The Orbitron is a custom car

Custom car

A custom car is a passenger vehicle that has been modified in either of the following two ways. First, a custom car may be altered to improve its performance, often by altering or replacing the engine and transmission. Second, a custom car may be a personal "styling" statement, making the car look...

 built by Ed Roth

Ed Roth

"Big Daddy" Ed Roth was an artist, cartoonist, custom car painter, and pinstriper who created the hot-rod icon Rat Fink and other extreme characters. As a custom car builder, Roth was a key figure in Southern California's Kustom Kulture and hot-rod movement of the late 50's and 1960's...

 and feared lost until its rediscovery in Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 in 2007.

Construction

Built in 1964, the vehicle was powered by a 1955 or 1956 Chevrolet V8

Chevrolet Small-Block engine

The Chevrolet small-block engine is a series of automobile V8 engines built by the Chevrolet Division of General Motors using the same basic small engine block...

 and was backed by a Powerglide

Powerglide

The Powerglide is a two-speed automatic transmission designed by General Motors. It was available primarily on Chevrolet from January, 1950 through 1973, although some Pontiac models also used this automatic transmission, extensively on models produced for the Canadian market with Chevrolet...

 automatic transmission. The body was hand-laid fiberglass, hiding Roth's extensive chrome work to the chassis. The cockpit, set at the extreme rear of the vehicle in the manner of a dragster

Dragster

Dragster may refer to*Dragster, a rock band of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal era.*Dragster, a video game released in 1980.*Dragster, a term referring to a custom-built vehicle used in drag racing....

, was lined with fake fur and featured an 11-inch General Electric

General Electric

General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...

 "1-Touch" portable television inserted in the console. Topping the cockpit was a custom-made, hydraulically operated plexiglass bubble top. One of a series of ordinary doorbell push-button switches atop the hood activated the top from the outside.

Other mechanical features included a 1956 Chevrolet rear end, dropped Ford front axle beam, Buick

Buick

Buick is a premium brand of General Motors . Buick models are sold in the United States, Canada, Mexico, China, Taiwan, and Israel, with China being its largest market. Buick holds the distinction as the oldest active American make...

 brake drums and early Ford brakes. The frame was handmade of rectangular 2x4 inch steel tubing. The engine was a leftover from one of Roth's 1955 Chevrolets, having been removed to make way for a then-new Mark IV big-block given to him by General Motors

General Motors

General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...

. It was one of the very few completed cars Roth deemed to be a "mistake" because he felt the car did not show well since the heavily chromed engine and most of the chassis were hidden. The Orbitron was, in fact, one of his few customs to have a hood. Reportedly, the hydraulically operated hood did not fit well due to rushed fiberglass work.

The vehicle's most distinctive feature was its asymmetrical front end with red, green and blue tinted headlamps. It was thought that the three beams when combined would produce an intense white light; the idea came from the then-new medium of color television

Color television

Color television is part of the history of television, the technology of television and practices associated with television's transmission of moving images in color video....

.

Ownership

Fellow automotive customizer Darryl Starbird

Darryl Starbird

Darryl Starbird is an American custom car and hot rod designer and builder, known for his innovative and futuristic space-age car designs, often featuring bubble tops...

 purchased the vehicle from Roth in 1967 for US$750.00. Starbird traded the vehicle some years later to an unidentified collector in Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

. From Texas the Orbitron was traded to a carnival owner in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico

Ciudad Juárez

Ciudad Juárez , officially known today as Heroica Ciudad Juárez, but abbreviated Juárez and formerly known as El Paso del Norte, is a city and seat of the municipality of Juárez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Juárez's estimated population is 1.5 million people. The city lies on the Rio Grande...

 in or around 1991. By that time the asymmetrical nose had been cut off and discarded, possibly for additional air flow to the radiator for the car's use in and around the carnivals.

Automotive restorer Michael Lightbourn, who heard rumors of the car's existence in Ciudad Juárez, discovered it parked in front of an adult bookstore for use as an advertising aid.
The car had been sprayed in faded black primer and was basically complete except for the hood, the tachometer, the television, the fur lining, the long-missing nose and the bubble top, believed destroyed in the early 1970s when it became stuck and trapped the car's then-owner.

The family who owned the bookstore had also owned the carnival in which the car was used. After intense negotiations with the family (who were reluctant to sell the deteriorating vehicle for what they said were sentimental reasons), Lightbourn was finally able to return the Orbitron to the United States. Upon its return, the Orbitron was sold to Beau Boeckmann of "Pimp My Ride

Pimp My Ride

Pimp My Ride is a TV show produced by MTV. Each episode consists of taking one car in poor condition and restoring it and customizing it.The original United States version was hosted by rapper Xzibit...

" fame.

Restoration

Boeckmann completed the restoration of the car in approximately 100 days. All original parts removed from the car, including the frame which was too rusted to reuse, were retained and archived by Boeckmann. Accuracy of the project was supervised by former Roth designer Ed "Newt" Newton, who assisted in the original 1964 design.

The restoration includes a television of the same type originally installed in the console. A small reel-to-reel tape recorder hidden in the cockpit and which was intended to play a musical recording of the car's features was discovered along with the original tape during the restoration process and is in working order; the recording was reportedly done by Tex Ritter

Tex Ritter

Woodward Maurice Ritter , better known as Tex Ritter, was an American country music singer and movie actor popular from the mid-1930s into the 1960s, and the patriarch of the Ritter family in acting...

. Planet Plastics of Chino, California

Chino, California

Chino is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States. It is located in the western end of the Riverside-San Bernardino Area and it is easily accessible via the Chino Valley and Pomona freeways....

, the original company contracted to create the bubble top, was contracted to create a replacement. Evidence of the car's original "candy blue" color (similar in execution to "candy apple red"

Candy apple red (color)

Candy apple red is the name code used by manufacturing companies to define a shade of red similar to the red caramelized sugar coating on candied apples. The typical method for producing a candy apple finish is to apply a metallic base-coat, followed by a transparent color coat...

) was discovered within the interior and was used as a basis for matching the replacement finish. Paint work was overseen by Larry Watson, who painted the car in 1964. Watson was joined by his original assistant, Bill Carter who applied the new finish. A descendant of the individual responsible for the pin-striping applied the new pin-striping to the vehicle upon its completion. Interior restoration was by Joe Perez who was responsible for the original upholstery work as well. The original Chevrolet engine with its rare Stromberg

Stromberg

-People:*Lyndon Stromberg, American sculptor and designer*Karl Stromberg, the villain in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me*Joseph R. Stromberg, historian with the Ludwig von Mises Institute*Glenn Strömberg, Swedish soccer player...

 triple carburetor setup and Chevrolet Corvette

Chevrolet Corvette

The Chevrolet Corvette is a sports car by the Chevrolet division of General Motors that has been produced in six generations. The first model, a convertible, was designed by Harley Earl and introduced at the GM Motorama in 1953 as a concept show car. Myron Scott is credited for naming the car after...

 finned aluminum valve covers has been rebuilt and reinstalled.

It is the cover subject of the March 2009 edition of Hot Rod Deluxe, a "retro" version of Hot Rod Magazine

Hot Rod Magazine

Hot Rod is an American monthly magazine devoted to hot rodding, —modifying automobiles for performance and appearance.-History:Hot Rod is the oldest magazine devoted to hot rodding having been published since 1948. Robert E. Petersen founded the magazine and his Petersen Publishing Company...

.