He discovered it parked in front of an adult bookstore where it was in very poor shape and was being used as a trash can. Michael Lightbourn, a man who restores old cars, heard that the Orbitron was in Ciudad Juárez. By that time the special nose had been cut off and thrown away, possibly to help keep the engine cool as it was driven around the carnivals. From Texas the Orbitron was traded to a carnival owner in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico in 1991. Starbird does not remember the man's name. Starbird traded it to a man in Texas, but Mr. It was thought that combining the lights would make a white light the idea came from color television.Īnother car builder, Darryl Starbird, bought the Orbitron from Mr. It had three red, green and blue tinted headlamps. The Orbitron's most fun feature was its front end. It was said that the automatic hood did not fit well. The Orbitron was one of his few custom cars to even have a hood. He was very proud of the shiny chrome work he did to the engines and frames of his cars the Orbitron's engine and frame were covered by the body. The Orbitron was one of the very few cars which MRoth thought was a "mistake" after he built it. He removed it so that he could put in a newer, larger V8 engine given to him by General Motors. The engine came from one of his 1955 Chevrolets. Roth built the frame himself out of box-shaped steel tubing. The hood raised by itself as well when a different button was pushed. It raised up by itself with the push of a doorbell button on top of the hood. A top like this is called a "bubble top" since it looks like half of a soap bubble sitting on top of the driver. On top of the cockpit was a top made of heavy, clear plastic. It was lined with a funny-looking material called "fake fur" and it even had an 11" General Electric portable television in the console. This was where racing drivers sat when they drove a drag racing car. The driver sat in a cockpit set all the way to the back of the car. The body was made by hand out of fiberglass. īuilt in 1964, the car ran with a 1955 or 1956 Chevrolet V8 and a Powerglide automatic transmission.
It was lost for many years until it was found again in Mexico in 2007. The Orbitron is a custom car built by Ed Roth. The steering wheel is the restored original The General Electric television is an identical replacement bought on an eBay auction.
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