Ed Roth Bubbletops

I was looking at some pictures elsewhere on the HAMB when I remembered Ed served four years in the Air Force
Did some of the things he saw during this time some how influence part of his bubble top customs years later

 

Could be? We are what we see?
I was reading an old Str**t R*dder magazine yesterday about all of Roth's cars being together at once and Ron Aguirre told of how he and his father were good friends with Roth and influenced his ideas about the bubbletops too.

That just might be the next wave of rodding-bubbletops?

 

Good chance that it did influence him. You got to remember that we are influenced by about every that happens to us in some fasion or another. A man is just the sum of the experiences in his life.

 

The plane shown is a WW2 PBY Catalina amphibian used by the Navy. Ed wouldn't necessarily have been around one, although he certainly could have seen one. It's likely the fighter canopies were what inspired him. Fighter canopies are much thicker for bullet resistance, whereas Ed's were made from thinner material that was more easily formed.

 

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And also, Ed probably wasn't figuring
on anyone shooting at him either!!!!


Mart3406
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I know one thing for sure he has influenced me to pursue my project.

 

Darryl Starbird--1959

 

Palleys war surplus was down the street from Roths shop when he was doing his thing in the 60s and they had the Stuff! Bubbles from planes, hydraulic stuff, everything.
That place was a designers dreamscape!

 

I used airplane canopies.

 

In his book he stated that he would heat sheets of thick clear plastic in a pizza oven and use an air hose to form the bubble tops. Roth stated that commercially available bubble tops were too expensive.