Rat Fink Reunion 2001

Hey Gang,

Before we take look at Ed's Words I wanted to explain a few things... Ed wanted to move the Reunion up ta tha Bonneville / Wendover area for the past few years... We started seriously lookin' into it in the fall of 2000 and then after the Moon Shut down Ed really wanted to make the move.

Well when Ed passed away I knew Ed really wanted to do this thing and I had planned to but I sort of put the concept on the back burner cuz I had our Big Rat Fink.Party and Kustom Kulture Extravaganza ta take care of at the time.

O.K. so here's the real weird stuff... I wuz sittin' there one day at my puter just a thinkin'bout wot Ed wanted ta do with tha Reunion. When I decided to check in on my e-mail would ya believe it Scott Ross with Drive magazine sent me this column that Ed had put together and he asked me wot I wuz-a-gonna do about it.

Tell ya wot ... It wuz just like Ed got up and slapped me upside tha head and said "Wake up dude don't forget about the Rat Fink Reunion !" Man-0-Man this message put motor in my emotions and a flame in my heart ta get this thing done. So anyway here we are and were gonna do this thing on the 15th of December 2001. The Reunion will be a little different than his description like We Will Be Racing on that day and The Stealth most likely will Not be there but other than that pretty much Ed's word is Ed's word...

Subject: RF Reunion On The Salt?
Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2001 10:03:47 -0700
From: editor <editor@driveonline.com>
To: "Moldy Marvin" <moldy@ratfink.org>

Hiya Moldy!

I've got the fixes in the works for the July RF Party (we'll run the info you sent in DRIVElines in the front of the book). Do you have any other late-braking show nooz to put in there?

Also, Ed wrote a column calling for the next December RF Reunion to be held on the road to the Bonneville Salt Flats this coming December 15th. I'm including the text of that column below for your information.

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Back From The Future 144

HEAD: Party With Big Daddy Roth!
DECK: Rat Fink Partyin' At Bonneville!

By Ed "Big Daddy" Roth.

(Editor's Note: Ed "Big Daddy" Roth passed away on April 4, 2001. This column was written by Ed before his passing.)

As you probably know by now, the RAT FINK party at Mooneyes got shut down by the cops in December of 2000. We were just gettin' ready to have the charity auction for the Shriners Hospital in L.A., when all of a sudden they swooped down on us. "Go or get taken" was the word from the head cop. So we went. There was no auction for those well-prepared pieces of art by Jimmy C, the Two Coops, the Beatnik artists, etc.

Each year for the last 38 years, this party has grown to a huge size. It all started out at the old shop in Maywood, when a group of employees and our friends would get together a coupla days before Christmas, sit around and swap stories. I'd close down the silk screen presses, send the girls home early, and we'd "swap lies" and party. We shifted to the "Cars Of The Stars" Museum in the '70s. I can remember going to Andy Brizio's picnic in Vallejo, and wondering how he got soooo many people there! Same as Goodguy Gary Meadors. Some of his first rod runs were very small.

But they are huge now, and gain more national attention and press every year.
It seems like events get bigger each year, and when an attendance limit is reached, ya either gotta quit or change locations.

So what I'm doing is switching the party to the Bonneville Salt Flats, and having it on December 15th, 2001. Actually, it will be on the two-mile road going out to the salt. I'm gonna bring my latest show car, "Stealth 2000" for its last public appearance, and I'm also gonna have a lot of hand-painted metal sheets with pinstriping on them. I hope that
enough folks will bring some 10-gallon trash cans so's we can paint 'em up, and if we don't sell 'em there, we will put them on the www.ratfink.org website (run by Moldy Marvin), and send the profits to the kids at the Shriners Hospital in Salt Lake City.

Auctioning trash cans off at these parties began when "Shaky Jake," the beloved pinstriper from the California beach area, died unexpectedly and left his widow virtually penniless. The Rat Fink Party that year was
dedicated to raising some cash for his wife, Joy. In those years, we had the party at Kim & Ed's sign shop next to the Fender Guitar Factory. Then, for a few years, MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Drivers) got the profits from the art auction. We also did more artsy stuff besides the trash cans. Nowadays, vendors come with posters, knick-knacks and
gearshift knobs.

I hope that you can mark December 15th on your calendars and make it out to Bonneville. No racing, but a lot of good times and stories will be there. I...BIG DADDY ROTH...HAVE SPOKEN!

Fink and Ed "Big Daddy" Roth are trademarks of Ed Roth (C) 2001.

Scott Ross
Editor
DRIVE!Media
(925) 682-9900
www.driveonline.com

(Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, Rat Fink, Beatnik Bandit, Road Agent, Outlaw, Mysterion, Tweedy Pie, Stealth 2000, Surfite, Wild Child,
Angel Fink, Robin Hood Fink, Mothers Worry, & Dragnut are all trademarks of Ed Roth (C) '99)

*Rat Fink Party 2001*	*Rat Fink Party 2000*
*Rat Fink Reunion 1999*	*Rat Fink Reunion 2000*