Don't know if there was a thread started for this already but here It goes,, Ed Roth was born March 4th, 1932. Today would have been his 83rd birthday. Kustomrama tells his story perfectly, "Ed “Big Daddy” Roth was a founder of what later became known as the Kustom Kulture movement, starting off his career as a painter and hot rod builder in the 1950s and eventually creating world-famous characters like Rat Fink and wild show cars such as The Outlaw, The Beatnik Bandit, Mysterion, and Rotar. Working the show car circuit in the 1960s, Roth promoted his bubble-topped customs, sold airbrushed monster t-shirts and promoted Revell model car kits based on his own designs and creations." Let's share some pics of Ed and his creations,, I'll start it off!!
From top to bottom: Li'l Jewel 56 Ford shop truck Tweedy Pie Beatnik Bandit Excalibur, later renamed Outlaw (with BDR and model) Orbitron RIP Big Daddy
This was a gift on my eleventh birthday from my Dad in 1984 and yes, it's still hanging in my closet:
He did a sweat shirt of my '51 Ford in Topeka, KS back in '59. $4.00. A bargain!! This guy was ALWAYS nuts. RIP, Big Dad---
As alot of guys here have written, Big Daddy was the greatest! Luckily, I got to meet him at the KOA Red Rock Nationals in Moab, Utah back in '99. I stood and watched him painting a Rat Fink on the dash of a car. I talked to him for just a few minutes--wish I had talked to him a little longer. A few short years later he left us.......... He is missed. Cruise on Ed! E
I told Ed happy birthday this morning when I walked by this sign he did for me in '87. The midget is long gone, but the Roth artwork will be with me forever.
The Jalopy Journal
