KUSTOM KULTURE’S RAT PACK: The Origin of a Rat Fink

EVOLUTION OF A RAT FINK
Artist credits, left to right: Don “Monté” Monteverde, Stanley “Mouse” Miller, Ed “Big Daddy” Roth.

Although 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. 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. 

As the popularity of hot rodding developed so did its unique culture, with magazines and associations created to support its fans. In the process, hot rodding created its own identifying style of vehicle designs, artwork, and fashion. 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. Motorcycle clubs, surfing, and other outsider lifestyles were infused into the scene, forming a distinct American “Kustom Kulture”.    

A lineup of Rat Fink decal imposters.

At the time hot rodding was establishing itself Shock Theater premiered in 1957 as a Saturday night syndicated television program. The broadcast presented pre-1948 classic horror films from Universal and Columbia Studios. In many markets the movies were introduced by costumed horror hosts, including Vampira (Maila Nurmi) on Los Angeles’ KABC-TV and Roland/Zacherly (John Zacherle) in Philadelphia’s WCAU-TV and New York’s WABC-TV. Shock Theater became a hit, with its success influencing monster magazines, such as Famous Monsters of Filmland, model kits, comic books, toys, and the infamous Mars Attacks (1962) trading card set.

Pinstriping became a major part of Ed Roth's hot rod customizing business.

A convergence of the two forces – hot rodding and monsters – occurred in the late-1950s. Lasting until the early-1970s, the creature feature/motor mash-up, often described as the Weirdo Hot Rod art movement, became a driving subculture, which is now part of today’s Kustom Kulture lifestyle.

Roth and Baron, the Crazy Painters.

One of the original artists who was instrumental in commercializing the freaky high-octane scene was Ed “Big Daddy” Roth. Born in 1932 and raised in the suburbs of Los Angeles, Roth was greatly influenced by the hot rod culture of Southern California. Like other postwar teens he purchased a used car, a 1934 Ford coupe, to modify with junkyard parts. After graduating junior college and spending time in the United States Air Force he returned to Los Angeles with his wife and five children. As a means of support, he opened a hot rod customizing business. In 1958, he started a pinstriping business with Oscar “The Baron” Crozier.

Roth entered the Weirdo business the following year after a car club commissioned him to paint caricatures of each member on t-shirts. Roth and Crozier were soon deluged with requests from other clubs. Almost overnight, a good part of their business became Weirdo painted customized t-shirts, printed silkscreened versions, and water slide decals. The sharp-toothed, grinning Rat Fink became Roth’s most successful cartoon design. Although he is usually associated with creating the iconic pot-bellied rodent, its origin was the influence of other artists.

Ed “Big Daddy” Roth and his first Rat Fink model kit.

Stanley “Mouse” Miller was one of those artists. Like Roth, Mouse was selling his Weirdo airbrushed creations at custom car shows and through a mail order business. Mouse and Roth crossed paths and eventually worked side-by-side selling their shirt creations at shows. Mouse realized that Roth had appropriated his Freddy Flypogger character for his Rat Fink design, but never made a big deal of it. Roth basically added big rat ears, a pointy nose, and a tail. He would later compete with Roth’s successful line of Rat Fink-inspired model kits with three monster characters of his own.

Rick Griffith designed many of Roth's ads.

Contemporaries, including Mouse, believe that the real hand behind the creation of Rat Fink was Don “Monté” Monteverde. 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. His decals became popular with kids who could purchase them at hobby shops for a dime. Roth hired Monté to do the preliminary Rat Fink sketches, something that Roth rarely acknowledged. 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.

From 1963-1965 Rat Fink’s popularity spawned an extensive line of plastic model kits produced by Revell Model Company. The success inspired many other companies to produce similar Weirdo model kits, decals, and shirt designs. Hawk produced a popular model line of bulging eyed monsters called Weird-Ohs. Designed by Bill Campbell, the line spun-off trading cards, decals, and plastic figures.

The Rat's Hole's bold rip off of Rat Fink.

As a blatant rip-off, Karl Smith opened “The Rat’s Hole”, an airbrush T-shirt shop in Daytona Beach, Florida. 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. In addition, he became a major sponsor of Daytona Beach’s Bike Week. Roth considered Smith a “boil” on his butt, as Smith’s mail order company competed directly with his.

The excitement created by the Weirdo scene started to fizzle out by 1964. One major contributor to its demise was The Beatles’ first visit to the United States. America became obsessed with the “Fab Four” and the ensuing “British Invasion”. Another factor was that hot rodding was becoming acknowledged as a professional organized sport, and less of an outsider activity.

Roth wearing a hillbilly crash helmet.

Roth lost his contract with Revell because of declining sales and his association with the Hells Angels outlaw motorcycle club. He continued his mail order business but as he became involved in the Mormon faith he adjusted the merchandise to take on less aggressive tones; a hatchet in the hand of one Weirdo character was replaced with an ice cream cone, and plush Rat Fink dolls were now being sold in his catalogs alongside bobble-headed figures and die-cast cars.

Although Ed Roth passed away in 2001 his Rat Fink lives on in the thriving world of Kustom Kulture, with influences found at car shows, art galleries, and tattoo parlors. A future issue of Car Culture Notebook will feature a review of his custom show cars.

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SOURCES:

“The Biography of Ed ‘Big Daddy’ Roth.” Rat Fink: Official Site of Ed “Big Daddy” Roth. http://www.ratfink.com/big-daddy-roth-bio.php . Retrieved June 15, 2017

“Edward Roth, Big Daddy Who Was the Hot Rod Idol of 1960’s Teenagers, Dies at 69.” The New York Times, April 7, 2001. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/07/us/edward-roth-big-daddy-who-was-the-hot-rod-idol-of-1960-s-teenagers-dies-at-69.html">http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/07/us/edward-roth-big-daddy-who-was-the-hot-rod-idol-of-1960-s-teenagers-dies-at-69.html. Retrieved June 15, 2017.

Rat Fink: The Art of Ed “Big Daddy” Roth. Last Gasp, San Francisco, CA. 2003.  

 

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PHOTO FINISH 

 

Jamie and Michelle Holdbrook's custom 1930 Ford Model A, 2016 Syracuse Nationals.