Quick Wiki
- Full Name Mark Towle
- Occupation Automobile Customizer
- Nationality American
- Birthplace California, USA
Mark Towle | Biography 2021
Founder of Gotham GarageThe popularity of Mark Towle's Gotham Garage and his customized cars landed him and his team to be a part of the Netflix show 'Car Masters: Rust to Riches.' The show followed Gotham Garage crew upgrading an eclectic collection of cars and trucks to sell it for a higher amount. The first season of the show premiered on 14 September 2018 and ran for eight episodes. The show's season 2 premiered on 27 March 2020, featured the Garage's newly launched workshop. The third season is scheduled to premiere on 4 August 2021.
Mark Towle is the founder of Gotham Garage. He is also known as the cast of the Netflix reality show 'Car Masters: Rust to Riches.'
Who is Mark Towle?
Mark Towle is an automobile fabricator and the owner of Gotham Garage. He used to rebuild and redesign discarded toys at a young age. After spending several years making props for television shows and movie studios, Towle decided to turn his childhood hobby into a profession and established Gotham Garage. Since then, Towle and his team at Gotham Garage had created many customized cars, bikes, boats, and a helicopter. His amazing creations led him to become a cast member of the Netflix reality television series Car Masters: Rust to Riches. The eight-episode Netflix show premiered on 14 September 2018.
Early Life
Mark Towle was born in 1962 in California. He, along with his three siblings, was raised by a single mother. Grew up in poverty, Towle got the habit of making the most out of the available materials. As a child, he would go dumpster diving with his friends in search of discarded gadgets and toys. Towle would then restore and redesign the collected broken and unused toys into attractive ones. He later realized that restoring and redesigning skills was his God-given talent.
Early Career
Towle worked for several years as a prop technician for television and movie studios. He built and designed original machines and props utilizing his creativity and technical expertise. He also made cars for television shows and movies. Towle's amazing creation featured on television shows such as Stacey David's Gearz (2007) and The CW's Kamen Rider Dragon Knight (2008). Towle also appeared on Fox's America's Most Wanted and NBC's The Today Show.
Gotham Garage
After building props for the entertainment industry for years, Towle felt a calling to create real cars rather than making prop vehicles. He then decided to pursue a career of his forte. He eventually established his own shop called Gotham Garage. Towle started restoring automotive and non-automotive vehicles with innovative twists transforming them worth big bucks. Over the years, he built numerous custom-designed cars, bikes, boats, and even a helicopter.
About his talent to build anything that his customers wanted, he said, "If you can dream it, I can build it." Towle had also made high-quality replicas of automobiles, and it got featured in various films and TV shows for its workmanship. In addition, he had created iconic replicas of Speed Racer's car. In the 1990s, Towle got an exclusive right to build Mach 5 replicas for car connoisseurs and ardent fans of Speed Racer. Mach 5 was also one of his favorite cartoon cars, and he used Corvette C4 chassis to build every Mach 5 replica.
'Car Masters: Rust to Riches'
The popularity of Gotham Garage's creation of customized cars landed Towle and his co-workers to be a part of the Netflix show Car Masters: Rust to Riches. The show featured Towle and his Gotham Garage team members - Constance Nunes, Shawn Pilot, Michael' Caveman' Pyle, and Tony Quinones. The show followed Gotham Garage crew upgrading an eclectic collection of cars and trucks to sell it for a higher amount. The first season of the show premiered on 14 September 2018 and ran for eight episodes. The show returned with season 2 on 27 March 2020 and followed the Gotham Garage's newly launched workshop and the crew's new challenges while expanding the shop. The second season of the show also ran for eight episodes. The third season of the show is scheduled to premiere on 4 August 2021.
Batmobile Lawsuit
In May 2011, DC Comics, a subsidiary of Warner Bros, filed a lawsuit against Towle for breaching copyright and trademark on replicas of the Batmobile (a fictional car used by the superhero Batman). In the lawsuit, DC Comics claimed that Towle produced and sold two cars similar to the Batmobile that appeared in the 1966 ABC television show Batman for $90,000 and a replica of another version of the Batmobile of the 1989 Batman movie.
Towle denied that he had infringed upon DC Comics' copyright, claiming that the Batmobile appeared in the 1966 television show and 1989 film was not subject to copyright protection. He further argued that DC Comics did not own the copyright of the Batmobile, either in the TV show or in the movie. But, the Comics book company counter-argued that the Batmobile picture originally appeared in the comic book in 1941 in the comic book in 1941 and backed it up with other evidence. Following this, US District Court Judge wrote, "it is clear that the Batmobile is a copyrighted character." Ultimately, Towle lost the lawsuit with DC Comics in February 2013. Towle and attorney Lawrence Zerner eventually went to the Appeals Court for the same case but lost again with DC Comics in September 2015.
