Having a design to work toward was great, but Dave still had much work to do. He says the most difficult part of the buck-building process was keeping everything symmetrical. "Now I know why Roth always went the asymmetrical route," he laughs.
Once the buck was shaped to his liking, Dave let it dry for a few days before painting it with house paint as a mold release. "Then I started laying 'glass," he says, "six to 12 layers of 10oz mat depending on where I was putting it. The front fenders required a lot of support, so there is steel tubing 'glassed inside that runs the length of the running board. After the 'glass had set up, I broke it off the mold (huge mess), flipped it upside down, and began picking out all the paint and plaster. After two days and two trips to the local dump, I had a body shell. From the start of plaster to pulling the body off the mold took 35 days. I then sat the body on the chassis and began trimming off the excess."
Dave built an interior "tub" to fit the body and crafted a wood and fiberglass ring as a base for the 48-inch-wide, 18-inch-tall bubbletop, which was activated using convertible top cylinders. A small trunk was constructed to house the battery and fuel filler neck.
Dave used various grinders and power sanders to smooth out the fiberglass, and then skimmed it with filler. The entire body-outside, inside, and underside-was gelcoated before being primed and prepped for paint. Dave shot the House of Kolor white pearl finish himself and, taking inspiration from Roth's Outlaw and Beatnik Bandit, he taped off the wild panels, which were sprayed silver with candy blue fogging by fellow bubbletop builder Fritz Schenck. Ray Smith laid down the black pinstripe outlines.
In true '60s show rod fashion, the fish bowl interior was lined with white fur surrounding a custom white vinyl seat stitched by Seats by Stews. A metalflake Moon wheel capped the custom chrome column, Stewart Warner gauges filled the pinstriped dash, and the tall Gennie shifter was topped with a one-off brass knob crafted by Amy "Ms. Metal" Conrad.
Built in a little more than 11 months in Dave's spare time (he's a full-time die maker for GM), the Astrosled exhibits a remarkable level of detail. The fully functional Hemi has a beautiful metallic candy blue finish, O'Brien Truckers valve covers, and cone-shaped, owner-built headers. Other cool parts include an N.O.S. Ansen master cylinder, Cragar rear cover and Weiand Drag Star 8x2-carb top on the GMC 6-71 blower, Grant Flamethrower distributor, N.O.S. clear spark-plug wires, and custom-dyed clear blue fuel lines. Naturally, there's an abundance of chrome, from the Stromberg carbs to the Radir spindle-mount 12-spoke front wheels and Tri-Rib rears.
Ed Roth may have departed this earth, but his spirit still stirs the souls of creative rodders around the globe, inspiring them to follow their imaginations and break the molds (pardon the pun) of mainstream rodding. Dave Shuten has definitely done both with the Astrosled. He's singing his own tune now, and that's music to all of our eyes.