Rat Finks will meet in spirit only

5-21-2020

MANTI—The 18th Annual Rat Fink Reunion to raise money for Manti and honor the famous hot rod artist Ed “Big Daddy” Roth will be going virtual this year.

The 2020 virtual auction, car show, artistic demonstrations and even a 5K virtual run will be held June 4-6 and all the details can be found at the website http://www.ratfink.com.

Ilene Roth, Ed’s widow and organizer of the reunion as well as the owner of the Rat Fink Museum in Manti, said the neatest thing about this year’s virtual format is that people who couldn’t otherwise travel to Manti to see the reunion can experience it from their living room.

“It’s totally amazing,” she said. “We are covering more states than ever before.”

Roth mentioned that 170 participants from 26 different states and even a couple of artists from New Zealand and Denmark are signed up for this year’s reunion.

“Big Daddy” passed away in 2001 and Ilene started the Rat Fink Reunion in 2002 to honor Ed’s life and work. He created the edgy hot rod art character know as Rat Fink in 1962 and his entire life he built custom cars from scratch. He was the first guy to put a design on a T-shirt, Ilene said.

Ed is being honored by the Corvette Museum with a year-long exhibit of Ed’s cars and his art. Discovery also went out there and video-taped the unveiling of one of Ed’s cars, called the Wishbone, Ilene said.

Normally, thousands of car culture enthusiasts flock to the museum and the annual car show.

The museum is still open by appointment and will be following social distance guidelines, Ilene said.

“Big Daddy” enthusiasts can still enjoy the reunion by going online. There will additional postings and information on the Rat Fink Facebook page.

The virtual reunion will feature online speakers, airbrushing and pinstriping demonstrations, unveiling of the Roth Trike Body, car show awards, artists’ interviews, music and more.