I met Ed in '58 or '59 and he had just had his signature tattooed on his bicep. I'm curious about his time as a college instructor in Manati UT. I heard that he would given students a wheel barrow or some such thing and to create something. I know he had a great relationship with Bill Harrah and there are a couple of his cars in the museum in Reno.
I knew him in 1960 and well into the 1990's.....He was the same person throughout. He never cared about money as long as he had enough to create at will.
I don't have any first hand experience with Ed but a friend of mine back in SF has a good story. He was sitting in his 4-door Kaiser that had the roof chopped off and back doors welded up with no back seat so the rear of the car was a big conversation pit of sorts. He was sitting back there at some Nor-Cal car show eating a sandwich and Ed walked up, hopped in the back of the car and tried to take it from him in a playful way. There is a picture of this encounter of him and Ed just chilling in the Kaiser. Seems like the man loved food to say the least.
I was fascinated with Big Daddy Roth as a youth growing up in the 60’s now heading towards my 70’s I’m fascinated with this group on the HAMB that have actual personal experiences with The Man Thank you all
Found this How To for digital conversion. The converters are around $10 bucks on eBay. Also some decent deals on players. Maybe a member has one stashed in a drawer? I'm assuming you have other tapes that we may be interested in...
I met him at the Asbury Park car show, it was a slow night there and Ed was sitting by himself in his booth, I built up the nerve to go and talk to him. What a GREAT guy talked to him for awhile, I asked him how could he get rid of the cars he built as they were so much a part of him, he told me the joy was in creating and building them, the next thing was waiting around the corner for him to create. I couldn't understand that logic then but do now. A one in a million man, a highlight of my life, too bad there were no cell phones then would love to have a picture of us together.
A fascinating guy to say the least, thanks Ryan for starting this thread. It’s very interesting getting first hand information about an icon you’ve never met, only read about.
Hello, Wow, a different side to the fame and fortune. My teenage friends and I were at that same car show and yes, we were at Ed Roth’s table. One of our teenage group had to have one of those wild “Roth” t shirts. We told him to keep it in his bag and not put it on while we were at the show. We also thought the custom cars were a little off and never took a liking to that style. All show quality, no doubt, but “show” none the less. There were other show cars on display that were normal hot rods and shiny custom cars that actually drove on the street. We enjoyed those as it was a possible goal for all of our current cars to go to that stage. A fast car for daily driving and yet, a car show display. At the time, my 58 Impala was in its last high school stage and we tried to keep it at the nicest, fastest condition possible. Show cars were nice and with our teenage money, we kept at it to make our cars fast, shiny and as custom as we could get them. Jnaki After graduation, I earned some money and was able to go to the next step towards a custom car look, although, it was still just as fast as it was all along. A nice set of 5 Buick Skylark Wire Wheels came on the market and I was able to get the whole set. So, after a little more work by a custom machine shop, I was able to put them on my Impala for a new edition of a fast hot rod sedan. Thanks to @themoose for creating a lasting memory of those car show times. The purchased "T" shirt was never worn to high school or the teenage hot rod hang out places. It was a hard thing to wear and explain why to anyone. YRMV
My mom told me once that when i was a little runt, she/we met him and he drew some stuff on one of his shirts for me. I dont remember him or the shirt. (Im 61 now) Tim
I have enjoyed reading about Ed Roth. Like a lot of the people on the H.A.M.B., and various others of my age ( soon to be 72 ), as a child of the 50's/60's, I grew up building the various models of his creations. And even though I never actually bought one of his shirts from the small ads in the various magazines, I was truly amazed at his artwork on those shirts. Ed figured out something, that most never truly realized, what it was at its root. The key word is (publishing), to put it in very generic terms. I am sure Ed never truly fancied himself to be a (publisher) but with every shirt sold, and to a large extent every one of the models sold, of his creations, it was publishing on a grand scale. Decades ago, I got into the bottomless world of silk screened T-Shirts, as it was a way of me being able to sell my aviation related artwork, which I first sold as a vendor at the Pike Place market here in Seattle. The competition was fierce, as the myriad of T-Shirt vendors, were all trying to capture the eye of the daily parade of tourist customers, with something that was either painted on printed on a T-Shirt. I lasted 2.5 years at that dog eat dog world of trying to out do each other with artwork. I got smart and became a "Class "A" C.D.L." truck driver and got into the Teamsters Union and made a career out of it, and retired from it as well! During those years, I was able to get my foot in the door of the annual E.A.A. fly in at Oshkosh Wisconsin. And I by sheer luck, was able to be given the concession to do the annual T-Shirt design for the Seaplane base out on Lake Winnebago. Did it from years 1990 to 2014, and it was a great run and I sold a ton of shirts over the years. It was shooting fish in a barrel, as I was the only T-Shirt for sale out at the Seaplane base, and I built a dedicated annual customer base as well. Ed Roth, was a pioneer of the cool, custom, unique hand painted weirdo shirts that he sold at various venues and car shows. He carved out a very unique niche and he also had the talent to create some unique machines, that need no introduction. It's a hell of an ego stroke for any individual or artist, to have their own art and own artistic creations either being worn by the dedicated buying public, or for kids and gear head adult's, to have models on their desk top, that were miniature creations designed by Ed Roth. With all of that being said, Ed "BIG DADDY " Roth, left the planet back in 2001, and he made it to the age of 69. R.I.P. indeed! Not only did he leave a mark on the planet, but he was the topic of a great book by "Too Tall" Pat Ganahl with a foreword by Robert Williams. I am sure that anybody that is a collector of all of things Ed Roth, will appreciate having a copy of this great book. It's well written and there a lot of great pictures as well. Enjoy. Thanks from Dennis.
