How did Roth afford to build so many cars ?

I know someone who was looking at an old rat fink ad from a 60s car magazine in the early 90s. There was a phone number in the ad, they called the number and Ed Roth answered the phone.

 

Sorry, have to disagree. Starting with the Bandit, none of Roth's showcars were truly functional. Innovative, yes. Look for the radiator on either the Bandit or the Mysterium (the latter with two 406 FE Ford motors!). There were a few showcars that actually ran and could be street driven (the 'Invader' twin-engine 'roadster' comes to mind) but most were far from being something you could drive further than from their trailer to the display. I think the one that opened my eyes was Cushenberry's 'Silhouette'. As shown on the R&C cover, it had a polished Jag motor with a 6-71 simply set on top of the motor with a belt draped over the pulley to make it look like it was hooked up. Even as a young kid, even I could spot that...

Don't get me wrong; the Beatnic Bandit is one of my all-time favorite customs; I'd love to see a functional version of it (minus the bubble top; that would cook you on a nice day...) but as even Roth said, these cars were art more than anything.

 

I think Roth was more of an artist than an engineer. He had a vision of what something should look like. In some cases it was functional, in other cases not. I can think of a couple of cars that had real basic, obvious faults that he never did figure out.

The best show cars seemed to put looks before function. This really bothered me until I figured out that they were works of art or rolling sculpture and that they weren't meant to be functional.

 

That's also the formula to a successful surf shop.

 

Guys like Mr. Roth are amazing. Think about it; they were the ultimate innovators....today, very few people actually break new ground. Today, car innovation is done in very minute steps....Roth was innovating in leaps. Just imagine being one of the first guys to play with fiberglass customs. Painting t-shirts in an era when most t-shirts were plain white. These pioneers usually had to figure out their own processes, build their own tools, and do stuff nobody had done before. Now days, someone builds a different style of radius rod and he is a hero. Those old guys were cool.

 

Friends around the Laguna area have told me that back in the day it was pretty cheap to drag whatever you had over to Tijuana for upholstery and polishing.

I'm sure there's plenty of people on here that would know first hand...

 

It is really cool to hear the stories from you guys who were there during his heyday. What a time that must have been to actually walk into a garage and BD Ed Roth would be standing there. I love hearing these stories.

Don

 

These are my favorite threads on this site. Topics like this are why I come back here every day.


Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

I hung around Ed quite a lot, starting in 1960 and have first hand info. Amazingly, most all of the postings on this thread are generally quite accurate. His income stream was complicated and diverse at different times.

However, your statement about that hole on Slausen Ave not generating much income......completely wrong.

Also, that Knott's gig was later, after he just walked away from Roth Studios. I'm not sure why he did that, but probably someone here does know.

 

made more than a few trips to the Tijuana Upholstery shops back in the 70's

 

Just mention Roth and the stoies aboud. Von Franco said that before the resurgance of hot rods and Ed was working at Knotts he hunted Ed down to do the shows again. When they traveled Ed would stop for the night where ever and throw a blanket over himslef and fall asleep, on his trike, like someone else mentioned "Why pay for a room?". Reno Roth would stop by where I worked and told stories of his Dad and how he was 'thirfty', was he talking bad, no just how it was. Vendors would supply parts for free for the chance of mention in the magazine, and Ed would ask for parts. How many remember the two page letter Ed sent to Hot Rod ( I think) ranting on how they didn't run a story on one of his recent builds and how it would cost him money? He knew how to use his name to the fullest.

 

Junkyard Parts - Touring - T shirt sales - Revell Contracts and unlike most "rodders' Ed Built the CARS HIMSELF

 

Well Ed must have been wrong,..... Because he told me there was a radiator in the Bandit laid back like a corvette ( I guess I must have imagined it, And never seen it for myself),... And the upper Radiator hose was actually two chrome pipes that went along the top of the valve covers next to the intake.... But he still retained the lower hose......

Sorry man, I must of just imagined it..... Please tell us what that Black thing is,...that thing that looks like lower radiator hose is coming off the water pump.... ?

I'm just sorry you couldn't have this conversation with Ed,... He just loved "Experts" like yourself..... Or I could put you in touch with his son Dennis,... You can explain it all to him.... And set him straight.

 

I don't know if there is any one answer to the question. Roth's life started to go pear shaped in the late 60s for a variety of reasons.

He said the T shirt business, and custom cars went down hill the day the Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. This was in early 1964. The young guys forgot about cars and bought guitars. This may have been a slight exaggeration but that is the way he remembered it.

