Folks Of Interest Jeff Jones' Ed Roth's Mysterion

The Mysterion has received much coverage here on the HAMB over the years. Even Ryan wrote a piece on its "mysterious" aspect years ago (of which I only recently became aware). Jeff Jones has built a most accurate clone of the car, which will be sold at the RM Sothby's auction tomorrow at the Petersen Automotive Museum in West LA. There is no reserve, so this is your chance to own your very own Mysterion!

In the past I have posted stories of my own involvement of the car, right down to my being present at its sad demise in about 1966. After reading these stories, Jeff tracked me down several years ago. During his exhaustive research into the car's history, I was the only person he found with such a close connection to the car. I was able to provide Jeff with a lot of first hand knowledge, as I travelled with it on the Ray Farhner show circuit and as an associate of Ray's, I repainted it because it was beat up when he acquired it from Roth for a year lease.

Right after Jeff finished the car, my wife and I drove over to Bakersfield for a photo shoot. Here are the results.

 

Those of you who have followed Jeff's thread may remember his phobia of starting new engines; he was putting it off for quite a while.

When I reviewed the Sothby's press release, they claim it runs and is drivable. I contacted Jeff yesterday, and in his own words, "I did start the engine and ran it for about 20 seconds but the headers started turning blue so I shut it down. Didn't want to mess them up before selling. The tranny, rear end and brakes are all new and functional. I hope potential buyers realize this isn't a grocery getter but it could be motated down the street under its own power." One engine runs while the other block is hollow except for being home to the hidden generator.

 

Cool - Thanks for sharing

 

This is Jeff's Book published, interestingly, by Mc Farland, a non-automotive house. This book is an incredible accomplishment in itself; Jeff explains, illustrated with hundreds of photos, exactly how he did each and every part of the car.

 

It'll be very interesting to see how much it brings and where it goes!

 

Jeff specifically wanted me to shoot these angles to replicate the magazine shots which were taken from the same angles; the reason being to demonstrate how accurate the clone is to the original. If I were to see the two together, I would not know which was which.

When Jeff was deciding how to do the color, Lee Pratt mentioned to me that he had heard that back in the 60's, a candy yellow effect was achieved by shooting Candy Lime gold over white pearl. I called Jon Kosmoski at House of color and he verified that. That's how Jeff did it. Despite the name of the toner, there is no lime tint to it over pearl, it's yellow, just like the original.

 

I have purchased the book and read just a little before work postponed the rest. What I read added insight into who Mr. Davidson is. I have emailed him before but just knew he was an older gentleman like many of us. I was very intrigued by what I have read so far. I know many will be following this to see how it plays out.

 

Our shoot in the park was cut short by the arrival of "Barney Fife", the County Park Ranger. After lecturing us for about a half an hour on how we could be fined $3000 for destroying the landscaping, he finally made us leave with the promise to get a permit retroactively. We left the grass as we found it.

 

This photo of the car being towed by my Candy '59 Impala has been all over the web saying that I hauled the car all over the Midwest; Not exactly true, this was a temporary haul on a rent-a-trailer when Farhner moved shop locations. Ray typically hauled four showcars at a time in the semi shown here as they were unloading the Boothill Express for its Rod and Custom cover and feature shoot in 1966. The Mysterion and the Boothill would have travelled together in th smi from show to show. This was after I re-painted it with chartreuse Metalflake that year.

 

After seeing these pictures and having bought the book, got to say that Jeff Jones is hiding his light under a bushel. He really should have included color shots like these of his creation. Just too modest.

 

Why does Mr Jones sell the car? Seems to be lifetime achievement to build that fantastic clone.


Sent from my ALE-L21 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Actually, eight of the shots of the finished car we took that day are in the book, as well as the cover shot. Accurate color representation is never guaranteed from a printing press, so yes, they may look better here.

 

After we loaded the car and left the park we continued to our next location with Carol and I following Jeff and the trailer in her car. We couldn't believe what happened next. The very functional cowl air scoop on the Mysterion had allowed enough air to enter the cockpit, lift the bubbletop up, causing it to fly back and break off. It flew through the air, landing on the road, landing about 200 feet in front of our car. Jeff, the cool, unflappable engineer just shrugged and said, "That's OK, the top was not quite as accurate as I wanted, so now when I make the new one, I can get it right"!

Actually, it looks pretty good as a roadster!

 

Thanks for the interesting story and great photos Tom. I just hope a couple of collectors with deep pockets get in a bidding war on it for Jeff's sake.

 

That had to cost a ton just for the chrome. Hope he more than recovers the cost.

 

I saw the car today at the Petersen. It is absolutely stunning! I will be watching to see how it sells.


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

You are correct...stunning is the word! I have attempted to convey that with my photos.

 

Great pictures! Thanx for sharing... I hope in this "strange" market currently, He Does Well!!

 

Actually Tom that paint is totally strange. Painting it over a white base yields the strong lemon yellow as on the car. However, painting it over a silver base yields an unmistakable lime green. House of Kolor sells a color chip book with all their candy toners over a bunch of base colors and sure enuf, that is what happens according to their chips. The legend I uncovered in my searching is that Ed painted all his candy colored cars with a pearl white base.

 

Building it was a bucket list thing that haunted me since the early 60s when that car grabbed my soul. Now that I achieved that goal, I don't know what to do with it. It is just sitting in my shop gathering dust and taking up valuable project space. I would rather it goes to someone who will display it so others can enjoy I as much as I do. And, if it goes for more than a few shekels, it will supplement my retirement fund a bit. I am a bit saddened to see it go but the build was the big must-do.

 

My shop projects (cars, woodcarving, furniture, LOTS of honey-dos) are my shrink. Don't ever keep track of what I spend 'cause I am going to do it anyway. I prescribe to the Jay Leno philosophy; Don't know how much I make, just as long as I have enuf to by car parts. Jay says he goes into the parts store and, says to the clerk, "You mean you will take this green stuff for that shiny thing? GREAT DEAL!!"

 

Thank Ed for the stunningness. All I did was make a feeble attempt to copy his genius. I thought it was humorous to watch the folks there when I delivered it to the museum. Inside the doors to the show room are the 'real' cars; the half dozen or so that will sell for ++$1,000,000 at the auction including a Ferrari appraised at $22,000,000, pre auction. But my little plastic car which I pray will go for 1% of the Ferrari's price had the crowd huddled around it!

 

Tom. I never cease to be amazed at how you finish your photos. You achieve a surrealistic glow that I have never seen before. I of course have all the originals of your photo shoot but they are nowhere near the awesomeness of how thy look here.

 

Moriarty?!? Where you at?!? This thing is seductively calling your name !


I hope some heavy hitters are bidding on this as it’s as close to perfect as you can get it, and it drives !!
I think a “drivers” bubble top with sliding windows and some venting so you can drive it with the bubble top down and you could/would be the Center of attention everywhere!!

Cool car can’t wzit to see the results of the auction

 

Oh , here’s Moriarty !

 

I pray Mark is half right! That would be great. Actually I installed a squirrel-cage blower behind the seat to vent the interior so someone might be able to drive it for maybe 5 minutes before passing out from overheating.

Mark; your must have married a genetic mutant. I don't even let my mind drift toward what my wife would say if I even mentioned parking the car in my living room!!!!!