Anyone have pictures that may not of been seen before of Ed Roth trikes ? Especially with pancake VW engine and automatic!
@Moriarity will probably be your best source. You should do an intro and check out previous Roth posts.
Believe me when I say that George Goodrich has owned more legit Roth trikes than anyone else... Hello George
I thought I recognized the name and did a "George Goodrich car guy" search but nothing. Didn't want to rely on memory. Search engines suck these days.
Hello to you, !!!! I retired so working hard to finish the full custom new trike and another 71 trike with pancake and automatic. Same frame as surf angel and Dennis’s trike with the Otis smith stamping on everything. Just redid the 1969 cragers on back 15 x 10 and new tires from France, they say for competition only ? Oh well! I will try and send some pics and my question is revolving around the one I’m restoring is gold metal flake and I found a pic of an identical I have never seen that is blue metal flake and the pic looks fro back in the late 60s or early 70s. I will try to send pics!!!!
Mr Goodrich, of both collecting Roth rods AND the infamous "Hill and Gully Hi-boy"!!! Welcome, sir! Weren't a few of those Roth Ford trikes destroyed in horrific wrecks back in the day? Would enjoy seeing survivors... How about the projects Roth gave up on; a steam car and another had a Lexus engine. Were they totally scrapped or are they sitting somewhere?
George is having trouble loading photos so he sent them to me. First is his T roadster on the cover of Rod and custom
Then here is his trike project called the surf angel. Along with a clay model that George did with Ed Roth
Next is the gold trike that he is looking for pictures of. He thinks it is identical or the same trike as a blue one that he saw pictures of
O my gosh! That was the first time I was on the cover of rod and custom, I was in high school. That was before I painted flames on the front and Roth striped it again, first time he stripped it was when only all white and I drove to may
The last trike he was working on with the v8 engine body “asphalt angel” was supposedly buried with him? im not sure if that is a true story ????
The blue trike looks like the trike Roth drove in the video "The Great American Dream Machine" Unfortunately, although there are several shots of Roth driving it on the freeway, they are all shot from a camera clipped to the handlebars (the shot shown in the preview). Right at the end there is a shot taken from the rear of Roth pulling away.
I like how the "Asphalt Angel" looked on the Roth show rod poster over this version ...Buick V6. If I remember correctly from reading, "Confessions of a Rat Fink" YEARS ago . similar trikes were built, some using 428 Ford's! Some, again met terrible fates as well as the riders. Would love seeing those bikes/ trikes!!!
After reading this thread and looking at the pics and projects it’s pretty awesome that you joined up and taking time to share your experiences and work! Can’t wait to see more
The one in this move looks l wow Never saw that video before, I could see it was filmed at the Buena Park “cars of stars and planes of fame” when he worked there. The bruckers took him in during a interesting time in his life, bought his machines and von Dutch hung around then also and they had displayed crazy things he built also!
There was a steam 4 wheel car he started at cars af stars and planes of fame but it never made it from being stuck to the concrete. Another 4 wheel vehicle with engine in rear the motor did not work well and too many problems and it got axed , had little 12 inch tires on front . I will look for some pics of it to post, I took it to a fat funk reunion for Ed on my trailer and not long after that his mind went in other directions!
Pics George sent me. These are from the Thacker book “hot rods by Ed big daddy Roth” people that want to know about Roth should get a copy First picture is the steam powered car that never made it past the plaster stage and next the LA Zoom that had a foreign car engine and Ed couldn’t figure out how to get it to run
It’s great to hear the story and history on the trikes and Mr Roth. Thank you George for sharing your story and pictures
Hello there, I have not yet found a few articles about the v8 trikes that are out there that talked about accidents and missteps that occurred. I remember something about one the throttle stuck and it tried to climb a wall! There were a few knockoffs so that could have given a less that good vibe about them. Most tended to end up with 289 ford engines. When I owned the asphalt “I bought it from one of Ed’s close friends and it had been sitting for a while” “did a few things to it to get going” “left Anaheim and drove to home in Oceanside” “I had never been that nervous for a long time as you sat somewhat high , narrow , with this big v6 with side pipes rumbling down the road with no real rear suspension but low tire air pressure” “people watching you , thumbs up , but exciting and freaking out on what I just got” “it took a few runs to get used to it” “got busy on other projects and sold it and not I could $$$$ myself for selling” “one of the ones I’m sorry I let go” “All that leads to these things were dangerous and more than likely people did not take it easy and yanked on the throttle and discovered it went straight better than curves” I’ll get more history pics up soon!
@george goodrich and @Moriarity I have a foolish question, but this must be the place. Ed Roth wasn't a small guy, but he tended to build small cars. I can assume it's less materials, easier transport, perhaps the artist's eye. It sure worked on youngsters and adults alike. It seems he preferred small economical stuff later (Honda 600), and even went to the wagons and such much later. Do either of you notice this and maybe asked him?
Now that is an interesting question! Just the other day mark and I were talking about the outlaw. The space in the cockpit / under the dash and pedal location it seems that with Ed’s size there is no way he could drive it! “Mark step in here” Size of a vehicle went the wrong way on rotar!!!! It was for sale many years ago and I bought it from Tom Monaham that owned Domino’s pizza. It was so wide they had to cut off one rear wheel housing and the wheel to get it back n the trailer. When I restored it what a cracked up piece of fiberglass that thing was. Pieces just rolled off the back of the big rig shipper. I made a new bubble , my oven was used to heat and bend new from light lenses and used a razor blade to scrape off a quarter inch of metal flake off the entire body, remount and glass rear tire wheel cover and maybe a mile of cracks to bring out and reglass and new seat upolstery in metal flake material. The kustom kulture show was coming soon so I did a semi gloss black with silver flake and stars to make the show. It was so wide each wheel sat on my trailer fenders!!! When we got to the laguna art museum for KK show it did not fit it the double front doors and they had to get company to remove the doors so it could slide in. A piece of paper on each side to not scratch the paint! Mind you some custom big cars made it thru no problem. I do have picks of all that I will copy and down load. Mark is the one that put the great original style paint scheme back on it! So back to size of his vehicles I think it is a Ed psychological situation! He did have people help him build but I think when he got in the garage as time went on he became a loner and built thinks for him to travel in and got accustomed to small spaces and single person vehicles, even like the globe hopper he loved driving that alone! To Alaska and other places. I don’t think it was ever a smaller saves money deal. Look at even his little lawn mower powered wagons and single seat trikes, pink bazooka that was single seat he loved to take everywhere. More books could be written of that mind but for now he is up there in the ski looking down maybe building up there metal flake flying saucers “rotar ll “
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