Definately one of the greatest car guys of our time. Well, I was net surfing and found a nice link that not only has cool pics, but a short film about the Orbitron. My appoligies if this has been linked before. http://theselvedgeyard.wordpress.co...t-fink-king-of-south-cali-kustom-kar-kulture/ Scroll down the links on the right for other cool stuff!
No time to look right now but I will attest to the fact that Mr Roth was an exceptional personal person. Not just a car guy but a people guy also. He comes up once in a while and I have to feel for the folks that never had a chance to get to know him outside of the car culture. He had a heart as big as this world. Good man.
agreed.....he sat me on an upside down paint can and made me a sweatshirt one rainy saturday morning in his shop on Slauson....for my 11th birthday in 1961... Part of which is my avatar.....
I still have a gear shift knob he took out of a T roadster he had and gave to me right after I got out of the hospital once, I was about 4 or 5 would have been around '59 I guess. He carried me around the Cow Palace at the show there one year on his shoulders because my legs were tired and I lost track of the Ol' Man. I couldn't tell you what year it was for sure but I think I was out of my braces and I lost those for my 5th B-Day. He had a real soft spot for kids as I recall. I saw him airbrush a T shirt for a little kid once, a total stranger and just give it to him. I don 't know to this day who was more tickled about it the little kid or MR Roth himself. Last time I saw him he wrestled me into a head lock and gave me a dutch rub just like he did when I was little. He passed later that year. Good folks no doubt about it. Him and the Ol' Man are sipping cognac and looking down and laughing at us this very moment, I just know they are. Mazooma small world isn't it.
Really wish I coulda met the man. Been a heck of an influence in my artistic style, and I've never met a person who had a bad word to say about him.
I also received a shirt painted by Ed for my eleventh birthday...........it was a little later than 1961 though.
Stumbled across that site a few weeks ago....GREAT STUFF! Always love reading the stories about him on here. Wish I would have met him. One of the greats
Thanks Mazooma1, Porknbeaner and Muttley for your personal stories of this great man. Kinda makes me feel like wer'e all closer to a legend.
I was collecting the 3 L/P's with his artwork on the cover, and wanted to get his autograph on each. No problem on Hot Rod Hootenany, approached him at a Moon Rat Fink Reunion with my Rods N' Ratfinks album. He said if he signed the cover it "wouldn't be worth anything", so I got him to sign it on the back. He passed away before I could get him to sign "Surfink". Also got him to paint an eyeball on a cueball at a Paso West Coast Kustoms show. Sat and talked with him for about a half hour, he charged me a whopping $5 to do the cue ball!
He picked my model car (a tubbed, hemi Ferrari Testarossa) at a show. I had him sign it.... The hot rod world just wouldn't be the same had he not been around.
First met Ed many years ago at Goodguys Carlisle. He was sleeping in the back of a U-Haul truck. Neither of us were busy so we bought each other breakfast & sat for a couple of hours talking about everything you could imagine. Ran into him several more times after that at Cobo Hall & other shows. Was always fun to be around and talk with. Somewhere here I have a contract that he drew up on a placemat for me to print Rat Fink stickers.
met him at the Cow Palace he could talk to anyone with intreat i saw him do a shirt and give it to a kid
Most of you already know my relation to Uncle Ed Roth.....I've told my stories from my childhood with the Roth family,but the one that always sticks with me is going to breakfast after church,sitting next to him and he would draw a crazy face on my hand. I would try to hide my hand under the table,but my dad always found out and would take me to the bathroom and wash it off before we left.....Too bad I didn't take a camera with me everywhere back then,haha! He was always good to me. Still have my german helmut he gave me back when I was seven.
Met Ed in the 60s he autographed this for me in 2000 and now it can hang on your wall it's in the classifieds
Yes...........A true gentleman and a craftaman. This...for me at Hot august nights, years ago. My 57 glovebox door.
Sure was one hell of a good guy and a role model for so many. Would have loved to have met him, Its a pity we are loosing all these great guys.
The guy and his work warped me for life. Currently wearing a RF party T shirt. I was saddened and amazed that the day he died I had to explain who he was to so many where I worked (automotive related). Share the info and spread the word people! Good to see you back Fred!
I got to meet Roth in '89 at a Rat Fink party in Chicago. He was sitting by himself lettering a garbage can, and my buddy and me walked up and started talking to him. I was so excited I thought I was going to puke, I could hardly remember my name! For me it was like meeting God. This guy had such an influence on me since I was 6 years old and he didnt even know it! He turned out to be one of the nicest people I have ever meet. He is missed!
Awesome video. And seems to be an amazing guy!! I wish i had gotten the chance to meet him. My dad introduced me to the whole "Rat Fink" character, and my curiosity has gone on from there. The cars, the art, everything still amazes me to this day. I don't think I have ever seen something that man touched that I didn't like!
My twin brother & I idolized Roth while growing up in the midwest in the 60's...I guess you could say our mom started it when she came home from shopping one day & gave us each Rat Fink model kits..she was always checking out what kids thought was cool ( She used to watch Lloyd Thaxton's dance show while doing the ironing ) When we finished those Finks my dad got such a hoot out of 'em he took one to work with him..and he was career military..he commanded a Nike missile base in Arlington Heights Illinois..guess he wanted to have a few laughs at the officer's club..the Anti-Mickey Mouse. When it came to cars my bro and I really admired Roth's ability to think outside the box when sculpting his fiberglass creations..from the spacey look of the bubble topped "Beatnik Bandit" to the alien stance of the "Road Agent" with its antenna like pods jutting out from the rear fenders..the guy was just out there. Some people made a big deal out of the so-called feud/rivalry between Roth & the "King of the Customizers" George Barris but in our minds there was no comparison..it was like The Beatles or Stones vs Herman's Hermits. So decades later after Vietnam, Civil Rights, Hippies etc. we are adults & hear that Roth will be in the area at a car show in Chantilly Virginia..we gather up some of our Roth memorabilia & head out there..in the parking lot we see a little white pick up w/ Utah plates festooned w/ Roth style lettering & a big grinning Rat Fink..we couldn't believe it..he was actually there & must've driven there himself! At the show we showed him our stuff we brought & he signed everything..books..model kits..the shirts we bought..all the while we told him how much he meant to us growing up but all he wanted to talk about was what we were about..what we did for a living, etc. Not long after that we heard he had passed. I felt like we had lost a crazy but loving, creative uncle. Kids today haven't a clue what an effect he had on American culture back then.
I can grantee that he never forgot the day that he met you either. He had a mind like a steel trap, I don't think he ever forgot anyone he ever met, even if it was just a short conversation. I have a pretty fond memory of Mr Roth that I don't tell much. Whenever he came to visit he always bellowed out, " Heeeeeey Bennoooo" then he would do a little kind of a crouch and roll his eyes at me. I remember it always made me laugh. He had a way of making you feel important even if you were the most insignificant person in the room.
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