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Aug 30, 2007 09:15 AM
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Detroit, 1:40 AM
Wed Feb 10
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Finding a battered Orbitron, one of Ed "Big Daddy" Roth's most iconic custom cars, in Mexico is like finding JD Salinger slumped over a bottle of Mescal in a Tijuana speakeasy. The 1964 product of the Roth mind and fiberglass shop recently turned up south of the border, where it had been carnival attraction and trash bin in front of an adult book store. Orbitron scared the kneepants off a young Jalopnik when he saw a photo of it in a tattered library book. The picture was from 1963 and the Orbitron, then in progress, looked like nothing more than an mound of barely formed plaster of Paris. By 1964 it had taken shape as the spaceship-dragster that, the late Roth one said, was a failure at the shows. He blamed the Orbitron's lack of appeal on its chromed 1955 Chevy engine, which the kids of the day considered beyond passé. And, a novel headlamp, created from three primary-colored lenses aimed at a single beam, apparently was too geek when geek wasn't cool. The new owner says he hopes to restore it. [Hemmings via Iowahawk]
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