The Orbitron is one of the custom hot rods built by Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, the Southern California custom car designer and builder behind Rat Fink. It appeared in 1964, one of a series of show rods that Roth took around the custom car and hot rod shows of the mid-1960s.
Roth Orbitron at a glance
| Builder | Ed “Big Daddy” Roth |
|---|---|
| Built | 1964 |
| Type | custom show hot rod |
| Shown at | custom car and hot rod shows |
| Scale models | Revell, plastic kits of Roth’s cars from 1962 |
| Preceded by | Beatnik Bandit (1961), Mysterion (1963) |
| Followed by | Road Agent (1965) |
| Builder’s base | Southern California |
Based on one source: the English Wikipedia article on Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, which gives only the year and the place of the Orbitron among Roth’s cars. There is no Wikipedia article about the car itself.
History of the Roth Orbitron
One of Roth’s show rods
Ed “Big Daddy” Roth was an artist, cartoonist, pinstriper and custom car designer and builder, a key figure of Southern California’s Kustom Kulture and hot rod movement. Besides the grotesque monster characters that made him famous, he built a line of hot rods for the show circuit, and the Orbitron of 1964 was one of them.
In the line of show cars
The Orbitron followed the Beatnik Bandit of 1961 and the twin Ford engined Mysterion of 1963, and was itself followed by the Road Agent in 1965. Roth’s cars appeared at custom car and hot rod shows at the same time as he was selling his airbrushed “Weirdo” T-shirts at those shows and through Car Craft magazine, from 1958 onwards.
Scale models
From 1962 the Revell model company sold plastic models of Roth’s cars, and it has re-issued his Monsters and Kustom Car kits since. Mattel’s first Hot Wheels range of 1968 included another Roth car, the Beatnik Bandit, among its first sixteen die-cast models.
Design and features
- Show rod: built for the custom car and hot rod show circuit rather than for everyday use.
- Part of a series: the third of the Roth show rods listed by Wikipedia, after the Beatnik Bandit and the Mysterion.
- Roth design language: a Kustom Kulture car from the same hand as the Rat Fink characters.
- Model kits: Roth’s cars were made as Revell plastic models from 1962 and are still re-issued.
Roth Orbitron versions
- 1964 show car: the original built by Roth.
- Revell Kustom Car kit: a plastic model in the Roth range, re-issued by Revell.
- Sister cars: the Mysterion of 1963 and the Road Agent of 1965 from the same series.
The Orbitron is the middle car of Roth’s show rods on this site, between the Mysterion and the Outlaw. More customs are in the Roth collection.
Sources
- Ed Roth, English Wikipedia: builder, year, other cars, model kits
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