Rarity is always a factor when it comes to car collecting and automotive history and one-off customs, by definition, are as rare as they come. But individuality alone does not equate to importance. There are a few hot rods that stand out as the icons. We’re talking about the ingenious creations fueled by an individual’s vision, fabricated by hand with blood, sweat, and tears as building blocks, that caused a sensation or changed the world of custom cars. Beginning in the late 1930s, the rise of the hot rod accelerated and brought iconic cars such as the Pierson Brothers’ aerodynamic ’34 Coupe, Bob Hirohata’s two-tone Sea Foam and Organic Green ’51 Merc, and Tom McMullen’s infamous blazing black ’32 Roadster.
In celebration of such cars and their influence, Championship Auto Shows Inc. assembled a group of the world’s most iconic hot rods for its “Most Significant Hot Rods of the 20th Century” showcase at the 2020 Detroit Autorama. Peter Toundas, President of Championship Auto Shows and the brains behind the special display, told us that, though it took a long time to arrange transportation for the five hot rods to all appear in one place, he immediately knew which cars were worthy of the honor.
The Outlaw
“Everybody knows who Ed Roth is,” Toundas began. “I wanted to showcase Ed’s two most famous cars that he ever built, which of course were the Outlaw and Bandit.” The Outlaw was Ed’s first custom, based off of a monster drawing which appeared on the back of his collectible sweatshirts. This build marks the beginning of Ed’s journey in molding custom bodies from his self-taught plaster and fiberglass method.
After his failed attempts at forming wood into complex curves for the molds, Ed turned to casting plaster, which ended up being a better, less-expensive material to work with. Since this was well before the internet and working with fiberglass was a relatively unknown art, Ed couldn’t turn to anyone for advice. He learned by trying different mixtures and methods over, and over, and over again. According to Roth’s book, Hot Rods, he destroyed a pair of pants every day that he worked with fiberglass. He coated his shoes in black paint every four days to cover the mess. He had to save money for the Outlaw’s chrome, after all.
The most impressive thing about Roth’s builds isn’t just each car’s hand-molded characteristic, but also in the way each mismatched part miraculously works together. To start, the Outlaw’s body sits on a 1929 Ford Model A frame fitted with a Model T crossmember. Ed found a junkyard 1950 Cadillac engine and took it to his local mechanic for a rebuild, where it also received four Stromberg 97 carburetors mounted on a Cragar manifold. Finned valve covers, a chromed oil pan, and a long pair of sweeping Zoomie headers complete the look. A stock DKW radiator cools the mammoth Cadillac engine behind a custom grille that Roth fabricated from a ’59 Chevy.
Roth combined coil springs from a 1958 Chevy with Airflow trailer cushions and Mercury outboard shocks, then mounted on a 1937 Ford front axle. The rest of the running gear came from a 1948 Ford. Ed used a 1922 Dodge windshield frame and installed blue tinted safety glass. The taillights are off of a ’58 Chevy Bel Air, fitted with ’56 Chevy lenses, and the front quad headlights are from a ’59 Rambler. The steering gear came out of a ’41 Ford, and inside, Ed installed a ’58 Chevrolet Impala steering wheel. Seven Stewart-Warner gauges keep the driver in the know. The list goes on, but you get the point.
Ed took trophy after trophy with the Outlaw. It landed the cover of Car Craft in January 1960. In 1961, Ed sold the car for $3,250 to fund his next project, the Beatnik Bandit, which brings us to our next honorable mention.
The Beatnik Bandit
Ed Roth’s Beatnik Bandit, named after an actual bank robber, was first revealed as a concept sketch to the public in Rod & Custom’s June 1960 issue, in a story titled “The Graph of Roth.” Ed worked together with Joe Henning to get his vision down on paper but, like most of Roth’s builds, the design changed several times during assembly. And so began the meshing of parts and materials.
The Beatnik’s base is a shortened 1950 Oldsmobile chassis, but the first thing that draws the eye is the 360-degree plexiglass canopy atop of the hand-formed fiberglass body. Believe it or not, Roth made the bubble top using a pizza oven, heating up a plastic panel and blowing it up like a balloon before it cooled. The top is operated by a fender-mounted antenna. A single chromed center stick controls the car’s steering, gas, and shifting. According to Ed, the Beatnik is his first build that he hauled on a trailer to get from show to show. Innovative or not, we’re guessing the single-stick operation might have something to do with the car’s drivability, or lack thereof.
The original Oldsmobile engine was rebuilt by Fritz Voight and is fed by a Bell Auto Parts blower and twin Ford carbs. Larry Watson, the same paint-slinger who sprayed the Outlaw, also painted Beatnik, but this time Roth didn’t have the funds required. Instead, he made a deal with Watson to pay in Rat Fink T-shirts.
Once complete, Ed hauled the Beatnik Bandit to car shows all over the country. The car saw several changes over the years, including a green paint scheme and interior overhaul. Roth sold the car for a mere $50 to Jim Brucker in 1970, and then Jim traded it in with a group of cars in 1973 to Harrah’s Automobile collection. Harrah’s restored the Bandit to its original, and current, condition in 1985.
“K” is for “Kookie”
Peter Toundas was excited to display Norm Grabowski’s “Kookie’s Kart” for two reasons, “I knew it had been recently restored, and it gave the overall showcase an extra-special meaning to reunite the Kookie car with its rival built by Tommy Ivo.” The two were first seen together at the 2019 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, which had a special “Historic Hot Rod Cover Cars” class that year.
