Im asking this since Im only 27 I wasnt around during this era. You hear a lot of people cuss Jesse James and the others like him that are making a big name for themselves with the current television trend. A lot of people dont like what they build and what they are becoming. During Roth's and other peoples era did people critize them a lot? Even though I like him, most of his cars were not your normall Hot Rod style car. I was just wondering. Not trying to start a post so people can bash others. Just trying to learn a little history of builders of the past.
Chandler- I'll take a stab at answering your question. I don't recall Roth getting a whole lot of flak back in "the day". First off, while he became fairly well known in the hot rodding community, he never enjoyed anything near the kind of notoriety (nor financial success) Jessie James and the Orange County Chopper guys are getting now - until late in his career when his stuff started getting picked up by the model car makers. Even then a lot of his "fans' were pre-teens. Roth was never accused of "selling out" because nobody in the media (except for the hot rod mags) was buying. Remember, the whole hot rodding deal had a much, much smaller audience and very little impact on popular society back then. If you didn't buy the car magazines, there was really no way you'd ever know about Roth. About the only bitch I can recall regarding him, was that most of his stuff wasn't very roadworthy (or maybe didn't actually run at all). For most of us though, this wasn't all that big a deal, as show cars held a far more important place in the overall rodding scene than they do now. Many of the "top" show cars were just mock-ups. It wasn't the least bit unusual for one to have an empty engine block and a non-functioning drive train. Appearance was everything - the weirder the better - and performance was virtually of no interest. Most of the magizines back then covered a broad spectrum of automotive interests, so "specialty" vehicles like Roth's stuff were a big deal when a new one arrived on the scene. Actually, there were a number of others doing some pretty off-the-wall stuff. Barris had some pretty "spacey" show cars, as did Dean Jefferies, Daryl Starbird, Carl Casper, etc. It was Roth's personality, as much as his creations, that set him apart. I think he was primarily just having a hell of a good time with life, and that philosophy came through in his work. He never seemed to take himself seriously, and didn't expect you to either. It was pretty hard not to like the guy.
I think you pretty well assessed the hot rod scene back then, Stan...the "Car Show" was THE place to see and be seen...if you had a car in it...you were (close to being) a "rock star"... and it was the most "visible" spectrum of "hot rodding" to the public...the next one was the drag strip (but it was limited to those in the "know"...then the mags let "dreamers" know what was going on, by simply reporting on it....then the street. Back where I grew up (the Midwest), there were very few "hot rods" on the streets...but nearly everyone had a "kustom"...it was their daily driver...and it was lowered, whitewalled and fender skirted. Those that owned "kustoms" aspired to a finished "show car" and an eventual spot in the show...and a hot rod was only a full fledged show car...or a toy. Roth built show cars and garnered his fair share of mag status...I don't recall anyone else like him, doing what he did back then...and magazines were just about his only outlet...there were no TV shows that featured him...or kustom or hot rod shows on TV at the time...I think the first TV mainstream show that had a hot rod in it was "77 Sunset Strip"...and then it was only a prop for the "lot boy" Edd Byrnes (Kookie). R-
I know that when roth was building some of his trikes that he was not allowed in some car shows because it was not a car but a motorcycle. There is a book about Roths life and it tells all about his trials and life in the custom car scene. Very good reading material. The book is called The True Confessions of a Rat Fink. Take a look at it. It is very informative about that time period. Have fun reading it.
I couldn't stand the stuff Roth, Barris, Starbird, Dick Dean, etc were doing when they were doing it. Personal opinion on their art, not their skill. To make matters worse, that era overlapped the go kart craze. All the magazines (R&C was the worst) were covering the hell out of go karting and most of the ads in them reflected that.
i'm sure you couldn't walk into a walmart (well, i mean woolworth's) back then and buy a ed roth toy motorcycle or toy car. like you can with jesse and von dutch now. is that the main difference? just shit loads of marketing and merchandising now.
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