumbler project.