Art & Inspiration Return of the Rat Fink Hat!

You win the interwebs today!

 

Mine

 

I collect and wear a variety of hats including some strange styles as well. My wife often say what the hell is that, your not going to wear that are you. I just look at her with my best simple look and say why not.

 

"I wear my own kinda hat" Merle Hagard

 

YUP,that is all ture,!!!
I did some of this my self,my art name"The Bat" out of hell,and did shows all over Florida. Late 1950s an early 60s.
I got turned away from one show=;
Roth had payed for exclusive rights for T-shirt sales>@ Miami Beach Con. Hall.
At first it made me pissed off at Roth,for a short time,tell thinking it over,it wasn't just "The Bat" cut out, small cheese so too say LOL.> but also "MOUSE" much bigger Cheese.
I as a teen,with out biz smarts,an also did each "Bat" shirt as a one off art only ,for who ask.
Mouse was really good ,I liked Stanley's art lots better.
Our local short lived south Florida custom an rod mag. "Customs & Coconuts" had a little review about the airbrushed T-shirt craze.
Sorry, I lost the only copy I had,or it would be a good place to post here. Sid,the editor,said "The Bat" art wise ,was between Mouse an Roth, likely cuz he know me first hand ,more then ether of them,, His mag only lasted 3 of what should of been 4 a year. Only the cover was color .
So 2 extra cents wroth of fun.
By the mid 60s I got a wife,opened my own speedshop" Comp Tech" an stopped doing as much hotrod stuff,got fully into racing,became my #1 hobbie an $ maker.

 

Love it, felt hats are quite toasty in the summer though, fricaese your grey matter.

 

We need to have more fun. Unfortunately my yellow leisure suit with butterfly collar no longer fits.
I wore to work a few times on Halloween. No costumes allowed, but outdated business casual is a style choice not a costume.

I do have this beauty, waiting to make a debut this spring, logo says "Chicago Kenworth"

 

So,crazy hats were kind of cool.
But maybe should not say anything about a party,, we all had to have traffic cones as hats* with too much Bacardi rum. I got a nick name at that party,but that's another story.
For those that didn't live around Palm trees,I guess palm frond hats were not a thing,but were a part of what was going on in south Florida.
Even more so if a cute young gal was making them in a bikini. She knew how to do a few styles. But that was long ago.
If anyone is handy an wants to make there own,I found this,that could be fun.;

 

This thread caused me to search (and buy) one of these hillbilly crash helmets.
Thought I'd share the link I found on the-bay-of-fleas. Get one if you want; don't get if you don't want........

https://www.ebay.com/itm/353662378013?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

 

So, is there a hat for sale? I want a damn hat! how much for your hat @Moriarity

 

Period correct and part of the Big Picture without a doubt...and these days a kooky way of protecting the skin from a toxic overexposure to sun...I have a Tilly and a ball cap...Not much of a hat guy though and not having a Roadster helps with keeping Sun off my balding head...

I believe Ed was inspired by Lil Abner and the plethora of other influences that abounded back in those days...

 

....

 

Hello,

A long time ago, we looked at those silly hats at our local car shows. My brother laughed as our friend put one on from the display. We used to wear baseball caps, but our mom told us that those that wear hats speed up the process of balding or receding hair lines. Ha! So, we did not buy those, but our friends did and looked silly. We quit wearing the baseball caps and to this day, still have our hairlines… YRMV

One year my wife and I were in Maztalan, Mainland Mexico on a week long vacation. We were in a resort's large pool and it was a warm summer day. The afternoon sun was still beating down and we were trying to get under the overhanging plants/trees that gave some resemblance of shade.

As I swam to the other end of the pool and back, this guy was in that end of the pool and smiled as he recognized me from a long time ago. What a small world. As we were talking, he saw me with dark sunglasses and a sun visor. He mentioned that he was with his family and that they had a couple of more days until they flew home to the OC Airport.

