Roth of Ages

  When Big Daddy Roth died, we lost an immense part of our subculture being. They broke the plaster mold when he was born, and if you're reading this you've probably been inspired by him or his works, even if you hadn't realized it. I had mixed feelings about Roth in his later years. He walked away from the culture that he helped create, and felt like he had wasted his youth according to his biography. I couldn't understand how anyone could be so removed from something that was such a part of who they were for so long. He had re-married and found religion, and to him, the two worlds didn't fit together. It wasn't until a resurgence in the traditional hot rod scene came about that he popped back up and made appearances at shows and started creating again. Thats when I met him, sometime in the early 90's at the first Rat Fink reunion to be held at Mooneyes in Santa Fe Springs. I was a huge fan of his work, having been turned on to Rat Fink by my father who was a fan in the 60's, and his creations like The Beatnik Bandit and the Outlaw forever changed the way I looked at cars. He was also very supportive of the younger generation of artists and hot rodders, and even gave a young painter his name, The Harpoon. We all knew it was an honor to have Roth at the shows, and be part of the tiny but quickly growing scene again, but it wasn't until he passed away in 2001, that I realized what a loss it would be without him here. I hope I never take his art for granted, and I can understand him more now than I did back then. I made this piece in honor of Roth, for a tribute show in '01. RIP

"Roth of Ages"

tattoo ink on skin

mounted on green velvet

Hans Faber

I just got a call from my friend and neighbor Geoff who told me his dad passed away last night. His father Hans was one of the first people my wife and I met when we moved here. He would always be cruising around in his '40 Ford Tudor and passed his love of old cars onto his sons. I just saw him about a week ago tooling up our street in his new bone stock model A coupe. He will be missed. Geoffrey texted this pic of Hans in the early 70's to me a couple weeks ago. Rest In Piece...

Bill Jenks

went to Bill's memorial at Mooneyes today, he will be missed.

the Westerguard roadster

this car has gone pretty much un-noticed in the world of hotrodding when compared to some of the other milestone cars. Westerguard was famous for his clean and tasteful customs more than anything else, everyone pictures a carson topped '36 with a LaSalle grille when his name comes up. I love this car, it's bitchin. It has custom touches on a hotrod, which is very rare for the year that it was built, 1946. The '31 roadster was built for Norm Milne, a friend of Harry's and local Sacramento hotrodder. It sports a Hall-Scott balanced Merc flatty, with modified Denver heads, and a ported and relieved block. What surprised me the most about this car was the lack of chrome and door handles, it was much more slippery looking than other cars of that era, and the home made windshield that was easily removed for racing, just fits like a glove. It flowed into a custom made cockpit with a '36 plymouth dash and guages, and a '40 deluxe steering column with a column shifter. This car is supposed to be in mid-restoration, but I havent heard anything about it for a few years. Hopefully it will surface soon...