Ed “Big Daddy” Roth built some of the most fantastic custom cars of all time — the Outlaw, the Beatnik Bandit, the Mysterion — and most of those cars are in expensive museum pieces today.

But the whereabouts of one his creations, the Orbitron, had remained a mystery, seemingly lost, possibly destroyed.

Until today, when word of its discovery started circulating on car club message boards:

“The car was found in Mexico. It was used in a carnival for several years and then as a trash can in front of an adult book store until just last week,” read the bulletin that set off a long thread of excited conversation.

Roth, who spent much of the Seventies living and working in Orange County, died a few years ago, but thanks to the enduring popularity of Kustom Kulture cars and art — including his counterculture icon, Rat Fink — his legend continues to grow.

Kustom Kulture artist Coop points out that while Roth never really considered the Orbitron a complete success, it is the car at the center of ”The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby,” author Tom Wolfe’s influential mid-60s book that helped define Kustom Kulture as a movement.

And that explains why the car guys are a-twitter today, like this one, again from the message boards:

“It’s like when Pinnochio gets stuck in the land of the lost boys… smoking cigars and playin’ pool. Someone bring that poor car home!”

– Pedro

Turns out the “leak” of the next celebrity cast of “Dancing With the Stars” was somewhat leaky itself.

Local product and Cheetah Girl Sabrina Bryan is one of the chosen 12. As are Helio Castroneves, Mark Cuban, Jennie Garth, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Jane Seymour and - thank goodness - Mr. Wayne Newton. Scary Spice will be on the show and will be dancing.

As for Giselle Bundchen, Aaron Carter, Lou Ferrigno, Nia Peeples, Richard Quest and Tori Spelling, not so much.

Instead, we’ll have model/actress Josie Maran, soap star Cameron Mathison, model Albert Reed and Marie Osmond, who is a little bit country.

Other news: The first week, the dancers will be spread out over two nights, with the celebrity women dancing Monday, Sept. 24, and the men Tuesday.  Wednesday will bring the first elimination.

To see who will dance with whom, click through to the rest of this article.

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Few ballet dancers become household names in America, but Rudolf Nureyev did after his momentous defection from the Soviet Union in 1961. Yet those of us who aren’t ballet aficionados know little of his life and work in the USSR.

This new documentary, under the umbrella of PBS’s “Great Performances” series, traces Nureyev’s early career, his rapid rise to the top echelon of the Kirov ballet company and the forces that led him to defect. It features footage never shown in the West before.

“Nureyev: The Russian Years” airs at 9 p.m. on KCET/28.

Those are the bad fingers over there at the left. And the guy behind ‘em, that’s Bobby. Bobby Badfingers.

A lot of people got a kick out of Bobby and his finger-snapping, wise-cracking, music-and-comedy act when he appeared on “America’s Got Talent” in 2006. And why not? He’s got a great story and an infectious zeal for life.

 So when Bobby, who lives part-time in Orange County, called the other day, all excited as usual, we were glad to hear from him. And it turns out he had some big news to share: Terry Fator, the singing ventriloquist who just won $1 million as champion of “America’s Got Talent” this season,  was teaming up with Bobby to play a show at the Las Vegas Hilton on Oct. 14.

In the world of unusual talents with national TV reputations, there’s just something that makes sense about this, don’t you think?

He put us in touch with Terry, who was busily doing the media rounds in the flush of success that came with winning the show.

For our chat with both guys, click on the link below.

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