Now, as far as the Outlaw nose itself goes, Roth's ad in the June, 1960 issue of Car Craft reads, "At last! Production is rolling on the fiberglass bodies and grilles of the famous Roth Outlaw roadster. Rush $1 for complete catalog and price sheet." That same issue's new products section, "CC Shops," has an entry, "Quad Lite Shells," where they state that Outlaw radiator shells are just $95, without lights. So, was Ed just testing the market, or was there actually a mold, indeed a stock of noses, on hand? Looks like we'll never know unless a onetime buyer drops us a line-so if you've got one, speak up!
In closing, one could write a whole volume on the Outlaw alone, and I think I just did, and hardly scratched the surface doing so. The point being that this is the first Roth 'glass car, and as such, many of the things said about it may apply to those that followed. On the other hand.
Tweedy PieCreating a timeline on Roth cars is not only quirky, but a bit jerky as well, because it's not exactly a lineal progression, as there are enough overlapping and gray areas around the edges concerning build dates and ownership to give even a seasoned graph maker the shakes. With that said, I'll attempt to proceed in as orderly a fashion as possible.
Tweedy Pie (incorrectly listed as "Tweety Pie" on its Detroit show card) is famous as a Roth car, indeed a Revell model, too, but truth be known, not only is it not made of fiberglass, it wasn't even built by Roth. Now owned by Larry Tarantolo of Custer Park, Illinois, and beautifully restored to the condition it was in when Big Daddy's name was on the registration, it too has a tale to tell.
The Tweedy Pie moniker and pinstriping (both by Roth) had already been applied to Bob Johnston's short lil' Flathead-powered, modified roadster when it appeared on the cover of the December '59 issue of Rodding and Re-Styling. (Note I prefer to call it a "modified" rather than a T-bucket as most do, as it has no bodywork behind the body, turtledeck, truck bed, etc.) Wheelbase on the altered Deuce frame was reduced to just 84 inches (according to the article) and that grille shell, though it didn't say, is a chopped Ford commercial item-possibly a '33-34. The feature on pages 12-15 of that same issue, however, shows it with a recently installed Chevy V-8 sporting a single four-barrel carb. This was clearly during Bob's ownership, but we don't know when the photos were shot-only in 1959 is as close as I can come. Now let's muddy the water a bit more by mentioning a photo of Tweedy Pie in the Nason/Escalante book, said to have been taken sometime in 1959 by Joe Barnett at an outdoor show held at Long Beach, California's Veterans Stadium. Pictured with Tweedy is Roth's Outlaw-still called Excaliber because it's running whitewall-shod chrome steelies up front instead of the later dragster spokes, and there's a white tarp covering what could be an unfinished (or at least pre-Martinez interior). Grabowski's Kookie T in its "77 Sunset Strip" livery is in the background, as well.
Now the fun begins: Note that Ganahl's book states, "When Roth got the car in early 1960, the first things he did were add six chromed '97 carbs on a polished Offy manifold, a set of chromed reversed wheels with baby Moons, and wide whitewalls, and one of his signature tubular nerf bars at the rear." In the photo in question, which also ran in TRJ No. 18, where it stated, "This photo was taken sometime in mid-1959," you'll note that Tweedy already sports at least the six-jug manifold, but none of the other Roth additions mentioned. So, it must have belonged to Ed at least by mid-'59 if we are to believe the estimated date to be anywhere correct-let's say we do!