The Beatnik Bandit - Ed Roth

The Beatnik Bandit is a custom car created in 1961 by "Big Daddy" Ed Roth, originally as a project for Rod & Custom magazine.[1] A Hot Wheels car was made based on the Beatnik Bandit.[2] The thing that made the Beatnik Bandit different from most other cars, though, was that, instead of a steering wheel, it was controlled by a joystick.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatnik_Bandit

The Beatnik Bandit was designed and built by Ed "Big Daddy" Roth. Ed came up with the ideas, and Joe Henning helped him get them down on paper. During the build, the design of the Beatnik Bandit changed several times. Ed Roth began working on the car in 1960. He had originally planned to name his cars after cowboys of the old west and the original name for the Beatnik Bandit was actually the Bandit. But after reading about a bank robber called the Beatnik Bandit, Ed changed the name on the car.


As a concept, the Beatnik Bandit was first revealed to the public in Rod & Custom June 1960. Sketched by Joe Henning the Beatnik Bandit was presented in a story titled "The Graph of Roth".


The Beatnik Bandit was based on a 1950 Oldsmobile chassis that Ed shortened down to 85 inches. The body was built from Fiberglas and sported a 360 degree vision plexiglas canopy. The idea for the Bubble Top came from Bobby Darrin's Dream Car. The Bubble Top was made using a pizza oven. Ed put some regular plastic in the oven, and then blew it up like a balloon while it was still hot. Ed got this idea from Louie Aguirre. The top was operated by the fender mounted antenna.


Steering, gas, shifting and gears on the car were operated using a chromed center stick. According to Ed Roth the Beatnik Bandit was the first show car that he hauled on a trailer 100 percent of the time. The stick has probably something to do with this. The upholstery in the car was done by Eddie Martinez.


When the bodywork on the car was finished, Ed brought the Beatnik Bandit to Larry Watson's Watson's House of Style for a paint job. Ed didn't have the money required to paint the car, so he made a deal with Watson that he could take all the time he needed on the car, and that he got paid in Rat Fink T-Shirts.


The original Oldsmobile engine was built by Fritz Voight and featured a Bell Auto Parts blower with twin Ford carbs.


After being hauled all over the country to and from different car shows, the car had green paint and a lot of changes had been made to it. Dirty Doug painted the second version of the car. In 1970 Ed sold the car to Jim Brucker for $50. Jim kept the car until 1973 when he traded it to Harrah's in Reno, Nevada. Harrah's restored the car back to its original version in 1985. Today the car is still in Harrah's possession, and the car is on permanent display at the National Automobile Museum in Reno.

Revell's model of the Bandit was the second in a long series of Roth-based kits, many designed by Jim Keeler. It was part of line of popular kits that made up 16 percent of Revell's total sales for that period. When Mattel decided to make Hot Wheels, they called Ed Roth and asked for permission to use the Beatnik Bandit as part of the original 16 castings in the 1968 Hot Wheels line. Harry Bradley was the designer that shrunk the Beatnik Bandit down. The original tool was only used from 1968-1971 and then was retired. The car was retooled in 1993 as part of Hot Wheels' 25th Anniversary. It was used twice in 1994, as part of the Vintage Series and the FAO Schwarz Gold Series I. The tool then sat, unused until 2003, when it was dusted off again for the Hall of Fame Series when Hot Wheels honored Ed Roth himself. It hasn't been used since.



Magazine Features

Rod & Custom June 1960
Car Craft May 1961
Popular Mechanics June 1961
Popular Science October 1961
Car Craft February 1962




http://www.kustomrama.com/index.php?title=Ed_Roth%27s_Beatnik_Bandit

Beatnik Bandit
Another Creation by Ed "Big Daddy" Roth

   Original year: 1963
   Company: Revell
   Scale: 1/25
   Designer: Ed Roth

The second in the famous series of Ed "Big Daddy" Roth's show cars, Beatnik Bandit has also been known as the "Fiberglass Wonder." following the Outlaw's successful introduction to the show car circuit, Ed Roth set out to continue to improve the breed of custom show cars. Molds for the body were formed from 2000 lbs. of plaster. The body's construction consumed 42 yeards of fiberglass cloth, 50 gallons of resin, and endless hours of sanding and polishing. The Beatnik Bandit was powered by a full-chromed blown Oldsmobile engine. An ingenious Roth-designed interior control stick operated the steering, braking acceleration and transmission.

http://www.showrods.com/showrod_pages/beatnik_bandit.html

Ce qui différencie Ed Roth des autres génies du custom (comme Barris,  Cushenbury,  Watson,  Winfield, Starbird, Agostino ou Rick Dore etc...), c'est qu'il était également un dessinateurs humoristique, un graphiste et surtout semblait avoir une personnalité plutôt complexe et décalée.


