Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth, a central figure in the development of California car culture has died of a heart attack at the age of 69.  Roth created 'high concept' hot rods out of chrome and fiberglass that inspired generations of teenage rebels almost as much as did the on-screen antics of actor James Dean.  To finance his car creations Roth sold t-shirts featuring a gallery of anti-heroic characters including the counterculture's answer to Mickey Mouse, the red-eyed, razor-toothed Ratfink.  Though nearly impossible to drive, Roth's hot rods were so wildly inventive in design that he was able to license his car show hits, 'Beatnik Bandit' and 'Outlaw' to Revell to make plastic models.  In 1963 Revell paid Roth some $32,000 in royalties, which, since he was receiving one cent for every model sold, means that more than three million kits were sold.

 

While Roth's alter ego Ratfink had profound influence on the development of underground comics, Roth had a direct connection with artist Robert Williams, who served as Big Daddy's art director from 1965-1970.  Williams has taken Roth's inspirations to a fine art level with his prints and paintings.  Roth, who lost most of his money funding Choppers, a magazine devoted to outlaw bikers that grew out of his association with the Hell's Angels, eventually became a Mormon and moved to Utah, where he continued to work on hot rods until his death.  Only recently has he begun to receive recognition from the art establishment, but eventually someone will trace one of the important threads of the 'counterculture' back to those handmade, airbrushed Ratfink t-shirts that Roth sold at hot rod and custom car shows in the late 1950s.