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Rat fink motorcycle cop art1/26/2024 He became interested in hot rods and motorcycles at an early age and was a fan of Von Dutch and Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, whom he would later meet in California. Respected as an old school chopper builder, Larry sought greater acceptance of choppers being looked upon as an art form. He first became known as Indian Larry in the 1980s when he was riding the streets of New York City on a chopped Indian motorcycle. Indian Larry (born Lawrence DeSmedt Ap– August 30, 2004) was a motorcycle builder and artist, stunt rider, and biker. Old school (1950's–1960's hot rod - motorcycle culture) Kustom Kulture Roth had managed to Pinstripe, Flame, Scroll and Letter – in tiny script practically the entire surface of the Shop Interior with Big DaddySpeak.Motorcycle builder and artist, stunt rider, biker Walking into this archaic wooden, very rural-style shop left over from the Early 30’s Days of Knott’s, my expression upon meeting him was no doubt like those of the boys in that photo above, a Jaw-Dropping Idol of mine. So of course we went to see him, and I was Beside Myself. Big Daddy was working there at the time, toward the End of his Career. He obviously made an impression, as 10 or 15 years later, I was now a young Graphic Designer/Sign Maker sharing a studio not entirely different than Roth’s above with an early partner, whose Dad was Head of the Graphics and Sign Shop at Knott’s Berry Farm. Car Show, watching Roth airbrush T-shirts, just like in the photo up top there, by himself working away, covered in paint ~ a cloud of enamel haze around his head. Once at the young age of my Peers in the photo above, at an L.A. I was In The Presence of The Great Big Daddy Roth Twice. Considering a Warhol screenprint is now worth several hundred-thousand to millions of dollars – at the same time Big Daddy was knocking out hundreds of screenprints, all the while producing 3-dimensional full-size Rolling & Driving Works of Art.Ģ010 SmartCar or Big Daddy's Surfite ? 900 lbs., 40MPG ~ Ed Roth, 1964 Andy Warhol with regard to screenprinting technology. Roth did his original shirts by hand, graduating to silkscreens in one to 3-4 colors, a contemporary of Mr. Today we think of the T-shirt, with any manner of design on it, to be anywhere from ‘Designer’ couture – as in a simple black petite ladies T-shirt with ‘Prada’ on the front, to a 12 year-old’s latest Volcom ‘Surfwear’ 18-color-cool-for-a-week-design.Įvery time you see some ‘Metal’ or ‘Punk’-flavoured design or ‘Urban’ streetwear, and All the Kids and Half the Adults are ‘rocking’ Cool Skulls-this-or-that, you’ve got Big Daddy Roth to Thank, because he Did it First… He had quit his job as a Window Display artist at Sears-Roebuck and financed his Custom Car Creations work through sales of the ‘Monster’ T-shirts, travelling around to various Custom & Hot Rod Shows and related events for years, parlaying his designs into lucrative licensing agreements with Revell, for the Model Kits. But it was too complicated and besides, wood and me don’t jive! So I went to the local lumber yard and got some casting plaster (which is gross ’cause it dries so quick) but it was cheap and better’n wood.”īig Daddy Monster Shirts just $2.49 ! (in 1965)īig Daddy had a family to support. I knew fiberglas existed but couldn’t get anyone to help me (except Dirty Doug later on) so I was gonna make me a body outa wood like the Shadoff Special guys’d done. “First I had the frame which was your basic ’29 Ford rails and fitted this junk Caddy engine into (junk but ran good). Shoes was good for about 4 days before I’d throw a coat of black paint on ’em.” My pants are always ruined by the end of each day, but in them days I’d have to throw ’em away each day. I got some of the gooiest messes ya’d ever wanna see. It seemed too far out for my brain so I just dismissed it ’til I saw the LIFE article. It was also very cheap! It could also be done by people with little or no talent and I had both. Ya could’a knocked me over with a feather. ” In Africa I had got this fantastic idea for a fiberglas car when I saw a picture of Henry Ford beatin’ the trunk of one o’ his new ’41 Fords with a sledge hammer and it wouldn’t dent. Roth's Beatnik Bandit - controlled by a central 'Joystick', (no steering wheel) and hand-blown bubble top, 1960
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