SCENES FROM AN ORPHANAGE; If Oliver Twist needed a car, he could select from these.(News)

Byline: KEVIN A. WILSON

Rounding out a decade of celebrating cars built by defunct marques such as Studebaker, Hudson, Packard, Rambler, Kaiser and Franklin, the 10th annual Orphan Car Show on June 4 turned its spotlight on "foreign-built'' cars. After early morning rain cleared away for the day, collectors brought an eclectic selection of cars to Riverside Park in Ypsilanti, Michigan's historic Depot Town district.

The focus on foreign cars meant show-goers saw a large number of Triumphs and MGs, and also highlighted an aspect of the show that has long puzzled visitors: Cars from the likes of Citroen, Opel, Fiat, Vauxhall and Alfa Romeo are allowed entry, though their makers are still in business. The point is, the cars have been abandoned by parent companies that either left the U.S. market or never entered it. This "abandonment'' clause also applies to some American brands, like DeSoto and Edsel, and has been stretched to include the Corvair, which was built nearby.

This permitted collector favorites like a brace of Citroen 2CVs and a Traction Avant, a brilliant Fiat Topolino and an Opel GT. Sticklers could find plenty of genuinely extinct foreign brands represented, including a tiny two-cylinder van built by Lloyd (a Borgward subsidiary) in the 1960s, a Sachsenring Trabant, and, yes, even a DeLorean (built in Ireland).

As usual, all the cars that were able passed in review for an appreciative audience who heard about each particular car's features and a brief history of its maker. When the selection of oddities ...