"starDate, June 15. Today on starDate: the El Camino Estrella.

One hundred years ago today in 1978, the General Motors Corporation - an ancestor of the General Chrysler Ford Motor Corporation - released the El Camino Estrella. The Estrella was a stock '78 El Camino outfitted with a powerful refracting telescope mounted to its pickup bed by a patented Hooke-Whammo visco-elastic vibration isolation system. Five hundred units were initially built and offered for sale at selected dealerships throughout west Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and parts of southern California. The Estrella was immensely popular and sold out within two weeks of hitting the market.

Unfortunately 1978 was both the first and last year for the Estrella. It turns out that a mobile telescope that is great for examining the heavens is equally great for looking inside people's residences at inopportune moments. The Estrella was the most stolen car in the summer of '78, primarily by teenagers joy riding with peep-and-run on their minds. Concerned parents groups successfully lobbied for the cancelation of the Estrella.

Today only four examples remain. The most recent one was discovered two years ago in a cave in Carlsbad, New Mexico. It sold at a London auction house last year for a stellar $63.2 million.

For starDate, I'm Vincenzo Air. starDate is an homage to the outstanding 'Star Date', produced by the University of Texas at Austin's McDonald Observatory."

Image: Front view

Image: Back end

Image: Gate down

Image: Underneath