Features Bubbletops. Show Rods. Pics. Facts. More pics.

I am a sucker for Bubbletops.

It's a niche though. Crappy pics, short descriptions if even... I tried to collect as much material about them as I can, it started when I was looking for a good pic of the Beatnik Bandit. A fantastic pic. In great resolution on neutral background, not in Reno. Somewhere in a studio... And it kind of snowballed from there.

There is always one pic that surfaces that I either had no idea it existed, or I knew but I have seen just on a thumbnail. Sometimes a new car pops up, sometimes one pops up that has been rebuilt by now, some are abandoned projects where I'd love to know if they are ever gonna see the daylight...

This is a list of cars I know of, and those are the "Show Rods"(Customs). There has been a number of prototypes, especially Ford seemed to bang out more than everyone else. Some cars I love and try to obtain every pic of, some I can't stand and added them to the list just to "have it all", and I feel no desire to find any more info about them.

Are there any more out there? Better pics?

Please feel free to add images, stories, info, whatever comes to your mind that could be relevant for this thread. I will keep on adding new cars or better images in the first three posts.

I guess I just want all under one roof, who knows why.


This list is not in any particullar order, though I have my favorites.



1. Roth/ "Beatnik Bandit"



2. Roth/ "Orbitron"



3. Roth/ "Mysterion"



4. Roth/ "Road Agent"



5. Moriarity/ Futurian



6. Shuten/ "Astro Sled"



7. Chopit/ "Beatnik"



8. Roth/ "Beatnik Bandit 2"



9. Starbird/ "Predicta"



10. Castaneda/ "Brown Neck Bandito"



11. Grote/ "Atomic Punk" (* does someone have this most fantastic pic in good resolution and without the logo, I'd love to have it hanging in garage)



12. ?/? This car I know three pics of, it surfaced shortly after Aarons car.



13. Holden/ Ultimus. I know it was repainted at some point in an ugly scallop/something...



14 ?/?



15. Starbird/ Forcasta



16. ?/?



17."X-Sonic"

 

18. Schenk/ Roswell Rod



19. Puhl/ XCEL



20. Starbird/ Orange Hauler



21. Little Mick/ Moonrunner



22. Goodrich/ Iron Lung



23. Cody ?/ Star Chief



24. ?/?



25. Roth/ Rotar



26. Starbird/ Futuresta



27. Cushenberry/ Silhouette



28. Wels Dreier/ Lincoln



29. Millner/ Crater Raider 1



30. ?/ Cyclops Trike



31. Little Mick?/ ?



32. Starbird/ Fantabula



33. Jeffries/ Mantaray



34. Arnold/ Thunderflite



35. ?/?



36. Vampyre?/? Don't even wanna know. It's fuckin' ugly.



37. ?/?

 

38. ?/?



39. Bacon/ Cosmotron



40. Bartell/ Hollywood Streak



41. Schenck/ Baja Bandeeto



42. Ennion/ Little Menace



43 Reid/ ?



44. ?/ ?



45. Goodrich?/ ?



46. Roussel/ Space Junkie 2.0



47. Roussel/ ?



48. Nick? / Bubbletop Volksrod?



49. Starbird/ Moonbird



50. Starbird/ Illusion



51. Starbird? / Cosma Ray



52. Wiley/ Spaceliner



Here is an additional list of official prototypes known to me that sport a bubbletop. In a sense those are also custom cars, and some of them would be right at home next to any of these cars from the list above. Enjoy!

Ford Gyron 1961



Ford LaTosca



Ford X-1000



Ford Seattle Lite



Lincoln Futura



Ford Atmos



Ford Mystere 1955



GM Firebird III



GM Firebird II



GM Centurion



GM Firebird IV



Cadillac Cyclone



Lincoln Mercury XL500








Here is a link to 200+ pics I could collect all around the net.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/47504763@N05/sets/72157632256814433/

 

There is the Lincoln Mark II bubble top by Lee Wells /Alex Drier. Beautiful car

 

The Futurian was built by Mark Moriarity.

 

#13 is "Ultimus" - credited to Tom Holden

 

#15 . is not a bubbletop. It is the DeDia150. It had 30lbs. of ground up DIAMONDS in the red paint job. Owned by Bobby Darrin, built by Andy DeDia it has been restored and is in a museum in Missouri.

#20. Is the Orange Hauler. Monogram Models sold kits of it and it was given away in a contest.

 

Thanks! Edited. I will add the Lincoln to the list next week.

 

You left out my favorite The Dean Jeffries MANTARAY. Bob http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=324609

 

I shall correct it A.S.A.P.




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Another shot of the Bandit with Roth.

 

Here's one....the Sillouette

 

PLOWBOY'S HomeBuilt ride! T-Shirts are still available for the upcoming Holiday's!

 

"Ed Roth's "Road Agent" and
Darryl Starbird's "Predicta"

 

...and the best of them all
Dean Jeffries' "Mantaray"

 

The whimsical "Zoop"
It's a high performance 150 kW three seat electric car that weighs
just 690 kilograms and has a range of 450 kilometres. It won
a special award at the recent international sustainable mobility event,
the Michelin Bibendum Challenge for its extreme performance.
Remarkably, the Zooop is not the product of an automotive
manufacturer, or even an automotive design house.
It is the third fully-operative EV prototype produced by globally
renowned Paris-based fashion design house Maison de Courrèges
and has had very little publicity outside of the car's native France.

 

The best of them all is the Beatnik Bandit of course.

I love Aarons car. That thing is so incredible! I've seen the drive video a gazillion times by now, and hell, tell whatever you want but HE redefined and brought this bubbletop stuff back. I have the feeling that there has been this madness in the 60ies, and then it went quiet, with Shifters rod being the only one surfacing once in a while, and since Aaron shown that one can take a piece of junk and turn it into a bitchin' bubbletop with shitloads of attitude and smoke tires in your Ed Roth wet dream that came true, there were few people who tried after him.
I dig the once a Thunderbird thing. It's the same idea but different. The other two with fins show instantly where the inspiration came from.


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Yea... The Zip thing? No. If it could fly I'd still say no.


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Anybody have any shots of Daryl Star Bird's Futuresta ?

scrubba

 

I always loved the trike #14

 

Here you go scrubba:

 

This is badass!

 

My favorites in order are the Beatnik Bandit, Mysterion, Moriarity's Futurian, and then the Brown Neck Bandito.

I think that Mark and Anthony did more to bring it all back than anyone, followed by Fritz and Shuten, I was a latecomer to the game and I think it is pretty much over now again. ha ha

 

oh yeah.... the X-sonic is up at the top of my list somewhere too...

 

Fritz latest ride.

 

The thing is, after yours showed up they kind of grew out of nothing utilizing the asses of scrap cars...

However. My top five include the "Beatnik Bandit", the "Orbitron", "Atomic Punk", that Thunderbird thing, and I dig the "Beatnik" by Chopit for it's incredible details and fantastic beauty...


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What a fantastic collection of the bubble tops . my hat is off to you , thank you very much for your obsession in this matter .

 

21. Little Mick - Queensland, Australia

http://www.koolsvillestudios.com.au/index.php?page=the-vehicles

 

Freakin' thanks for that!


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