The Holy Grail
Keep The Junk!
Generations On The Salt
Walkin' On Water
Big Daddy Roth|
The Holy Grail |
Keep The Junk! |
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Generations On The Salt |
Walkin' On Water |
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Big Daddy Roth |
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As time went on, the company went out of business. A rich Texas airplane parts company, interested in resurrecting the Halibrand name, came to California and slugged it out with another wheel company for the rights to the molds and the name. They then moved the entire operation out to a medium sized airport in Wellington, Kansas, about 30 miles south of Wichita.
The thing that attracted me to the airport was that I was lookin' for two deep dish Halibrand rims for my ultra light rod run car, "Kookmoblie." I love the "high tech" look of those rims. So I diddly bop through the front door, lays the cash on the head honcho, tells 'em what I need, and what bolt pattern I want drilled into the rims (Chevy Metro, of course), I was ready to boogie when this question popped into my head, "Why don't they make a small tire for the front with the same design?" So I asked their artist-at- large, Dennis McPhail, "Why don't cha make a smaller tire for the front?" He looked at my center eyeball and said, "I dunno, I just work here. But let's go look in the back room and check it out".
Before I get to wrapped up in this trip to the tire cave, I gotta tell ya a discovery I made early on. Narrow front rims are hard to find. In the sixties it was easy, 'cause Harley made 16- inch tires (I guess they still do), but the big shots in Detroit figured 15-inches were the hot tickets back in the fifties, so they converted all the rims to 15- and 14- inch sizes. Smart move, except it left us rodders without a way to get narrow tires on front. The Japanese bikes went to 17- and 18 inch rubber and even bigger than that in some cases. The bike tires were better'n the car tires (and looked better too) 'cause the rice burners went faster, and actually, these faster unidirectional tires seemed to come on these bikes before they were ever put on cars.
Back to the Halibrand tire cave. Poor Dennis. He hadda climb the shelves 'cause it was my duty to take pictures and direct activities- least that's what I told him. He got his clean clothes all full o' dust an' goop, and he was mumblin' under his breath about "why didn't I leave" or sumpthin' like that.
Anyway, in the candlelight, I see this 16"x5" sign that same old timer had written on the box (which later turned out to be the mold) back when Halibrand was goin' full bore. My mind clicked. 5x16"! Wahoo! That's the one. Get it down and let's check it out. Dennis McPhail was plenty dusty by now, and he was peakin' out (or should that be freakin' out?) Bingo! Paydirt!! Under the dust we could see it was the long overlooked mold that I'd have rodders everywhere puttin' small rubber on their front ends.
The mold only needed minor repairs, so by the time
you read this, you should be seein' some wild Halibrand front rims comin' outa
Wellington. I wanna apologize to Dennis M. fer bein' such a pest, but in the
long run, guys like you are gonna make a lot o' people happy! Includin' me!!
I finally got that whole car done & I was out in the garage the other day, lookin’ over the left-over junk & discovered that after I swept up the floor and put everything in drawers, I’ve got enough parts left over to build another car. Along with all the extra nuts & bolts, I’ve got a whole bunch o’ chrome bracketry in my metal pile just waiting’ to be fit onto a hip hoppin’ burnout scootin’ small block Chevy trike. Luckily I had left over a trike body of the "Asphalt Angel" variety, so most of what you see in that chrome drawer photo will end up in that cool machine... expected finish date is September, ‘00.
I also have a lot of stainless steel braiding left from the brake lines. I like that stuff ‘cause I was able to run it through the frame and around tight corners in the frame. In the photo, you can see I used electrical grommets to protect the stainless braiding from rubbing against the drilled holes and fraying the stainless steel covering.
Ya might say that my motto is "Keep The Junk."
It’s really handy when I need that "hard to find" gizmo for the
new trike.
This time, it was my kid Wyatt’s chance to meet some of the racers and their rigs at the Bonneville Salt Flats. I tried to explain to him that only one car at a time goes through the measured course and that the idea was to “beat the clock.” He understood it by the time we arrived at the salt. He has a “need for speed,” and he may decide to try his luck sometime at a Bonneville car.
The first interesting car we came across was the PPG-sponsored “One Trick Pony” car that was neatly nestled under a blue plastic tarp. Then, we walked over to the red tent, where a lot of activity was going on. There, we found out that if a record is set by a vehicle, it had to go under the red tent, where it would be double-checked for safety and engine displacement. That’s because records are set at Bonneville in classes where cubic inches, and the fuel used, tell the final story.
Under the red inspection tent, I met Carl Morrow
of Carl’s Speed Shop in Daytona Beach, FL. His shop is dedicated to making
Harleys go faster. Back in the day, Carl was from the same neighborhood as me
when I lived in Maywood. He used to take bikes apart, and reassembled them to
go faster. I don’t ever remember him getting beat!
Carl had just set three world records with three separate Gas Sportsters, and all three were under the red tent getting a lot of attention from the SCTA tech committee ‘cause they all went over 155 MPH...Street bikes! Those judges were going over those Sportsters with a fine-tooth comb. Carl had his son Doug with him. Doug was one of the riders who drove these machines over the 150 MPH mark.
The last time I’d seen Doug, he was a real quiet kid who looked like he would grow up to be a bank worker. Then, when I’d see Carl at the drags, he’d have Doug along, showing him how to clean parts, etc. The next thing I knew, he was letting Doug race at the drag strip, and POW! Doug was bringing home the trophies and prize money.
