By the mid-to-late '50s, there were also other 'glass kit car bodies on the market besides the aforementioned Sorrell as well. Such as those produced by Devin and Glasspar-Glasspar being the company chosen to make the Bob Gurr-designed bodies for Disneyland's new Autopia attraction. Fiberglass was also a material used in quite a few B-ville efforts of the '50s, among them the Hill-Davis "City of Burbank" streamliner and yet another Bill Burke car, a tinly Zero-Class racer. Most of these were laid up in 'glass, either as a mold or as the body proper, over a plaster buck. I only mention these hot rodding pioneers to show examples in the use of 'glass for car bodies that Ed would have been exposed to, making his dream(s) become reality, not to diminish his contribution in any way. He was the first, as far as anyone is aware, to create a stylized hot rod in this manner.
In the Thacker/Roth book, Ed is quoted as saying, "In '57 I started playin' with 'glass." In Pat Ganahl's book, Ed Fuller mentions he helped Roth with 'glass on the Outlaw because he'd had experience building a Bonneville streamliner body that was eventually sold to Mickey Thompson. In the Thacker/Roth book, Ed talks about working at the Crazy Painters (The Baron, Roth, and Kelly) at the 9001 Atlantic Ave. address in Southgate, California, saying: "All this time I was carvin' away on the Outlaw. The Baron used to get upset a lot 'cause I'd take every spare minute to go to junkyards and work on the design." This, I feel, substantiates my claim (even though most sources don't concur) that the Outlaw was at least started at the Southgate shop, and not completely built from start to finish in Maywood. Of the fact that it was finished at the Crazy Painters' shop at 4616 Slauson Ave., Maywood, California, (soon changed to "Roth Studios") there is no doubt. Following then are my recollections of Excaliber's bare-bones beginnings. I distinctly remember that blob of a body ('glass or plaster, I don't recall) sitting on its chassis at the southeast corner of the Crazy Painters lot on Atlantic Avenue. The date is not in my memory bank either, but one thing I do know, it was before my 16th birthday (March 18, 1958), as I didn't have my driver's license yet and my folks had to drive me and a couple of high school buddies up Atlantic from Long Beach to order airbrushed sweatshirts to be picked up a day or so later. Mine was painted by Kelly-wish I still had it.
The Outlaw is the only Roth car (note, I didn't say "vehicle") credited with having been popped from a mold (more on this later), as Ed had plans to market the bodies. That he did, but with limited success-how limited depends on your source of information and whom you wish to believe. I've found the following production numbers in my research: Roth recounts in his and Thacker's book: "I made two bodies and sold one to some unsuspecting dude down the street. I only made one grille shell, though, so tough toodies!" In Ganahl's book on Roth, Ed Fuller estimates "that they made 12 or 13 bodies to sell-just the body, not the nose." Pat states, "I have personally seen three cars in various parts of the country, built from Roth Outlaw bodies." Then, in Pat's tome, "The American Custom Car," he states, "Ed Fuller, who worked for Roth at the time, once estimated that they made 12 to 15 of these bodies, but I have only seen two that were made into cars (and Roth made only the body, not the nose, for sale)." In Last Gasp Publishing's book, guest author Rob Fortier (also a friend of BDR's) says, "Two bodies would be popped from the mold for the Outlaw, the second body became an unusual bucket T hot rod." Lastly, we have the book "Hot Rod Milestones," by Ken Gross and Robert Genat (CarTech Inc, 2005), where the Outlaw is the only Roth car featured. Here it states Ed Roth "offered copies of the body shell for $230." On this, most all sources agree. It continues, "Supposedly, three of the bodies were sold." My take on Gross and Genat's count is that they're relying on Pat Ganahl's sightings, as he (Pat) is quoted liberally throughout their chapter on the Outlaw.