In 1965 and 66 he got more and more into motorcycles, trikes, and began hanging out with the Hell's Angels. This cost him his Revell contract and may have had something to do with the falling out with Hot Rod. It was about this time he started Choppers magazine.

His competitors in the shirt business got to be more and more about marijuana, drugs, sex, dirty slogans etc. and he did not want to go in that direction.

What exactly happened I do not know. I believe he broke up with his family and lost or closed the T shirt business and went to work for Knott's Berry Farm and Movie World Cars of the Stars as a sign painter. This is a murky period and I would like to know what really went on.

Around 1970 he became a Mormon and got into a more religious and more stable kind of life, and eventually moved to Manti Utah.

From the mid sixties he concentrated on trikes and got away from the show cars. This was a period when he was more or less forgotten on the car scene and made a living as a sign painter.

If anyone can shed more light on this I would like to hear about it.

 

Back to the ORIGINAL Questions....How Did He Afford All The Stuff ???....Have you looked
at this sight much ??????? Have you seen the High Dollar Traditional Rods, both shop
built and home built ??? With tons of parts that no one ever tells what they cost...not
all of it is found at a friends or an unknown swapmeet or hot rod vendor, there are folks
right here, who have spent just as much if not way more on their cars.....

 

went to alot of shows back in the 60's,in the so.cal area,Roths booth was always there.always wanted a t-shirt,the line was too long.hooked up with him at the Atlantis hotel a few years back.at Hot August Nights in the lot checking out cars.I says"hey ED"he looks over with a smile an a puzzled look,an I ask for an autograph,he pulls out a marking pen an marks the whole front of my shirt an signs it,we have a casual talk,went are ways highlite of my hotrodding days.had that t-shirt till it fell apart.
really friendly person.

 

I would tend to believe this statement. If you take a look at the residue (yes, I said residue) left from the stain of the Beatles era, and the lasting effects it had on our culture, Roth was definitely correct in this statement. This was the beginning of the "free love" era, the anti-war era, the turning away from traditional family values, etc.. The Beatles contributed greatly to the state in which we currently find ourselves. Where Roth was about self-reliance, hard work, being industrious, etc... The Beatles promoted the exact opposite.

 

Plowboy & others, thanks for contributing. Interesting thread.

 

If you ever listened to the Smash Mouth song "Walkin' on the Sun" they talk about that very thing. How the hippie era people had all these great plans and how they were going to overhaul the world, and the line in the song asks "What the hell happened ?" It all sounded like a great plan, but didn't exactly work out that way in some respects.

One thing about Ed Roth is that he was a hell of a promoter. Top hat and all. He was the kind of guy you looked at and had to smile because you knew he was having fun and that he got the joke.

Don

 

I read somewhere that the top hat & tails thing was a reaction to being told to 'smarten up his greasy personal appearance' by a show manager in the early (Tweedy Pie?) days.

 

Ha ha ha there was a funny story about that. When attending a car show, at night he would drive out in a corn field someplace and sleep in his car. At this time he was using an old Cadillac hearse for a tow vehicle and one night he slept in the back, with the back window open and his feet sticking out. Some kid came along and took a picture, and sent it to Revell with the question "is this the guy you call the King of the Customizers". He said it must have been quite the camera, you could even see the flies buzzing around his feet lol.

Revell asked if he could sort of clean up his act. So he bought a tuxedo and instead of appearing at shows in a torn, paint stained T shirt he wore his tux complete with top hat and gold headed cane. He would go around bowing and kissing the girls' hands. This made their boyfriends sore but what could they do? He was being a perfect gentleman. Ha ha ha ha ha.

 

in retrospect, Ed had said the kids wanted guitars instead of model cars after the cultural revolution started in '64.

But in early '64, right as Beatlemania was starting, he claimed to me that he liked the Beatles. As a half generation older than me, I suspected he was too old for it and just made the claim to sound hip. He could be somewhat disingenuous.

 

I remember in the sixties there were almost a dozen chrome shops in town. You could pick the expensive one for high quality or the cheapest one for low quality. And therefore everything in between.

I also think there is a big difference in show cars now, and show cars then. Now we throw alot of money at the job. So now we go to the guy who has the most modern computer controlled machine that will make a wheel that no one else can make. I think in the old days you threw alot of innovative ideas and techniques at the job. You cut a rim in halves and welded it to some center piece. Didn't cost much to do it, but no one else ever thought of combining those parts together.

