he Batmobile, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Herbie the Love Bug, The General Lee, KITT. After appearing on countless film and television screens, these cars have captured our imagination and found a place in our culture at large. Now, John Rosa, a 37-year-old computer programmer, has brought these celebrated vehicles and dozens more to computer monitors via his Web site Car Stars of Film and Television.

"The first car to knock my socks off onscreen was the 1966 television Batmobile, and it remains the standard by which I measure 'cool cars,'" Rosa says. "That car woke my craving for powerful cars." Rosa recalls a childhood trip to a custom car and van show, escorted by his father: "Hand-in-hand, he dragged me from one display to the next, but all my little 8-year-old eyes could see was that Batmobile. It's just about all I remember from that car show."

Performance Performances
Rosa's passion for The Batmobile fueled him to embark on his Car Stars project three years ago. Motivated, as he jokingly says, by "too much free time, lots of videotapes to sort and a computer video-capture card received as a gift," Rosa has since gathered still photos and video clips of — and countless fascinating factoids on — more than 60 onscreen vehicles.

Today, when asked to list his favorite Car Stars, Rosa of course starts with the Batmobile: "The shape was futuristic when it debuted in 1955, and today it still looks like a car we might be able to buy in the future." Next in line Rosa ranks the unlikely lime-green 1969 Dodge Charger R/T featured in "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry," citing its appeal as "reckless and totally free, a four-wheeled 'Easy Rider.'" (It doesn't hurt the comparison that Peter Fonda stars in both films.) In third place is the 1973 AMC Hornet from "The Man with the Golden Gun" for its truly amazing corkscrew jump, which, Rosa notes, was a stunt created by AMC for live shows.

Along for the Ride
Rosa receives as many as 1,000 e-mails a month offering all manner of contributions to his growing database of Car Star images and trivia, which he updates every other week. Rosa says the visitors' contributions "steer the site in all directions." In 1997 one contribution provided the opportunity to make Rosa's childhood dreams come true: "I was invited to visit one of the Batmobiles by its current owner," he explains. "I took many photos, some video and, this time, I even got to sit in it! I was transformed into a babbling 8-year-old all over again. It was an awesome rush!"

"Right now I'm gearing up for the summer car show season," Rosa says; he hopes to gather ever more material for his site. For the long term, Rosa's goals are simple: "I'd like to be able to personally visit each of the original five Batmobiles to get current photos and descriptions. I'd love to do the same for many of the other famous vehicles of TV and film."

Reported by Kara Reuter, cars.com

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FUTURA / BATMOBILE
View an enormous amount of information on the 1966 George Barris Batmobile.

BATMODELS
Take a look at miniature versions of the Batmobile and the Batcopter, built by the self-proclaimed "Model Man."