Druid PrincessOf all Roth's fantastic fiberglass creations (and clones thereof) displayed at the Detroit Autorama, if the Outlaw was a first, the Beatnik Bandit a styling icon, Mysterion an engineering disaster, Road Agent a foreshadowing of air-cooled "pushers" yet to come, and Surfite a foot into showbiz, then the Druid Princess was a chance at becoming a network TV star-a chance that never quite materialized.
Norm Grabowski, more than likely, started the whole car as a star on series TV thing with his Kookie T on "77 Sunset Strip" in the late '50s. A rash of sitcoms and adventure series using customized and purpose-built cars of all manners quickly followed this-like Dean Jeffries' Monkeemobile and Black Beauty, George Barris' Batmobile, and more specifically, the Munsters' transport of choice, their Munster Coach.
Well, you see, there was this competing show to "The Munsters" called "The Addams Family," and they were shopping for a car, and well, it was worth a shot-right? At least that's what BDR thought, so he quickly summoned Ed Newton and Tom Daniel, and put them to work designing something appropriate for such an unorthodox family unit.
Pat Ganahl's take in his book goes in part like this: "Roth's story was that the car was supposedly built for the 'Addams Family' television program, but that the show got canceled before the car was finished. I don't know if that's true, but it makes a good story." Pat also says of the Princess construction, "Roth hired Dan Woods to build it after seeing his Milk Truck at the L.A. Tridents' car show and Woods brought along his buddy Jim 'Jake' Jacobs." An interesting aside to this is Steve Estrin, who owned the Princess for several years until just recently (and had it on display at Starbird's museum), has obtained Woods' Milk Truck and is planning a full restoration.
Pat also says, "Jake said the body was already built when he and Woods were hired to do the rest of the car." The body, as that of Woods' Milk Truck, was made of plywood. Ed Roth's son, Darryl, is responsible for the look the "Princess has today-Tru-Spoke wires with radial T/A's replacing Cragar SS five-spokers mounting Indy-style rubber; chromed instead of white headers; interior redecoration with white pearl Naugahyde replacing a similar upholstery job by Perez in lavender; and at least a couple of re-sprays over the Larry Watson-applied pearl (Larry says it was gold murano in Pat's book) with lavender 'veiling,'" a Watson specialty (thick paint applied with low pressure through a special gun).
Before Darryl had Pete Santini repaint the Princess (twice), he's said to have stripped the body and 'glassed it with or without his father's help, depends whether you read Pat's book (with!), or Thacker/Roth (without!). Personally, I recommend both as required reading. Pat relates: "[Darryl] said it didn't have any fiberglass cloth on it, but they added some during the rebuild." Earlier Pat says, "Of course, the body is made of plywood, with a whole bunch of molded picture frame decorations glued to it. I don't know if Ed (or somebody else) fiberglassed over the whole body, but it appears to have some fiberglass cloth on it (at the corners and edges), and at least a coat of resin." Pat's right, as indeed it did have just that in a construction photo in the Thacker/Roth book with Jake and Woods shown clowning around. Here one can plainly see untrimmed, resin-saturated 'glass cloth hanging from the cowl over a hole cut to accommodate the steering. This and two other photos also show 'glass cloth reinforcement at the corners, as well as a few almost seemingly random pieces to hold the already cut-out driver-side door in alignment.
Darryl Roth has two pages in the Thacker/ Roth book where he describes both his "restoration" of the Druid Princess and the Bike Truck. I guess the question of the day is why the Princess was painted so many times, and why it looks the way it does now instead of the way it looked then. Darryl explains, "My little girl always said that was her car and I asked her what color she wanted it painted and she said 'purple.'" I could quote the painting episode word for word, but as the hour is getting late, I'll simply do a "Reader's Digest" version on Darryl's tale in the Thacker/Roth book and let that suffice. It boils down to Darryl taking the car to Pete Santini and telling he what he wanted. Santini is said to have done a bang-up job and Big Daddy dropped by to see it. He apparently didn't like what he saw and told Pete he'd do some airbrushing on it. What he's said to have done is airbrush stick men on it-really! Darryl then didn't like what he saw and had Pete paint it once more, which I'd assume is the paintjob it wears today; however, I wouldn't stake my life on it, just my reputation as a journalist-ha!
Today, Dave Bengochea of Winnemucca, Nevada, holds the title (well, at least he's the owner-I have my doubts the DMV has any record of its existence as a motorized vehicle), and Steve Estrin regrets accepting that offer he apparently couldn't refuse.