The next day he showed up at the pool in the afternoon with this green woven hat made of palm fronds. He had one other in the middle stage of weaving to completion. He said the palms around the resort are perfect for making these hats. The brim was wide enough to keep the sun off of our faces in the pool or sitting around. If they got wet, they dried almost instantly.


He said that a local merchant taught him how to get a palm frond and strip it down to even sizes to create a wide brim hat. I asked if he was going to supply the resort with his hats. He said that he was making several a day and that got his family a couple of free dinners in the resort restaurant. He did not need the money as helped with the removal and trimming of the resort's excess palm fronds.

Jnaki

I wore the woven hat for the rest of the week. I felt like a lifeguard at the pools at resorts and people looked at my woven hat like it was gold. A couple of times, I had to ward off questions about purchasing the hat or hats. When we left, I forgot I left it on top of the refrigerator. So, the workers at the resort had a couple woven hats for their safety from the sun.

 

Great job on the Rat Fink hats! I made mine out of a "hillbilly" style felt hat that I found at a novelty store in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. I took out the feathers and painted the R.F. on with acrylic paint. Cheap! I think they look similar to the originals. Keep your eyes peeled at novelty shops and make your own! Easy!

 

I rarely wear a hat but I want one.

 

I like the hat !!!.......but there’s no way I’m wearing socks like that !!!!!........Mark

 

Way Kool . Have Fun that’s the name of the game Bro . There’s way too many up tight folks out there . Be Kool

 

They're Grabowski approved.
But they might get you the wrong kind of attention.

 

Dude that note is fantastic

 

Here's mine, circa 1965. Musta gotten it out of a Mouse or Roth catalogue. I would order the catalogues and then spend hours trying to copy the artwork.....instead of doing school work !

 

A friend of mine retired to Thailand, he posted this cool pic of a automotive theme coffee shop with a Rat Fink statue , of all places...lol

 

i remember kids wearing those giant sunglasses!

 

...Good Times, just add motor sounds...and a perfect base for a Ratfink Garbage can...Why is this man smiling? Liven the Dream can be like that...Good on you...

 

Hello,

One Christmas, our toddler son got a surprise from my mom and dad. As he opened it, he had wide, surprised eyes, as he saw one of this favorite characters from his stash of books. That soft bear, blue coat and funky yellow hat followed him everywhere inside of the house. When we went to visit my parents, the bear always came along. Paddington Bear in this version, was all that we saw from his books and drawings.

It is still somewhere in the collection, as it is a classic toy. But that hat was a cone style felt hat. When we were doing felt art one rainy day, I made a black felt cone and put it on my son’s head. Now many years later, I realize that black hat looked familiar, but at the time, it was followed by a Purple one, a Green one and a Red one during Christmas seasons.

We were never into the craziness of Roth, and the RF hat was something that did not cross our minds. But now that I look at the original hat, the different versions, I can see the simplicity of a black cone hat that was simple to make and fit most any of my son’s bears’ collection.

Jnaki

Felt material is simple to work with, can be glued or sewn and can fit most any head if the material is sufficiently large. They are flexible enough so as to not "poke someone's eye out..."

When our granddaughter was a little toddler, we brought out some red felt pieces and made little cones for hats for her Barbie Collection during the holidays. They all looked like fabulous looking Christmas Elves. Most ended up as short cones, but several larger pieces became a falling over cone that made up a different look for those slender dolls.

Several of those Barbie Dolls with Red cone hats were the “Santa Bear” helpers in a make-believe, mall Santa Center that we used to see at all shopping malls. This way our granddaughter would be the person asking for a Christmas wish list. YRMV

 

Mine isn’t a RF hat, but back in the mid70’s ; I bought a genuine late 1800’s beaver top hat from a lady with a vintage clothing booth at Hershey. I wore it while vending there from then , through 1994 ; when I gave up my spots. For a lot of years, I came to be known as the “Beav “ in the flea market. Sometimes you just have to be silly! Here is one of my granddaughters modeling it :