In Memory of "Big Daddy Roth", Ed Roth...

This is a piece taken from the work of "Big Daddy" Ed Roth. In my life he was an inspiration to no end. His art showed me a few things startin at around age 10. First was "Cars are cool", Motors are cool too but big motors are cooler and bigger motors in cars being driven by monsters were way-cool. He also taught me boobies were beautiful, asses too and legs an stuff. He taught me many other things too. He taught me I could be tough and cool if I had a big motor, a fine lady with ... and learnt how to be a freakin Monster.

Cool, Huh???

Big Daddy Rest in Peace, April 4, 2001

Next is some Wiki stuff on him (only cause they write betterin me). The link to the full page is [HERE]

"Big Daddy" Ed Roth (March 4, 1932 – April 4, 2001) was an artist and cartoonist who created the hot-rod icon Rat Fink and other extreme characters. As a custom car builder, Roth was a key figure in Southern California's Kustom Kulture and hot-rod movement of the 1960s. He grew up in Bell, California, attending Bell High School, where his classes included auto shop and art.

Career:

Roth is best known for his grotesque caricatures — typified by Rat Fink — depicting imaginative, out-sized monstrosities driving representations of the hot rods that he and his contemporaries built. Although DetroitStanley Mouse (Miller) is credited with creating the so-called "Monster Hot Rod" art form, Roth is certainly the individual who popularized it. Roth is less well known for his innovative work in turning hot rodding from crude backyard engineering, where performance was the bottom line, into a refined art form where aesthetics were equally important, breaking new ground with fiberglass bodywork. native
In the 1960s, plastic models of many of Roth's cars, as well as models of Rat Fink and other whimsical creatures created by Roth, were marketed by the Revell model company.
Numerous artists were associated with Roth, including painter Robert Williams, Rat Fink Comix artist R.K. Sloane and Steve Fiorilla, who illustrated Roth's catalogs.
Roth was active in the field of counterculture art and hot-rodding his entire adult life. At the time of his death in 2001, he was working on an innovative hot-rod project involving a compact car planned as a radical departure from the dominant "tuner" performance modification style. In his later years, Roth's telephone number was listed in the directory, and he encouraged fans to contact him: he was always generous with his time and enthusiasm.
A Roth custom feared lost for many years was the subject of a number of articles in automotive enthusiast magazines in the summer of 2008. The Orbitron, built in 1964, was discovered in Mexico in late 2007. The car, in dilapidated, inoperative condition, had been parked for quite some time in front of an adult bookstore in Ciudad Juárez. The owners of the shop were also the owners of the car. It was purchased by Michael Lightbourn, an American auto restorer who did extensive business in Mexico and who in turn repatriated the car to the United States. The Orbitron has since been restored to its original condition by Beau Boeckmann<sup>.

Go look him up. He's a great artist.</sup>