What do you get when you combine a dude from Minnesota, named Mark Moriarty, with the passion and imagination of the late Ed Roth? You get a homebuilt custom that looks like it came straight off the show circuit circa 1963. This time machine was built in 2001 but manages to capture the personality and essence of a true '60s custom.
Mark built model cars as a kid and was drawn into the Rat Fink craze the day he bought his first Ed "Big Daddy" Roth Revell model. When Mark grew up, his love for Big Daddy culture as strong as ever, he decided it was time to own the real deal. While flipping through Hemmings, Mark stumbled across Roth's Rotar bubbletop custom. To his surprise, the owner only wanted $7,000. Mark persuaded him to give it up for a mere $5,500. After touring the show circuit with for awhile, Mark sold Rotar and bought and restored the famed Road Agent and Globe Hopper. However, something just didn't feel right about showing off these cars; he couldn't stand back and look at what he had designed and built. It was time to build one of his own.
He couldn't build just any car. It had to be something that would stun audiences, and it had to be something that Big Daddy would've loved. The Futurian, built by Mark and a few of his buddies, has been handmade from the ground up, outside in, front to back, left to right, catty-corner to catty-corner. He constructed the body using the same plaster vermiculite plug method that Ed used. He then went on to design the interior and threw on that true signature of vintage customs, a bubbletop. He painted her white and had fellow Roth aficionado Dennis McPhail come down and lay out the fogs.
In the '60s, the ingenious (some would say wacky) designs of Ed Roth changed the minds of the masses about what a "custom car " should look like. Now, due partly to the "dare to be different" attitude of Mark Moriarty, we are seeing a resurgence of imaginative custom cars that, in the past, looked like they came from the future.
Mark MoriartyMound, MinnesotaFuturian Bubbletop Custom
Drivetrain: Just because this car resembles a Roth car, doesn't mean it has a rear-mounted Corvair engine pushing it. This baby has 215 ci of '62 Buick power. With a GMC 4-71 Cragar-driven blower, Mallory ignition, Crower cam, Offenhauser valve covers, and six Stromberg 97s, you can bet it'll eat up the streets like Mother's Worry. Behind the engine are a '62 Buick dual-path automatic and '57 Chevy rearend with a 3.70:1 gear ratio.
Chassis: Since you can't go down to the local rod shop and buy a Futurian frame, one had to be constructed. The frame was built from mild-steel round tubing and was sprayed in black paint. The frontend is from a '37 Ford, and the steering was stolen from a '65 Corvair. There are no front brakes, but the back brakes came off a '57 Chevy. The suspension up front is a lever action system, horizontally mounted with coil springs.
Wheels & Tires: The black-and-silver combo of tires and rims come from Radir. The front wheels are 15x4 Radirs with 15x7 Radirs in the back. The rear tires are 8.20x15 Radir whitewall drag slicks.
Body: The body was made using the same method Ed Roth used back in the '60s. It's a messy, disgusting, but affordable, method of building an outrageous body. Newspaper dipped in plaster is placed over the chassis until it begins to resemble a body. This plaster mold is gone over with a cheese grater to form the desired shape. Fiberglass is then laid over the carved plaster. Once the 'glass hardens, the plaster is knocked out of the fiberglass mold, and voila, you have a body! The taillights and bumpers were formed using steel tubing and acrylic plastic. Where do you get a bubbletop these days? Mark went to Masterglas in Lakeville, Minnesota, where the acrylic plastic was blown like glass until it reached the desired shape.
Paint: Even the paint, a custom mix of PPG off-white, was done at home. Mark simply got out the ol' spray gun and sprayed it right there in his garage. Friend Dennis McPhail laid out the fogs, sprayed in House of Kolor Candy Purple with a mix of Silver and Violet pearls, and Silver mini-flakes, over the Orion Silver base. Mike Iverson, of Dayton, Minnesota, applied pinstriping.
Interior: The entire interior has been handcrafted, including the steering wheel, shifter, and gauge bezels, in which sit Moon gauges. The seats and panel structures were sent to Bob's Upholstery to be covered in Pearl White vinyl.