Rat Fink
Encyclopedia
Hot rod
Hot rods are typically American cars with large engines modified for linear speed. The origin of the term "hot rod" is unclear. One explanation is that the term is a contraction of "hot roadster," meaning a roadster that was modified for speed. Another possible origin includes modifications to or...
characters created by one of the originators of Kustom Kulture
Kustom Kulture
"Kustom Kulture" is an American neologism used to describe the artworks, vehicles, hairstyles, and fashions of those who drove and built custom cars and motorcycles in the United States of America from the 1950s through today....
, Ed "Big Daddy" Roth
Ed Roth
"Big Daddy" Ed Roth was an artist, cartoonist, custom car painter, and pinstriper who created the hot-rod icon Rat Fink and other extreme characters. As a custom car builder, Roth was a key figure in Southern California's Kustom Kulture and hot-rod movement of the late 50's and 1960's...
. Roth conceived Rat Fink as an anti-hero answer to Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
. After he placed Rat Fink on an airbrushed monster shirt, the character soon came to symbolize the entire Hot Rod/Kustom Kulture scene of the 1950s and 1960s.
Roth began airbrushing and selling "Weirdo" t-shirts at Car Shows and in the pages of Hot Rod publications such as Car Craft
Car Craft
Car Craft is a magazine devoted to automobiles, hot rodding, and drag racing. It is published by Source Interlink Media. It was first established in 1953...
in the late 1950’s. By the August 1959 issue of Car Craft "Weirdo shirts" had become a full blown craze with Ed Roth at the forefront of the movement.
Rat Fink was advertised for the first time in the July 1963 issue of Car Craft
Car Craft
Car Craft is a magazine devoted to automobiles, hot rodding, and drag racing. It is published by Source Interlink Media. It was first established in 1953...
. The ad called it “The rage in California”. Also in 1963 the Revell
Revell
Revell is the brand name today of two manufacturers of scale plastic models. The original US company merged with another, Monogram, but now trades only under the Revell name. European Revell Germany separated from the US company in 2006.-Early history:...
Model Company issued a plastic model kit of the character. The initial run of the kit was from 1963 to 1965, but the Rat Fink kit along with Roth’s other creations have been re-issued by Revell over the years. Rat Fink continues to be a popular item to this day in Hot Rod and Kustom Culture circles in the form of t-shirts, key chains, wallets, toys, decals, etc.
Rat Fink is green, depraved-looking with bulging, bloodshot eyes, an oversize mouth with yellowed, narrow teeth, and a red T-shirt with yellow "R.F." on it.
Other artists associated with Roth also drew the character, including Rat Fink Comix artist R.K. Sloane and Steve Fiorilla
Steve Fiorilla
Steve Fiorilla was an American artist born in Paterson, New Jersey, who lived and worked in Buffalo, New York. Throughout his career, Fiorilla emphasized the grotesque and surreal in illustrations, sculpture and fine art. As a sculptor, he produced a variety of bizarre, malformed creatures...
, who illustrated Roth's catalogs. Rat Fink and Roth are featured in Ron Mann
Ron Mann
Ronald "Ron" Mann is a Canadian documentary film director focusing primarily on aspects of Canadian and American popular culture. He does most of his work through his company Sphinx Productions, while also running a film distribution company on the side called 'FilmsWeLike'. Mann has also put...
's documentary film Tales of the Rat Fink (2006). Jeannette Catsoulis reviewed in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
:
- Ogling fins and drooling over fenders, the movie traces the colorful history of the hot rod from speed machine to babe magnet and, finally, museum piece and collector’s item. Along the way we learn of Mr. Roth’s lucrative idea to paint hideous monsters — including the Rat Fink of the title — on children’s T-shirts, a sartorial trend that, in the 1960s, had the added benefit of getting their wearers banned from school, thus giving them more time to play with Mr. Roth's model car kits. I'll bet Donald Trump wishes he had thought of that one.
Grunge
Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...
/punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
movements. The term fink was originally underworld
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
slang for an informer. It derives from the German word for "finch" -- i.e. one who "sings" -- and is comparable to a "stool pigeon". A ratfink is an intensified version of a "fink." By the time Roth used this name for a character, the term had started to pass into more general usage. It is also thought to have been a toned-down form of "ratfucking," a slang term for playing dirty tricks.