Ed "Big Daddy" Roth Tribute Thread!

[Hepcat]

The same theme could also spawn a number of "Big Daddy" Roth T-shirt designs over time. "Help Promote Street Racing" was a particularly good example of the evolution of the same basic theme:

[Hepcat]

I'm not sure which of these pencil and ink offerings Wes Bennett did first although one was clearly repurposed for the other:





But for whatever reason I prefer the Chicken Delight one.

[Hepcat]

Most of the Revell Ed "Big Daddy" Roth Iron-On Transfers consist of simplified redrawings of the model kit box art:









This of course is not surprising since the Iron-On Transfers were a Revell release as opposed to a direct release from Roth Studios. But some of the Iron-On Transfers didn't mirror any of Revell's Roth kit releases:



These Iron-On Transfers that weren't based on a Revell kit seemed to be somewhat simplified redraws of "Big Daddy" Roth's T-shirt designs. Here are a couple examples:









The colouring of the above two T-shirt designs was once again by our dearly departed Weldonmc.

[Hepcat]

The same theme could of course spawn more than one T-shirt design after some time had passed:

[Hepcat]

It's also interesting to track how the nature of "Big Daddy" Roth's T-shirt designs evolved through the mid-1960's. In the 1963 to 1965 period the focus was largely on the monster finks in their cars:









By 1966 though the designs were featuring mostly the cars themselves:

























Here's an ad from 1969 that illustrates the extent to which "Big Daddy" Roth's T-shirt offerings had evolved away from monster finks by the late 1960's:



This was perhaps due to custom hot rod culture having been supplanted by the instant muscle offered by dedicated factory street rods, i.e. muscle cars, that arose in the latter part of the 1960's. Since muscle car enthusiasts were keen on celebrating their loyalties to certain models, the focus of "Big Daddy" Roth's T-shirt designs shifted to cater to this new market preference.



P.S.: All full colour designs courtesy of Weldonmc.

[Hepcat]

Annette and "Big Daddy" Roth circa 1965:



'Nuff said!

[Hepcat]

While Ed Newton has indicated to me that he did the finished line art for all the new "Big Daddy" Roth designs from the latter part of 1964 through to the end of the 1960's, I've found several anomalous designs that don't reflect his style in any way. Take these designs for Volkswagens coloured in by Weldonmc. The first is clearly one rendered by Newt:



But these latter two just don't reflect Newt's art style at all:



Now I have heard that "Big Daddy" Roth occasionally consented to turn fan art sent to him into T-shirt designs. That certainly looks to be the case in the bottom two designs.