Of all the wild machines Ed "Big Daddy" Roth dreamed up over his career, the 1992 Conestoga "Star Wagon" might be the most charming. It is one of the smallest things he ever built, a fully functional little runabout assembled around a child's pull wagon and motivated by a single-horsepower Briggs & Stratton lawnmower engine. Now this pint-sized piece of kustom kulture history is heading to auction, and it is crossing the block with no reserve.
Despite its tiny footprint, the Star Wagon is genuinely drivable. The pilot perches on the rear wing and rests both feet on either side of the steering column. Underneath sit coil-spring front suspension, a single rear disc brake, and chunky go-kart slicks at all four corners. In true Roth fashion, the parts list reads like a treasure hunt through a workshop scrap bin.
By Roth's own account, the front suspension springs began life as big-block Chevrolet valve springs, the rear axle came out of a lawn tractor, and the handmade frame and steering were fashioned from tubing, water pipe, and odds and ends of scrap metal. The go-kart tires and rims were sourced from K-Rims in Azusa, California, the chrome was handled by Metal Masters of Salt Lake City, Bruce Nells of Manti, Utah laid down the paint, and "Downtown" Willy from Concepts in Buena Park took care of the upholstery.
A Quick Look At Big Daddy Roth
Born in Beverly Hills in 1932 and raised in nearby Bell, California, Roth split his school days between auto shop and art class, two interests that would shape his entire life. He bought his first car, a 1933 Ford coupe, at just 14, studied engineering, and served in the Air Force before turning to fiberglass experiments in the early 1950s. He first found an audience airbrushing grotesque, bug-eyed "Weirdo" monster shirts and selling them at car shows, and the money funded his real obsession: building custom cars that blurred the line between sculpture and engineering.
His show cars only grew wilder over time, from the Cadillac-powered Outlaw of 1959 to the bubble-topped Beatnik Bandit, the twin-engined Mysterion, the space-age Orbitron, and beyond. Toy giant Revell licensed model kits of his creations, and the Beatnik Bandit became one of the original 16 Hot Wheels cars in 1968. Above all, his drooling Rat Fink character turned Roth into a pop-culture icon whose imagery still echoes through hot rod and punk culture today. After a quieter stretch as a sign painter, he returned to building in the late 1980s, and the Star Wagon dates from that later, playful period. Roth passed away in 2001, and a Rat Fink Reunion is still held in his honor each summer.
Heading To Auction
The Star Wagon is set to sell through Bonhams on June 13th with no reserve, which means it will find a new home at whatever the market decides on the day. For collectors of Roth memorabilia and kustom kulture history, a drivable, fully documented Big Daddy original at this scale is about as rare and fun as it gets.
See it here.