Ses Show Rods sont de véritables réussites esthétiques dans lesquels il a poussé l'esthétique "space age" à son paroxysme. Sa descendance et son influence sur le monde du custom et du hot rodding est considérable et toujours très présente aujourd'hui comme nous le verrons dans ce blog, en effet nous trouvons des show rods contemporains  totalement dans l'esprit de ceux de Roth.



Revenons au beatnik Bandit, Roth fait dans un premier temps des croquis de son futur rod sur une feuille, mais tout au long de son élaboration réelle, il s'éloignera notablement de ce projet initial.



C'est en 1960 que le Beatnik Bandit est présenté au public, et c'est avec beaucoup d'enthousiasme qu'il est accueilli, au point d'avoir en Juin un article complet dans Rod et custom.


Le chassie est celui d'une Oldsmobile 1950 raccourci de 85 inch, la carrosserie vraiment unique entre un ovni et un rod est réalisée en fibre de verre, Roth montre avec son Beatnik Bandit les incroyables possibilités offertes par ce nouveau matériaux. 



Il a poussé l'idée de la soucoupe volante jusqu'à ne pas mettre de portière afin d'obliger le conducteur à soulever le globe en plexiglas afin de pouvoir s'assoir au volant.

Lorsque l'on détaille la bête tout les détails sont pensés également dans l'esprit "Space age" de la fin des années 1950, de la mini calandre en étoile chromée aux petites antennes avant au dessus des phares qui semblent rappeler des désintégrateurs intergalactiques, sans oublier le volant en forme de commande de vaisseau spatial, une véritable folie esthétique pleine d'humour et aux lignes harmonieuses.



La peinture de la carrosserie est confié au légendaire Larry Watson, le moteur Oldsmobile est modifier par Fritz Voight de Bell Auto Parts et se trouve entre autres équipé d'un blower et de 2 Carburateurs Ford Chromés.



Il sera rapidement chroniqué dans de très nombreuses revues jusqu'à aujourd'hui. La popularité du Beatnik Bandit va dépasser l’Amérique du Nord grâce à la maquette Revell au 1/25 eme qui est toujours une très bonne vente lors de toute ses rééditions et par la miniature Hot Wheels au 1/64 eme qui sera faite de lui en 1968.

The Beatnik Bandit was designed and built by Ed "Big Daddy" Roth and was the second of his creations to tour with the International Championship Auto Shows (ICAS), in the 1960-61 season. The Outlaw was Roth's first ICAS custom, but the Bandit was the first Roth car created by their Show Car Division specifically for the show circuit. The Beatnik Bandit started out as a project car for Rod & Custom magazine. It was built using a 1955 Oldsmobile frame which was shortened, then covered in plaster to create a mold for the all-fiberglass body. The duel-carb blown Oldsmobile engine sits forward of a hand-made custom bubble top created by carefully softening a sheet of plexiglas in a large pizza oven to the point just before it becomes molten.




The Bandit's one-arm steering stick, mounted between the gold trimmed white leather seats, also controlled the throttle and shifting of the car. The Beatnik Bandit toured all over the country in the Sixties, and by 1970 had been repainted green. The car was sold to Harrah's in Reno, who restored it back to its original condition. The Beatnik Bandit can currently be seen at the National Automobile Museum in Reno, Nevada.

I acquired this picture From Ed Roth when he was a guest at a car show in St. Ignace, Michigan. The information is sourced from Ed Roth's book "Hot Rods".


Description

The Beatnik Bandit was designed Mattel designer Harry Bradley to be included as part of the Original 16 castings in the 1968 Hot Wheels line.

The car debuted in 1968, and the original tools and dies were used from 1968 to 1971, and then they were retired. The car was retooled in 1993 as part of Hot Wheels' 25th Anniversary series. It was then used twice in 1994, as part of both the Vintage Series and the FAO Schwartz Gold Series I. The tools and dies then collected dust after that and sat unused until 2003, when the molds were dusted off again for the Hall of Fame Series when Hot Wheels honored Ed Roth himself.



