Roth’s son, Dennis “Little Daddy” Roth, said car talk breaks down all barriers. “You can tell when you meet another car person,” Lopez said. Roth invited Lopez to his house: That’s the way it is with car people. He said, ‘You are a painter? You’d probably like to my latest project.’ “ “I’d been drawing his characters since I was 10 years old,” Lopez said. The South Lake Tahoe resident, who had been following Big Daddy’s career his entire life, went to the demonstration and started a conversation with the hot rod icon. While vacationing in Southern California, Bob Lopez heard that Ed “Big Daddy” Roth was going to pinstripe a car for the public. … He’s probably looking down on me and my brothers going ‘Good on you.’ “ “Filling Big Daddy’s shoes is quite a job. “This is just a progression of what I’ve been doing the whole time,” Little Daddy said. His major project for the year is a street-legal version of the Beatnik Bandit, which he hope to complete in time for an annual industry show in Las Vegas. At the end of the month he will tour Germany. Little Daddy, who still lives in his father’s hometown of Bell in Los Angeles County, attends about 20 shows a year. “It’s kind of crazy to see the cars you that worked on as kid in a museum sitting side by side with cars Henry Ford built,” Little Daddy said. In 1997, they created a new Beatnik Bandit, and both versions of the cars are on display at the National Automobile Museum in Reno. “Everybody knew my dad was Big Daddy Roth, so they called my Little Daddy, and it stuck.”Īfter his time in the military, Little Daddy resumed working on cars with his father. “I used to get letters from my dad when I was in the Army,” he said. Little Daddy picked up his nickname when he was in the military. “I’m Shifty Powers because I have the power to shift, baby.” “My dad was Rat Fink, and I think through the other characters there’s a little bit of me in every one of them,” Little Daddy said. It’s possible he’s been breathing the fumes of the paint too.” “Little Daddy is Shifty Powers,” said Steve “Vasco” Vasconcellos of Galerie Blu’u. The joystick steering control under the hot rod’s bubble top led to the creation of the character Shifty Powers. “The first car I ever worked on was the original (1962) Beatnik Bandit.” “We all had to work in the shop when we were 5 years old,” Little Daddy said. However, he’s been working at it since he was a youngster. I’m the one that they make do all the work.”Īlong with craziness, Little Daddy has inherited his dad’s skill. “My brothers help me, but the main part of it is me,” Little Daddy said.
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