ED ROTH LIVES | TWO FROM THE METALFLAKE ERA OF KUSTOM KULTURE
Kustom Kar Kulture of the middle sixties was an amazing time in the history of motorized America.  Shock waves from the acid-drenched psychedelic hippie experience spiraled outward to enged_roth every aspect of American society.  When that energy hit the custom car world the whole game changed almost overnight.  There was a radical shift from conservative hot-rod styling to freewheeling rolling self-expression.  Outrageous designs were springing up from everywhere.  If you could dream it, you could build it. These were heady times.  At the forefront of this movement was Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, the guru of fiberglass and metalflake paint.

Out of Roth’s made scientists mind rolled such insane car creations as Outlaw, Tweedy-Pie, Mysterion, Road Agent, Orbitron and the Beatnik Bandit.  What Roth can do with a pile of plaster, a hunk of fiberglass and a rolling chassis is the stuff of pure legend.  Genius, pure and simple.

Roth is also the creator of such T-shirt cartoon monster art characters as Dragnut, Surf Fink, Fink Eliminator, Mr. Gasser, Mother’s Worry and Roth’s most famous hot-rod icon of all time “Rat Fink”.  What gearhead in the middle sixties didn’t run around in a Roth monster shirt?  And what kid didn’t drool over any number of the Revell model kits of Roth’s show cars and monsters?

Slightly less well known but no less important were his forays into motorcycle design-some two-wheelers but mostly trikes.  A longtime scooter nut, Roth delved briefly into the publishing world as he launched “Choppers Magazine” his proto-moto rag, which among other things launched a career for a budding young artist named David Mann.

The trike “Mail Box” was built in 1965 by Roth, Dan Woods, Jim “Jake” Jacobs and Doug Kinney.  It was originally called the “Krooze Wagon” but changed names when Choppers mag needed a log for its readers’ letters section.

The rear end was made from car parts and the Crosley engine was hauled out of a quarter-midget car. The frame and front end were built by Jacobsen.

Roth gives mucho kudos to Doug Kinney.   “He really deserves a lot of credit.  He is the solitary person who sanded his little fingers, (till they bled) on the fiberglass body that I laid up of fiberglass matte and cloth.  I finished the paint and signage with rainbow metalflake paint.”

“Candy Wagon” was an idea Roth got in 1968 while attending the sheriff’s bike auction in downtown LA, checking out a Harley-Davidson 45 trike,  “The same underpowered trikes meter-maids used to use.”

“The entire concept was to build a machine for parades and stuff.  At the first parade I threw candy from the rear trailer to the kids in the crowd and it spooked the horses in the parade (kids chasing candy).  I never did it again.”

The trike, built around that very same meter-maid ride displays many aspects of Roth’s unique style.  From the sky-high upsweeps to the wicked grinning face on the tank, the man’s artistry prevails.  “I had the pleasure of building the entire machine myself.  Doug Kinney sanded it and helped paint it.  I drove this to many bike runs in and around California and it was an exceptional Harley motorcycle and very dependable.”

But do you want to know the coolest thing of all?  The best thing about Roth is that he’s still around, still working. He lives in Utah now but still travels all over the world, keeping the spirit of Kustom Kulture alive.  A whole new generation of greasy-handed gearheads has embraced the golden era of automobile creativity and Roth is once again there to lead the way.  He is still going strong as an artist, designer and inventor.  He continues to churn out new automotive creations and ideas. He created the Stealth 2000 showcased at the American Institute of Graphic Design in October 1999 in Las Vegas.

I urge you strongly to rediscover the genius of Ed Roth. Either through his autobiography, “Confessions of a Rat Fink” or the” Life and Times of Big Daddy Roth.”  RAT FINK FOREVER!

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