Roth considered Smith a “boil” on his butt, as Smith’s mail order company competed directly with his. In addition, he became a major sponsor of Daytona Beach’s Bike Week. Taking the nickname “Big Daddy Rat”, Smith’s first shop became an instant success, which encouraged him to open six additional shops in Daytona Beach and a gift shop in Las Vegas. The Rat's Hole's bold rip off of Rat Fink.Īs a blatant rip-off, Karl Smith opened “The Rat’s Hole”, an airbrush T-shirt shop in Daytona Beach, Florida. Designed by Bill Campbell, the line spun-off trading cards, decals, and plastic figures. Hawk produced a popular model line of bulging eyed monsters called Weird-Ohs. The success inspired many other companies to produce similar Weirdo model kits, decals, and shirt designs. The phrase “rat fink”, meaning an undesirable person, was becoming part of outsider vernacular and seemed to be an appropriate moniker for the cartoon character.įrom 1963-1965 Rat Fink’s popularity spawned an extensive line of plastic model kits produced by Revell Model Company. Roth hired Monté to do the preliminary Rat Fink sketches, something that Roth rarely acknowledged. His decals became popular with kids who could purchase them at hobby shops for a dime. Monté, who also had early roots in pinstriping cars and motorcycles in Los Angeles, was one of the first to successfully produce monster-related water slide decals. Rick Griffith designed many of Roth's ads.Ĭontemporaries, including Mouse, believe that the real hand behind the creation of Rat Fink was Don “Monté” Monteverde. He would later compete with Roth’s successful line of Rat Fink-inspired model kits with three monster characters of his own. Roth basically added big rat ears, a pointy nose, and a tail. Mouse realized that Roth had appropriated his Freddy Flypogger character for his Rat Fink design, but never made a big deal of it. Mouse and Roth crossed paths and eventually worked side-by-side selling their shirt creations at shows. Like Roth, Mouse was selling his Weirdo airbrushed creations at custom car shows and through a mail order business. Stanley “Mouse” Miller was one of those artists. Although he is usually associated with creating the iconic pot-bellied rodent, its origin was the influence of other artists.Įd “Big Daddy” Roth and his first Rat Fink model kit. The sharp-toothed, grinning Rat Fink became Roth’s most successful cartoon design. Almost overnight, a good part of their business became Weirdo painted customized t-shirts, printed silkscreened versions, and water slide decals. Roth and Crozier were soon deluged with requests from other clubs. Roth entered the Weirdo business the following year after a car club commissioned him to paint caricatures of each member on t-shirts. In 1958, he started a pinstriping business with Oscar “The Baron” Crozier. As a means of support, he opened a hot rod customizing business. After graduating junior college and spending time in the United States Air Force he returned to Los Angeles with his wife and five children. Like other postwar teens he purchased a used car, a 1934 Ford coupe, to modify with junkyard parts. Born in 1932 and raised in the suburbs of Los Angeles, Roth was greatly influenced by the hot rod culture of Southern California. One of the original artists who was instrumental in commercializing the freaky high-octane scene was Ed “Big Daddy” Roth. Motorcycle clubs, surfing, and other outsider lifestyles were infused into the scene, forming a distinct American “Kustom Kulture”. Over the years, the dynamic force grew to include car builders Lyle Fisk and Dean Jeffries, customizers George and Sam Barris, and artists Kenny “Von Dutch” Howard and Robert Williams. In the process, hot rodding created its own identifying style of vehicle designs, artwork, and fashion. At first drag races were illegally held on streets but they soon became controlled as matches took advantage of runways on many small military airports throughout the country that were abandoned after the war.Īs the popularity of hot rodding developed so did its unique culture, with magazines and associations created to support its fans. Īlthough the history of hot rodding had its genesis sometime during the 1930s it wasn’t until after World War II when it started to become an organized sport. Artist credi ts, left to right: Don “Monté” Monteverde, Stanley “Mouse” Miller, Ed “Big Daddy” Roth.
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