‘It’s unbelievable’: N.B. man brings Batmobile to superhero fanatic

Bernie Hicks (left) and Donald McHugh pose for a photo with McHugh’s replica Batmobile at Hicks’ home in Amherst, N.S.

He knew it was coming, but when the Batmobile pulled up to his house Bernie Hicks was still a little surprised.

“That’s not something you see up here very often,” said Hicks.

Known as the ‘Batman of Amherst,’ Hicks has always wanted to sit in a Batmobile. Thanks to the kindness of a stranger he got to do that on Sunday.

The replica Batmobile was built by Donald McHugh of Bouctouche, N.B., who spent a little over two years making it. The body is a 1979 Lincoln Town Car that he found in New Jersey and the chassis is from Saskatchewan.

“It’s fun. It’s the dream of a lot of young boys,” said McHugh. “There’s a bunch of different things in there. There’s a lot of custom-made parts of course and we did what we could. It looks decent.”

McHugh heard about Hicks about a year ago when he was working on the car and when the project was complete he decided to seek him out.

“I was thinking he’d be the perfect person to see this,” said McHugh.

Hicks has been obsessed with Batman since watching the original TV series with Adam West when he was a kid in the 1960s. His house is a shrine to the crime fighter from Gotham City, with hundreds of pieces of memorabilia.

“He fell in love with the car when he first saw the series, the original series with Adam West. For him, Adam West is the original and only Batman,” said Hicks’ wife Debbie.

Hicks did see a similar replica Batmobile at a car show in Moncton a few years ago, but the owner wouldn’t let him sit in it.

Bernie Hicks, known as "the Batman of Amherst," is pictured with some of the collectible items inside of his "batcave" at his Amherst, N.S. home.

“There’s not many people that who would do that,” said Hicks. “Yeah, it’s unbelievable that somebody takes the time to do something like that.”

After meeting McHugh and his wife Naomi, Hicks gave them a tour of his “batcave” inside his home in a quiet Amherst, N.S., neighbourhood.

Hicks doesn’t know if it’s the largest collection of Batman memorabilia in the Maritimes, but it’s hard to imagine one larger. He’s constantly asked how long he’s been collecting. He said he’s really not sure, but it’s been close to 40 years.

There wasn’t a lot of money to collect toys when he was growing up in nearby Aulac, N.B., but he’s made up for it since then.

“We just weren’t in the position at that time, but as I got older the love has always stayed there, the connection,” said Hicks.

People are always letting him know if there’s some piece of Batman history available online or at an antique shop.

Sometimes friends will even drop things off at his home to add to the collection.

“They’re feeding my passion,” said Hicks.

Some ask if Debbie gets mad because the collectibles take up a lot of space in their one-storey home.

“I’ve had other people say, ‘Doesn’t your wife get mad because of all the stuff you have. Like, you’re taking over the house with your collection,’ and I just look at them and say, ‘Who do you think buys half of it?’” said Hicks.

Like her husband, Debbie couldn’t believe someone they didn’t know would make a trip to share something so special with her husband. McHugh and Naomi put the Batmobile on a trailer and drove close to two hours to pay their special visit to the Hicks household.

“Oh my gosh, it’s amazing,” said Debbie. “This is really a dream come true for him, it’s amazing and I can’t thank them enough for doing this for him.”

Tracking Hicks down took a bit of time, but McHugh managed to find him through his former employer.

“It’s been a dream of mine for about 55 years to have a Batmobile. It takes a long time to come up with the funds,” said McHugh. “We finally got everything together, got a nice forgiving wife who encourages my passions and I love to build cars.”

The tour of the batcave was worth the trip alone for McHugh who was amazed with Hicks’ collection.

Coffee cups, Christmas ornaments, the bat phone, autographed photos from stars, masks, suits, you name it, Hicks has collected it.

“I always joke with people. I say, ‘I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, I’ve got to have a passion of some sort,” said Hicks. “Batman is it.”

Click here form more images of Bernie Hicks' Batman collectibles and Donald McHugh's Batmobile replica.

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