According to the details revealed in a previous Hemmings article, it is clear that this 1922 Ford is not your typical cookie cutter build. It began life as “The Lightnin’ Bug,” painted neutral black with a red rolled and pleated interior. The car appeared briefly in The Ford Television Theatre, and it immediately caught Hot Rod magazine’s attention, which landed the car a cover photo in the October 1955 issue.
It didn’t take long for Norm to mix it up a bit. By 1956, he added a four-deuce manifold and brought it to Valley Custom Shop where the car received its Royal Blue paint with flames flickering across the cowl sides. This motif was made famous by the TV series 77 Sunset Strip, which is also how it acquired its designation as “The Kookie Kar.” Teenagers all over the U.S. went crazy about Kookie and sought out their very own T-buckets to hop up. In fact, this is the car that started the mid-1950s T-bucket craze in Southern California.
Roy Brizio Street Rods restored the car for the current owner (3 Dog Garage) to Norm Grabowski’s original build condition, just in time for its Pebble debut.
The trendsetting custom also caught the attention of actor, racer, and builder Tommy “TV” Ivo, who was reportedly pushed aside when he asked Norm a very personal question: He wanted measurements of Kookie. Ivo found a way around the rejection and took the necessary dimension of Kookie on his own accord. Ivo’s take on Grabowski’s car was almost as popular as the original, which leads us to the next featured hot rod.
Building a Record Breaker
The Kookie T and Tommy Ivo’s T were reunited at Autorama 2020 after more than 50 years of separation. “These historic hot rods have a racing history and were once rivals on the racetrack, and I am grateful to have arranged for the cars to be parked side-by-side in our iconic display,” Peter said.
Ivo completed his Buick Nailhead-powered ‘25 T-bucket in 1956 and immediately started setting records at the strip. Hot Rod’s August 1957 issue boasted that the combination of lightweight and pavement-pounding torque racked up 21 trophies. The car ran elapsed times of just under 11 seconds in the quarter-mile with trap speeds reaching 119 mph and was undefeated in its class. The car had the looks, too, finding its way into several TV shows and movies. Despite his build’s success, Tommy Ivo sold the hot rod while he was ahead, just a year after completion. He went on to compete as one of drag racing’s first touring professional drivers in Top Fuel.
After the car’s retirement from drag racing, it changed hands and faces a couple times. Bill Roland purchased the car and painted it Cobalt Blue. George Barris added square headlights. It served as a show car in the ’60s, often times alongside Grabowski’s T. After its touring life ended, the car sat untouched for several years before Hy Rosen purchased it from Bill Roland and made several changes before taking it back to the custom car show circuit. It eventually secured a spot in Rosen’s garage where it remained hidden for 30 years, until Hy’s son, Jack Rosen, got the car the restoration it deserved. History continued and the revived car made the cover of Hot Rod again in 2005.
Taking the High Road
Bob McGee’s 1932 Ford Highboy Roadster is a car that claims many firsts in hot rod history. “I selected the Bob McGee’s Highboy because it was the first car to ever appear on the cover of Hot Rod magazine in October 1948,” Toundas said. It was also the first ever hot rod to be dressed in metallic flake paint, but it took two decades and several build variations to get there.
With the help of Jimmy Summers and Whitney Clayton, two of most legendary metal workers in his day, Bob completed the build’s first version in just four months upon his return from the War in 1947. His ultimate goal was to create a straight bodyline that sat low and parallel to the horizon. A dropped front axle and kicked-up rear frame with reversed springs made his vision a reality.
Other modifications included hidden door hinges, a custom fabricated full-length deck lid, and an innovative three-piece hood with a unique latching mechanism. Under the hood, a ported, relieved, and bored 236-cu.in.’34 Ford engine was stuffed with a Bertrand cam, 21-stud Federal Mogul bronze heads, and twin Stromberg 97 carburetors on a Burns intake manifold. A Zephyr transmission paired with a Ford differential turned the rear tires, which were stopped by hydraulic brakes.
Near the end of 1960, the car’s fourth owner, Dick Scritchfield, gave the roadster its famed first-ever metallic paint job, which was featured in Hot Rod magazine’s February 1961 cover story on metal flake paint. Scritchfield also switched up other items on the roadster, including replacing the dropped axle for a rare Bell 4-inch dropped tube axle, installing a quick-change rear end, and chroming the remaining suspension parts.
In 1970, Dick set a record of 165 mph racing in the C/Roadster class at Bonneville. The next year he went back to set a new land speed record as the world’s fastest roadster with a 168.212-mph run. By that time, the car’s power came from a 350-cu.in. Chevrolet V-8. Dick held the record for nine years and he continued to drive the Ford on the street. The car appeared in several movies and television shows, including Dragnet, 77 Sunset Strip, Happy Days, and Fantasy Island.
In 1999, the car’s current owner, Bruce Meyer, hired the So-Cal Speed Shop to restore the car back to its original version. It was the 16th vehicle added to the National Historic Vehicle Register on April 12, 2017, for its significance in American automotive history.
Considering the tests of time, it’s incredible that each featured vehicle survived long enough for us to admire them on the white carpet. The above mentions certainly made their mark in hot-rodding history, but every hot rod has a story, and it’s never the same story twice. This is where we open up the conversation to you: Tell us what other still-existing builds deserve a place in the spotlight in the comments below.
