Orbitron model?

[samdiego]

So last night on Leno's Garage, jay said that he had built a model of the Orbitron when he was a kid. I've never heard of a model of this Newton/ Roth creation. Has anybody else? IMHO not one of the better Roth cars

Edited July 21, 2017 by samdiego

[Mr mopar]

I Think he was mistaken for the Mysterion ,the only Orbitiron was a resin casted body.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Yup, no Orbitron in styrene. Resin partial kit, as zo...

Built up to look like this...  http://www.showrods.com/gallery_pages/orbitron1.html

                                                                 

Not really one of Roth's best efforts.

[Mr mopar]

Yup, no Orbitron in styrene. Resin partial kit, as zo...

Built up to look like this...  http://www.showrods.com/gallery_pages/orbitron1.html

                                                                 

Not really one of Roth's best efforts.

Thank you Ace , you are so right not my choice of a show rod it looked better as a trash can in Mexico ......LOL!

[Richard Bartrop]

I think the closest the big companies got was the "Orbitron Blue" that Testors offered as part of their candy colour line.

Anyone else wish Testors would bring back those Roth themed colours?

Edited July 22, 2017 by Richard Bartrop

[RancheroSteve]

I love that the guy built "both" versions! The story of the re-discovery of the car is pretty remarkable.

A lot of people (myself included) feel that the Obitron was Roth's first less than successful car, after he had a good run with The Outlaw, Beatnik Bandit, Road Agent, and Mysterion, but it does have a certain historical charm at this point for me.

[Daddyfink]

I've been told this was one of his first creation with a concealed engine and that led partially to it not being so popular.

[Mike999]

I've been told this was one of his first creation with a concealed engine and that led partially to it not being so popular.

The concealed engine didn't help, since those chrome-drenched Roth engines always looked so good.  I think another reason for its failure was that wonky "asymmetrical" styling.

For you youngsters, that was a (thankfully) short-lived styling fad in the early Sixties.  IIRC, the reasoning was that since the driver always sat on one side of the car, the styling should offset that. That meant putting a pronounced/exaggerated styling feature on the other side of the car.  Like in the Orbitron, that weird 3-lens robot eye or whatever it is.  Tex Smith's XR-6 was another example of asymmetrical styling. Which is probably one reason we've never seen that kit re-issued, but its double-kit partner the 1927 Model T Touring Car has been re-popped several times.

[Ace-Garageguy]

The concealed engine didn't help, since those chrome-drenched Roth engines always looked so good.  I think another reason for its failure was that wonky "asymmetrical" styling.

For you youngsters, that was a (thankfully) short-lived styling fad in the early Sixties.  IIRC, the reasoning was that since the driver always sat on one side of the car, the styling should offset that. That meant putting a pronounced/exaggerated styling feature on the other side of the car.  Like in the Orbitron, that weird 3-lens robot eye or whatever it is.  Tex Smith's XR-6 was another example of asymmetrical styling. Which is probably one reason we've never seen that kit re-issued, but its double-kit partner the 1927 Model T Touring Car has been re-popped several times.

What worked against the Orbitron most was the fact that it was just flat ugly, without enough wow cool to make it to the big time.

Part of the reason is that, though it was built by Roth, it wasn't designed by Roth.

There were several much more successful asymmetrical designs of the period that I thought looked great in spite of their oddness.

Among them were Roth's own Mysterion,...    

Dean Jefferies Mantaray...    

...and the Car Craft Dream Rod...         

...later rebuilt as the Tiger Shark...    

 

Edited July 23, 2017 by Ace-Garageguy

[Richard Bartrop]

I'm pretty sure that having an extra awkward looking tube on the other side wouldn't have helped.

[OldNYJim]

I quite like this as an example of assymetrical styling looking good, but it's not as extreme as the Orbitron...

http://www.showrods.com/showrod_pages/magnum_gtii.html

And I LOVE the Vanbulance, with it's offset engine

http://www.showrods.com/showrod_pages/vanbulance.html

...and it's brother the Vandal

http://www.showrods.com/showrod_pages/vandal.html

So much coolness in some of those old showrods - and plenty of weirdness too!

[Richard Bartrop]

The big companies played around with asymmetry too.

Plymouth XNR concept car

Studebaker Avanti

[Longbox55]

If I'm remembering it right from the Roth book I have, Revell had planned on doing Orbitron, but it was dropped when sales started to go down on the other Roth kits. 

[RancheroSteve]

I've been told this was one of his first creation with a concealed engine and that led partially to it not being so popular.

Yes, that is what Roth says in the book "Hot Rods by Ed Big Daddy Roth" and he also mentions that Revell was pressuring him to finish the car so they could model it, but model sales dropped drastically with the rise of The Beatles and that all fell apart. It's also interesting to note that the car looked quite a bit better in the drawings, but lost something in the translation to reality. By the way, the idea behind the three multi-colored headlights was that they would all focus together to form a white beam.

I also agree that the asymmetrical cars pictured above all look pretty good - especially the Mantaray! I don't think asymmetry was the Orbitron's main problem.

[RancheroSteve]

I do think it looks better in Ed Newton's drawing:

[Ace-Garageguy]

I do think it looks better in Ed Newton's drawing:

Absolutely, and an excellent illustration of why getting proportions right is so vitally important.

The drawing looks pretty good, definitely has potential.

The real one shoulda been called Dorkatron.

Edited July 25, 2017 by Ace-Garageguy