The Orbitron is a bubble top #showcar built by Ed "Big Daddy" Roth in 1964. The #car was designed by Ed "Newt" Newton. Newt designed the #Orbitron to look like a slingshot #dragster with space age influences. The distinctive nose of the car incorporated a set of red, green and blue lights. The lights were intended to function like television tubes, which when illuminated together would create a strong white light beam. Dirty Doug and Dick Cook assisted Ed in the building process. Under the hood, the Orbitron featured the engine from Ed Roth's own #1955 Chevrolet daily driver. The 283 #motor was painted blue, and dressed up with #Corvette valve covers and three chromed #Stromberg 97's. The #engine was hooked to a #Powerglide two-speed transmission. The rear end came from a #1956 #Chevrolet. The frame was hand made out of 2x4 inch rectangular tubes. The front of the frame featured a handmade four bar setup with a cross leaf spring on a suicide perch. Front axle was a dropped early #Ford V8-60 tube axle with finned #Buick drums and #Lincoln brakes. Everything was chrome plated by Model Plating in Bell Gardens. The car ran on Astro slotted chrome wheels wearing single-groove Inglewood whitewall cheater slicks and Cal Custom fake knockoff caps. The #driver’s compartment was placed at the rear of the vehicle, with the driver sitting behind the rear wheels similar to the setup of a slingshot dragster. The car featured a Cragar steering wheel that was hooked to a 1940 Ford steering box. It also had a Dixco tach on the column, a pair of Stewart-Warner gauges mounted in the center console, a Hurst shifter, a Moon gas pedal and a TV mounted in the center console. The interior of the car was done by Joe Perez. Light blue fur was used in the compartment. The seat was a bench type with simple tuck and roll. The Bubble Top used on the Orbitron was blown by Acry Plastics. The bubble measured almost 64" from front to back, and a little over 57" from left to right. The Orbitron was painted by Larry Watson of Watson's House of Style. The first time it was done in candy blue over white pearl. As the car got scratched in transport, it was only shown once in this condition. The second version of the car was also painted by Larry Watson of Watson's House of Style, this time in a secret formulation of a gold Murano with blue. When the Orbitron debuted in September of 1964, the car turned out to be a failure at shows. Ed always felt that the failure of the car was due to the engine being hidden. He always regretted covering the engine. The fiberglass hood was raw inside, so it was kept closed, and the #chromed and painted engine was never displayed. He also blamed the #Beatles for the “failure” of the Orbitron saying, “the Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show and all model sales stopped. Guys got guitars instead o’ cars.” Roth sold the car to fellow #customcar builder and bubble-top king Darryll Starbird for $ 750.00 in 1967. Darryl had planned to lease the Orbitron from Big Daddy and use it in his own travelling car show. But Ed said that he would sell it to him for the lease price instead. Gabe Gabriel of Duncan, Oklahoma remembers seeing the Orbitron as a young boy. The futuristic show car was displaye at a used car lot at the east end of the main #street, and he went to see it often. "It was my first expose to a futuristic car and I thought it was beautiful, being about 14 years old at the time." Gabe remembers that it was in town for a few days only before it was gone.