Synopses & Reviews
“The first Rat Fink I made was built on a small three-wheel electric cart frame using a Cad’ starter motor and 12-volt battery for propulsion. When I got it done, I got inside and chased some kids and it scared ’em so bad I never got into it much after that.”
—Ed “Big Daddy” Roth on the birth of the Rat Fink character and his Rat Fink car
The Godfather of Kustom Kulture, Ed “Big Daddy” Roth took hot rods and fantasy vehicles over the edge and beyond. His monstrous characters, most famously Rat Fink, and his colorful candy-coated creations inspired generations of future custom builders.
A pioneer in custom painting, fiberglass molding, and metal fabrication, Roth’s famous creations took flight on the streets of So-Cal, in hot rod magazines, and as plastic model kits sold coast to coast, sparking imaginations young and old.
In Hot Rods by Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, his story is told in his own words with the help of Tony Thacker, noted automotive journalist and hot rod chronicler. From his early days through some of the last builds of his career, Hot Rods by Ed “Big Daddy” Roth is the definitive story of a Kustom Kulture original.
Synopsis
From the mind of Mr. Gasser himself, with behind-the-scenes pictures from his own files, comes the story of the life and times and art of this icon of hot rodding and visionary of Kustom Kulture. Since Ed "Big Daddy" Roth first told his tale, a whole new generation has discovered the creator of Rat Fink, Beatnik Bandit, and Mysterion-and this now-classic illustrated autobiography gives new and old fans alike a look into the shop and studio. ""The Salvador Dali of the movement,"" Tom Wolfe called him, ""a surrealist in his designs, a showman by temperament, a prankster""and Roths larger-than-life personality comes across here as he tells how he arrived at his famous ""plaster and fiberglass"" method of constructing his sculptures on wheels (It could be done ""by people with little or no talent and I had both,"" as he put it.) and shows off some of his more outlandish models. A fitting tribute to an outlaw legend, this book brings Big Daddys work to wild and wonderful life, and lets us hear the mans incomparable voice one more time.
Synopsis
The firsthand story of this visionary of Kustom Kulture, with input from fellow builders, painters, and hot rodders, and a wealth of pictures from inside the shop and studio.
Synopsis
The firsthand story of this icon of hot rodding and visionary of Kustom Kulture, with input from fellow builders, painters, and hot rodders, and a raft of pictures from inside Ed Big Daddy” Roths own shop and studio. Reprinted for the first time since Roths death in 2001, this book revisits his creations such as Rat Fink, Beatnik Bandit, and Mysterion, his famous plaster-and-fiberglass sculptures on wheels, and the circumstances that made them click with a whole new automotive culture beginning in 1960s Southern California.
About the Author
Ed "Big Daddy" Roth (1932-2001) was a major contributor to the custom culture movement of the 1960s. He is well known for creating Rat Fink and other wildly exaggerated characters, and is responsible for pushing the hot rod culture into new territory with cartoonish fiberglass-based creations.Tony Thacker is the executive director of the Wally Parks National Hot Rod Association Museum and the author and co-author of several previous books on hot rods and customs, including Hot Rods by Ed \u201cBig Daddy\u201d Roth and SO-CAL Speed Shop. He lives in Southern California.