In research for my book on Mysterion, I found 3 totally different explanations of what happened to the car, all published by Roth!
Jack Walker told me that the body (with 1 partial frame rail and the nose) ended up in a body shop that got foreclosed on by the bank. He was there when the bankers went in and they gave it to him. He told me this was around 1971. He put it in the back of his pickup and thought about throwing it in a ditch, lighting it on fire and taking a picture of a "crash landed UFO". He didn't do that but gave it to someone called the Bearded one who apparently was the guy that hauled around the ISCA feature cars at the time. Jack told me that the bearded one sold it to someone in Tulsa... Does any of that sound like what you guys heard???
Jack told me the same story on multiple occasions and I considered him to be a reliable source. Doug Wright's account in the Thacker book jibes with everything I remember. Too bad Doug is not available; I searched him to no avail.
I have reread this thread. For those of us that the Roth cars mean something, the mystery is enchanting. However, I think Mark had the most fun because he actually drove one. I'm still in awe of how one person can affect so many others. Roth culture is far and wide around the world. Not many can have that happen.
Part of the mystery is how it was allowed to happen, why this car was discarded like a worn out Hyundai. To understand this you need to understand how Roth and others saw the car at the time. Roth's main source of income was the sale of merch, mainly T shirts and sweat shirts, printed or hand painted. To this end he built a new show car every year. The show car was his way of getting invited to car shows for free, where he set up his booth to sell merch in return for displaying his show car. So he had to have something new and sensational every year. He also was paid royalties by a model company for the right to reproduce his cars. They also wanted a fresh model every year. Once a car was finished he immediately started work on the next one. After a year on the show circuit, being hauled around the country and mauled by spectators the old car was rather shop worn and beat up. The Mysterion was particularly bad because of its well known frame problems. At this point Roth would sell the old car for what he could get and start showing the new car. By this time he would be building yet another show car. He did not have room to keep all his old cars and more or less lost interest in them by this time. The buyer was mainly interested in it as a drawing card to his shows, once it had been around the circuit a while it no longer grabbed the public's attention and was time expired. Since they were no good for anything else besides being displayed, at this point they were often junked or neglected to death. Some wound up in museums, in collections, or survived by dumb luck. But really once they were a year old Roth was through with them, and not long after so was everyone else. Except for a few young enthusiasts who saw them at an impressionable age and never forgot them.
I gotta think if it still exists it will surface in the next decade. These guys that have been hiding these cars are passing on and the next of kin usually has little interest.
Ed Roth built cars, the way that Norman Rockwell drew covers for The Saturday Evening Post for almost 50 years - he would send two or three covers each time - with one being picked. In reality - one was all that was needed. He would give away his artwork or throw it away if no one wanted it. Jim
Concerning Mysterion's 'Achilles Heel', the reported weak frame, here is my totally unsupported opinion which lacks ANY first-hand evidence. I never saw the car in person. As far as the frame rails themselves, I am pretty sure they were not the problem. I have no information of how they were made, metal thickness, etc. However, it is pretty easy to generate a description of them from existing photos. The holes are not a problem, they do not affect the bending strength of the shape. Admittedly, Ed used too few crossmembers so the rails were pretty weak in bending sideways but shouldn't have been in danger of fatigue cracking from the weight. I strongly believe the culprits were the front spring hangers. They are way too small for the purpose and unless Ed used strong pipe, they would have broken from the fatigue of a bouncing trailer. I found a company who bent my hangers from Sch80 pipe and I welded them to their mounts VERY carefully. The pipe penetrates through the spring cups (Sch80 5" pipe caps) and are welded inside and out, the beads ground smooth and polished to eliminate stress risers. I wouldn't be surprised if Ed used exhaust bend in his!
When the Druid Princess was at Starbird's museum one of those coil cup brackets broke off and Darryl repaired it. He told me that it was made out of exhaust pipe.... When I made the ones for my Outlaw clone, I used 1/4" wall tubing. There are pictures of the Mysterion in car shows with a show program or sign leaned up against the frame near where the engines were. Pat Ganahl told me that was to hide where they had a wood block holding the frame up because it broke in transit to the show. @Tom davison would know better cuz he was around that car back then. here is a pic of it in his chartreuse metalflake paint
Larivee had experienced the frame problem before they delivered to Fahrner. After Larivee's shop fixed it, they would load the car into the semi trailer, jack it up and slip a length of 6'x8' lumber under the frame and let that carry the weight while going down the road. We continued to do that during the year that Farhner had it. The frame was not broken in the end as has been speculated. Anyone with interest in this whole story should read Jeff Jones' book. It is definitive, detailed and fascinating. In addition to telling the story, Jeff also tells exactly how he re-created every detail, lavishly illustrated with photos and drawings. The book is a masterpiece, as is his re-creation. His Mysterion is on display at the Stahl museum in Michigan
Thanx mark, that confirms my suspicion that Ed used exhaust bends for those spring cup brackets. Like you, I used extra-heavy pipe in this highly stresses part.
Fun fact I discovered in my book project. Turns out Tom was also an expert modeler in the '60s and won the top prize for 'Best Paint' on his custom Corvette model on the Pactra/Revell national model contest. Blew me away to see his real metal flake paint job back then to the point I 'flaked a couple of my models. Found out 50 years later talking Tom for info for the book, the model was painted with the same paint he squirted on Mysterion! Tom's winning model My Davison inspired mid-60s models.
exactly. When I was restoring the Road Agent I called and talked to Ed a number of times. He said "those old cars are my mistake pile"."I don't know why you guys want to live in the past, you should be looking to the future"
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