 

I was there.
When I rented the Beatnic Bandit in 1961, It not only ran but it was driven into the building , and operated as part of the show. It was started every 30 minutes alonf with a sound presentaion. It ran on alcohol to not have fumes. At that time both the Outlaw (excaliber), and the bandit were owned by Promotions, Inc. out of Detroit. Cost me $550. to rent the bandit. As for the Silhouette, there exists a movie showing the car being driven by Lloyd Bridges, so it certainly ran, Dean Jefferies Manta Ray was driven in the beach movie, so many of them ran despite many who claim otherwise.

 

Four of us were at Breakfast at Bob Evans in Canton Mi. Dennis was getting a particular kick out of his "Politically Incorrect" T shirt that seemed to draw some really unusual looks.....

Ed had a few stories for this one,.. When he was in Detroit for Autorama with the Beatnik Bandit II, He stashed the Bandit in the trailer at our pal Clyde's house for a couple weeks. so He and Dennis could go to a few appointments,... and to visit the Wright-Patterson. Ed was sure they had a UFO Engine, and he wanted it for another show car ..... That's what he said with a straight face. So I replied " If you brought your monocle, You might be able to see where it said Made in China" ........ After a laugh, he proceeded with the story that follows....



(Which isn't a quote,... but pretty darn close)

I was under contract to Revell, And there PR guy was having a Harry Cannery, Cause I was showing up at Shows in dirty T-shirts with oil stains, torn pants and spaghetti slop..... They had a big meeting and thought I should clean up my image if I was going to represent them to the youth of America and there parents. They showed me pictures out of men's clothing catalogs on how they would like me to look....... as there "ambassador" to the custom car, Model car buying public ..... ( He gave that crazy grin at this point, and continued) And the word "Ambassador" stuck in my head......

So, I thought I would give them a thumb in the eye !,... I went out and got the Top hat, white tie and tails with the monocle,... Figuring I would show them how dumb it all was...... But they didn't get it at all,... they didn't realize I was making fun of them,..... They actually were all smiles,... They loved it !.... So I was stuck with it for a while........

From there, our conversation went into our differing opinions on Christianity,... As Clyde and Dennis let us have at it.....

Ed was a really cool guy and a lot of fun, A unique soul and I really miss him. The world is a little sadder place without him in it.

 

I grew up in Laguna my uncle lived in San Diego And took me down to get mini bike seats and MC upholstery before I had a license. Then as I got older in the early sixties I dealt with the same family doing car seats and Harley stuff. They did awesome work but you had to be careful with some of the shops, You never new what they might throw in for padding and it was a good idea to bring your own thread. BUCKD

 

Now that I think about it, the Silhouette originally had a Buick engine, but Ford later replaced it with a Ford engine for the Ford cavalcade of customs. All of Cushenbery's cars ran. I drove the El Matador as a occassional driver for several years.
But we have gotten off track need to get back to Roth.

 

Someone posted earlier "I love this thread". Me too. Let's keep the stories coming!

 

Don't for get big brother didn't take more then I/2 of your money back then or the $75 cell phone bill so we can have the cool APPS like the HAMB don't forget about cable TV.... $4 gas $5 gal. of milk
When our kids are older they will ask the same think....


Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

I went to the Kansas state fair every year from the mid 60`s to September of 1967. The only thing I cared about was this small building in the center of the fairgrounds. For two dollars you could go inside and see two show cars. I would pay the two bucks and stay all day until my parents and brothers would yell into the building to tell me the fair was shutting down for the night and we had to go home. Before I went into the building, outside in a row of vendor booths of all kinds of non automotive trinkets was Ed`s booth and I would buy an airbrushed T shirt and then head in to the building. I have a picture of myself at the fairgrounds in one of his T shirts in September 1967 when I spent all day drooling over and beginning a life long obsession over the Mega Cycle which had a blue Sportster on it before the red Triumph. That car was so futuristic at that time with the driver pod hanging out front low over the ground. I have never been blown away by any other vehicle like I was that day.I was a kid and that always makes things seem bigger but I saw it when it was being refinished at Fritz`s recently and I totaly lost myself again. Ed made more of an impact on my car world than anyone else I can think of. Getting back to how did they afford it, TWO BUCKS TO SEE TWO AWESOME SHOW CARS ! It had to be their passion and I am guessing Ed and anyone else who did this put EVERYTHING they could scrape together including going without meals etc. to do what they did and I am very grateful they did !