The Bandit's interior colors come in white, tan, brown, grey, and black. It was made in both Hong Kong and the United States.
USA Versions

The Beatnik Bandit has come out in the following 1/64 scale versions:

Notes: Clear Glass, Steering wheel is a butterfly style, 2 small air cleaners on blower, less detail on motor, smaller grill and headlights, silver wheels.



Colors are desending in rarity from most common to most rare.
http://hotwheels.wikia.com/wiki/Beatnik_Bandit

There’s a very famous story involving Ed “Big Daddy” Roth and some “less than socially acceptable” outlaw bikers and a fight that occurred in Roth’s shop. To get some basic information on this we dipped into one of our own reference books (Ed “Big Daddy” Roth: His Life, Times, Cars and Art) by Pat Ganahl (former editor of Street Rodder and Hot Rod magazines and author of numerous hot rod and custom books).




Roth had his shop at 4616 Slauson Avenue in Maywood, California that he started in early 1959. Next up he ran an ad in Car Craft magazine, again in ’59, telling everyone about his new shop address. And, it was in the Car Craft archives that we found these construction and feature photos by Pat Brollier taken back in July of 1960.




http://www.hotrod.com/features/history/1605-historical-look-at-ed-big-daddy-roths-beatnik-bandit-through-original-photos/

There’s a very famous story involving Big Daddy and some “less than socially acceptable” outlaw bikers and a fight that occurred in Roth’s shop. To get some basic information on this we dipped into one of our own reference books (Ed “Big Daddy” Roth: His Life, Times, Cars and Art) by Pat Ganahl (former editor of Street Rodder and Hot Rod magazines and author of numerous hot rod and custom books).



For a period in the mid-1960s, Roth associated with various biker clubs and his shop was a gathering point. His shop was also a “hangout” for not only bikers but musicians, police officers, federal agents and all manner of interesting people who were in the area…which included Hollywood!

Roth was taking photos of some of his friends who were bikers and then making posters. According to Roth he paid these bikers for the use of their likeness. Roth would periodically give these bikers small amounts of money, but soon some of the bikers started to feel that Roth was "getting rich" off of them and they wanted a larger cut. Despite Roth's agreement, rumors began to circulate that a certain club intended to attack Roth's shop. The gang arrived at the shop with guns drawn, but Roth and his guys intended on not backing down and were prepared for whatever was about to happen. Roth challenged the head biker to a mano-a-mano fist fight to settle matters at his shop. Roth gained the upper hand and "just started to beat the living crap out of the guy".




After this incident, Roth left the lifestyle behind. Things started winding down at the shop in the late 1960s, and in 1970 the shop closed.




In 1968 Mattel introduced Hot Wheels and Roth’s Beatnik Bandit was one of the first 16 die-cast toy cars produced by the company.

From 1970 to 1975, Roth worked for Brucker's Movie World and their Cars of the Stars display. Brucker said, “…that Roth was a very loyal guy and a very hard worker, even though he wasn't making much money.” Brucker said, “…that when building something, Roth had a natural knack for seeing how things fit together; he would build something in a few days which would take other guys a couple of weeks.” Although Roth was a laid-back, amiable guy, Brucker also remembers that Roth was a hell of a fighter and if anyone came through the museum causing trouble, Roth would put them in line. Roth's Druid Princess was one of the many cars displayed there. Also during the 1970s, Roth worked for Knott’s Berry Farm as a sign painter and artist. He worked there for 10 years until about 1980.



There’s a theme evolving here and it became abundantly clear that while Roth was a mellow and fun guy to be around you didn’t “upset his bucket” of Bondo without repercussions. The man knew how to settle a “disagreement”!

Roth will forever be known for …Rat Fink. An oversized and oh so uniquely designed. To this day you can readily find Rat Fink decals to purchase and you can also see this “counter-culture” mouse adorning everything from tool boxes to the back windows of many a hot rod and custom car.



The year after his death, he was named as one of the 50 Who Made a Difference at the 50th annual Meguiar's Autorama in Detroit. He was also inducted into the show's Circle of Champions in 2000, and was showcased as its Builder of the Year in 2006, which is where Street Rodder’s own Chuck Vranas rounded up the current color photos of the Beatnik Bandit.



Enjoy.