One side note to all this.From what I heard after Roth bombed around town with the 55 they were working on the plans of yellow fang.So when yellow fang was done guess where the motor came from?That`s what I heard.............................
....................seriously, you didn't believe everything he said, did you? But then again, the nuttiest stories sometimes turned out to be true.
if it came outa roths mouth I took it for gospel!...nobody could make up stuff that came outa his head.....still miss the guy,sucks he died on my birthday
Yeah, it had a 406 Ford in it, but there's an interesting story behind that.... In '62 or '63, Ford sent Roth 3 brand new crate 406 motors. Two of those motors went in the Mysterion. Roth yanked the original 265 SBC out of the orange Chevy and replaced it with the third 406. The Chevy's original 265 got gutted and put into Roth's next project... the Orbitron.
My brother in law works at GAS (Galpin Auto Sports). Beau Bauchman ("Mr Galpins" son) loves and owns several Roth cars among others. I emailed him today and asked when they're going to find/build the best Roth car. He,He,He.
I'd love to build a Ford powered Chevy, just to piss off the chevy guys. It'd make up for the Chevy powered Ford I have now.
actually it was never "gutted". the innards were still intact when they tore it apart for it's recent restoration. it was a rusted hunk inside of there too. i saw the pics. took all 8 cylinders being sleeved to save the block.
your a gullible one are'nt you??? love the man and his stuff but he was more full of shit than the porta-jon at a chili cook off.
If I remember correctly, Roth ripped the engine out of it previously for another project, perhaps the Beatnik Bandit? Edit: Oh, it was the Orbitron...
Au contraire... The 265 was gutted before it was put the original Orbitron, and the car never ran when it was on the show circuit in the 60's. If you look at the pictures of the original build, the block was painted blue. A high school kid in El Paso named Mike Lowe bought it around 1971 and decided to have the motor rebuilt to run on the street, and that's why the block was painted stock Chevy orange when they found it in Mexico. Numbers on the block all match the original from the '55.
Thinking about the style, paint it black (add a 409) and you've got Bob Falfa's car from American Graffiti.
That car is soo BADAZZ and always puzzled me why you never really saw more of it than the few pics of it..I've always wanted to clone that car and just chuckle everytime i see a AG/Two Lane Blacktop one.....
In the summer of 1965 I worked for Ed for three months as a sometimes silk screener most time "gofer." My brother built the motors for Ed so I got a job there. This car was Ed's "daily driver" and if I had to go for parts I would drive the car. It had a Ford 406 with an automatic transmission, the poster that said that Ford gave him motors for the custom cars is correct, this car had one of those motors. One afternoon I went to Reath Automotive in Long Beach on an errand for "Yellow Fang" parts. A Plymouth Dual Quad ('63) challenged me at the light on Long Beach Blvd. and we were off like a shot! The Chevy pulled very strong and had about 1 1/2 car length lead at 1/4 mile. The dual quads were sucking like crazy, I don't think he had air filters and I don't think he had any idea what was powering that Chevy. Roth had a pick up truck that we would take the postal bags full of t-shirts to the Maywood PO. The truck was a red Ford and he had painted the rear panels on both sides with the phrase:"Why keep your business secret?" Von Dutch is getting a lot praise lately but I believe Roth was more of a creator and finisher. Roth loved Dutch and told me one time that Dutch was really Rembrandt reincarnated. On reflection that doesn't make much sense.
Page 59 of Hot Rods by Ed "Big Daddy" Roth states the following: Roth's daily driver was this tangerine orange '55 Chevy fitted with a fiberglass front end disguising a 390ci Ford and C4 auto-Ed never liked the GM box. An Edelbrock hood scoop,radiused rear wheel wells and cheater slicks mounted on Astro wheels completed the competition look. The book is credited to Ed "Big Daddy"Roth and Tony Thacker ?
Okay,so I flip back thru the previous mentioned book and there's mention of Ed recieving the keys to a 64' Plymouth "Super Stock." The front license plate frame lists the dealer as Max Barish @4th and LeBrea. The car is red with white panel-striped lines and "Roth Monsters" on the door. Thin whitewalls with chrome reverse rims. A Revell suit holds a model kit box and model of the car in one pic.Ed has a snazzy sweater on and his paint stained jeans and shoes,dangling the ignition key for all to see and smiling... Another Roth hot rod that needs to be found !
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