So that’s the real life story of Doug Morrow. Another kid who took to racing through Carl’s efforts.
I want to thank all you racers who welcomed us,
and who let Wyatt sit in the seat of their cars.
I found out how these rookie cops are run through the "Chase Mill" at the Los Angeles Sheriff's Academy training center. I watched in amazement as the wanna-be-cops were put into patrol cars and made to chase all sorts of Toyotas and Hondas rigged with roll bars and safely belts. then the slick pavement part of the course caused a lot of the patrol cars to skid and slip all over the place. Ya see, the special water-filled cement pond was big enuff to let a car spin out of control for hundreds of feet before it was in danger. It's like, five acres big- which, as I saw, evaporated at such a fast rate that the three water hydrants have to be turned on every 20 mintues to maintain the thin flim of water.
How'd I get in here, anyways? Photographer randy Lorentzen (the guy on the water) was hired to take some "unusual" photos of the "New Beatnik Bandit,' and he was the man who knew about this gaint man-made "lake." He told me that it'd take 6 hours to set up the shot & i didn't believe him- but it did! it wasn't just the water, the sun had to be in the right place,too. Randy knew what he wanted. We just had to wait fer it to happen. I've explained to Roth Jr. on many occasions that any car can be made to look good with any camera, especially if ya get the right background. Here's proof. Roth Jr. decided to take some shots with his junior Brownie as the real pro was workin'.
I
was real hesitant & doubtful about the whole project til they started flooding
the pond, then i knew the 6 hours was worth it. I had to pose in the more serious
shots with my tuxedo, but no shoes. it was cold, but i got my feet clean.
I know from past experience that a lot of you readers that send in pics of your cars don't take the time to scout a good backgroung. It must be uncluttered. That allows the car to stand out & get the right exposure. Black-top parking lots are great for this, especially for light paint jobs, but be careful of the strips. picket fances really destroy a photo. Be careful to chose a place where the background matches the car. like the beach for a woody, or pit at a dragstrip for a race car. Cameras are not that important. It's nice to have state-of-the-art equipment, but as you can see from Jr.s pics, not that important.
One thing few sure is that it pays to take a lot of pictures at different sun angles. Randy used up 25 rolls of film & Dennis used 36 pictures 7 there was only really one or two that came out awersom!
Another great help was the food that Reno brought out to us. Ya tend to forget that a long time passes when tryin' to get a great shot, but #1 son Reno didn't forget the coolers & cold water and turkey bagels!
Of course, we also managed to get a lot of attention from the cops, who couldn't figure out why we would put a hi-tek car on the water. Crowds are a part of ownin' a custom, I guess. If you weren't wearin' a badge, or tryin' for one, you probably weren't out there, but ya can catch a look at the Bandit at your local car shows. Watch for it. See ya!
Ed
"Big Daddy" Roth March 4, 1932 - April 4, 2001
"I'd Like To Thank My Father In Heaven For The Health, Strength And Revelation To Make These Things Possible", Ed "Big Daddy" Roth"
Ed Roth began driving cars when he was 12 years old. It was in Southern California, right after World War II, and cars were what every young man was dreaming about. At first Ed did the same thing his buddies were doing: He'd buy an old car, like a '32 three-window coupe, and customize it for racing or cruising. Then, in the late '50s, he did something no one else had tried. He started building cars from scratch.
Using simple tools, junkyard parts, and a new, inexpensive material called fiberglass, Roth created automobiles in his garage. The first one was named, appropriately enough, the "Outlaw." It was proof that anyone can indeed do-it-yourself, without a team of engineers and a Detroit assembly line. All that was really needed was hard work and imagination.
Ed had plenty of imagination. He became "Big Daddy," a hot-rod Dr. Frankenstein who was more of a struggling artist than a mechanic. His garage became his studio. His cars were never meant to be driven: They were sculptures on wheels.
The Outlaw was followed by the "Beatnik Bandit"
and then "Rotar." Big Daddy Roth had to finance his creations by selling
T-shirts. On weekends, he would set up a booth at a drag strip or car show or
county fair and personally airbrush shirts. He would draw cartoons of monsters
and pictures of cars, but when he airbrushed T-shirts with monsters driving
cars, people began to line up at his booth.
His most popular monster was a repulsive rodent named Rat Fink. Roth was a genius
at designing cars, but it was "Finkie" who brought him fame and fortune.
By 1963, pimply teenagers across America were buying Rat Fink model kits and
mass-produced Rat Fink T-shirts.
His garage/studio evolved into the blue-collar 
equivalent
of Andy Warhol's Factory. His new shop was located in Lakewood, California.
Dozens of employees helped Big Daddy create more Kustom Kars, T-shirts, records,
and Revell produced model car kits patterned after his creations. Rat Fink was
soon joined by other gross, disgusting creatures driving the coolest hot rods.
Alienated adolescents who knew they'd never fit in now had their own heroes: Drag Nut, Mother's Worry, Mr. Gasser, and other members of the Rat Fink family. The message was clear (even if it wasn't the one Roth had intended): Ugly is beautiful, and being a weirdo is cool. It was a lesson some would never forget.
By the end of the '60s, the damage had been done.
Those kids freaked out and found new things to believe in. Psychedelia killed
the Rat. Big Daddy Roth started chopping motorcycles and hanging out with bikers.
His business fell apart and he had problems with the law. He bottomed out, found
religion, and disappeared.
|
The Holy Grail |
Keep The Junk! |
|
Generations On The Salt |
Walkin' On Water |
|
Big Daddy Roth |
|