I remember when Pat was writing that book. He called me most every day for about a month while I was commuting home from work and talk about Roth with me as he knew that I had owned and restored a number of his old show cars. When the book came out he sent me a copy autographed and with a nice note inside
Which one of you hamb'ers was at Ed's shop when the HAs came after him and Ed beat the sh*t out of 'em ? lol . .
Too cool that you were there at that show as well @jnaki. The show was covered in the Apr. '63 issue of Hot Rod Magazine...and I just happened to get my picture in the magazine, page 39. An 11 year old "coke-bottle-bottom" bespeckled Hotrodjack at the Revell Model Car display. That picture made me somewhat of a legend among my buddies at John Foster Dulles elementary school in La Mirada, Ca
Grew up in Huntington Park, State St School, Gage Jr High School. We used to rides bike to go to an A&W on Slauson in Maywood just past the Maywood City Hall. We would sometimes go by Roth's shop and I remember all the dust that was always blowing out of it. We would stop and look at the cars and the guy covered in dust and say what a mess! Little did we know back then what came out of there. In case you are wondering the shop is still there. 4622 Slauson Ave in Maywood. We would also go to Western Auto on Atlantic because they had all the bicycle parts. Gone now. Remember the handlebar grips with streamers? Spoke wrenches? Coaster brakes?
For as long as I could remember, Roth was a fixture at the Detroit Autorama. I knew I could count on him every year to be there. The year before he passed, my dad said let's stop by and see Roth. There was a small line, and I was pretty hung over so I just said, "We'll catch him next year." Well, you know the rest. I wish I could go back and get that one last look... one last hello. @Ryan, your story points out how poignant that moment was. He was quietly sitting while people shopped his table. I wonder if he just needed that breakout moment to be 'him' that day? Thanks for the story.
OH, my gosh… what a photo that brought chills… Hello, What a neat photo array for a magazine article. But, in reading that page posted, it was a total surprise that the photo had a couple of teenagers in the same one from the same car show. The guy in the green arrow direction is me. Blue nylon jacket over a shirt + Levis and desert boots like our drag racing days. The tall guy in the blue arrow, is my friend from Bixby Knolls. He always wore a dark grey sweater over a white Penny’s T-Shirt. We kidded him as that look reminded everyone of Mr. Rogers on his home TV shows that was also popular back then. Ha! But, he was 6’3”+ and no one messed with him… He also drove his fast 57 Chevy Bel Air Hardtop with a highly modified motor and set up. This is so strange and it still gives me chills thinking about it. No cameras at the time. So, no early photos of teenage years, other than those from our dad’s Graflex Camera. Some of the girls in our high school class had Brownie cameras, but, we never saw teenage gathering photos. Those 35mm cameras did not show up at our Westside of Long Beach house until 1966. YRMV Jnaki Thanks for posting the article and those memories came back as fast as possible. Along with more arm chilling bumps… yikes! 60+ years later, I should ask those girls (now grandmothers... most likely) if they still have some old high school photos... ha!
HOLY CRAP @jnaki We almost met 63 years ago!!! That is such a strange coincidence that we were there, at the exact same place, at the same exact time and at the exact moment the photo was taken. And what's even stranger, this random photo here on the HAMB brought us together today, actually connecting with each other on that moment we shared in time...63 years ago.
EXACTLY!! Once I finished my Mysterion repro, I didn't know what to do with it. I trailered it to a couple shows but I HATE pulling trailers. Soon decided to sell it at auction. Stahl's auto museum got it and I am very happy with its new home. Now everyone can see it which fulfils my desire for doing it in the first place. Wife was fearful I would regret selling it but that didn't happen. And always remember; Ed wasn't a car customizer. He owned a few pieces of mild Detroit steel but his genius works were not cars. They were true pieces of art built in a car motif.
From the story: "That is such a strange coincidence that we were there, at the exact same place, at the same exact time and at the exact moment the photo was taken." But wait... there is more: Hello, Ed Roth was a personality in the art and custom end of hot rods. He was respected in the field. So, there is a tie-in here. As noted as you are in the art field, your drawings were an inspiration for a lot of hot rod folks. (Me, included.) You were one of the highlights of the later Street Rodder magazines. In the earlier start up versions of publications from the TRM complex, I also contributed to the whole set of magazines and other periodicals with my photos and photo stories. Jnaki I was not an art drawing contributor to the magazines, but a photographer and writer. I like to draw, but, guys like Roth and with your art skills, those were impressive. So, kudos to you... and your skills. The HAMB FRIDAY ART threads are a plus with your known, hand drawn art style and contributions. Keep it up! YRMV
I was also amazed that a couple of kids from way back were at the show, photographed and published and are also here on a forum all these years later. On top of that, they were both artistic and contributed to the medium of this shared love, each in different ways. What are the odds?
I have to agree...the odds are phenomenal that ALL the pieces came together yesterday because we both happen to be on the HAMB and @jnaki happened to see it. Truely amazing.
Hey @jnaki. Thanks so much for the kind words...but truth be told, I'm just a hack that happens to be pretty good with a Sharpie. I never pursued a career in art...it was just another tool in my bag of tricks...and my tenure as an artist for Street Rodder Magazine was just a side-hustle. Keeping with the Roth theme of this thread, I admittedly learned how to draw hot rod cartoons from studying Roth T-shirt designs as a kid. Roth's, Kohler's and Newton's T shirt designs were good, BUT the designs done by Robert Williams for Roth were the best of the best. I learned how to draw wheels & tires...and render chrome & shininess by studying Robert Williams techniques...he was/is the master.
I can't like this enough.......two sides of the same coin. To me early Roth was no mask, it was all him. Older Roth it was a necessary mask.
The Jalopy Journal
