The bubble-top Silhouette was perhaps
the most futuristic-looking of the Orig-
inal 16 Hot Wheels lineup. But it was in
fact based on a real-life custom hot rod
of the same name built in Monterey,
California, by Kansas-born customizer
Bill Cushenberry in 1962. He created
the edgy, minimalist, scratch-built
bodywork—said to have been sketched
by industrial designer and custom car
creator Don Varner—from hand-ham-
mered 20-gauge steel.
Underneath, the Silhouette rolled on
a shortened 1956 Buick chassis, and it
was initially powered by a Buick nailhead
V-8, swapped in 1966 for a 427 Ford. The
hinged front half of the two-part acrylic
bubble top could be raised via an electric
The automobile as art? Ed “Big Daddy”
Roth’s 1961 creation, the Beatnik Bandit,
makes the case. One of the more eccen-
tric members of the Southern California
automotive counterculture in the late
1950s and early 1960s, Roth was as much
an artist and cartoonist as a car builder,
known for his illustrations of slavering
monsters driving customs and hot rods.
Like other Roth cars—Outlaw, Myste-
rion, Orbitron, Road Agent—there’s a
cartoonish feel to the Beatnik Bandit,
which appeared in 1961 and was said
to have been inspired by a sketch that
appeared in Rod & Custom magazine. The
Beatnik Bandit was built on a shortened
Oldsmobile chassis and powered by an
Oldsmobile V-8 fitted with a GMC 4-71
supercharger.
Like Silhouette, the Beatnik Bandit
has an acrylic bubble top, a leitmotif of
extreme 1960s show rods, though this
one is one piece. Unlike Silhouette,
motor for access to a sci-fi cabin with
instruments mounted in a central pod
structure and a steering control made
from chrome-plated steel that looked
like it should be guiding a spaceship.
Cushenberry entered the car in the
1963 Oakland Roadster Show, where it
won the Tournament of Fame award.
As outrageous as it looked, the
Silhouette was a driver; a 1966 film
produced by MotorTrend founder Bob
Petersen includes 90 seconds of it
being driven by TV star Lloyd Bridges.
Silhouette was reportedly stolen in
1983 and has not been seen since.however, the bodywork is all hand-
crafted fiberglass.
GM’s revolutionary Firebird III
concept had pioneered the idea of
joystick control in 1958, and Roth
built his own version with something
that looked like a chrome-plated
shovel handle sprouting out of the
transmission tunnel to control
acceleration, braking, and steering.
Restored to original condition, the
Beatnik Bandit is now owned by
L.A. car dealer and Roth enthusiast
Beau Boeckmann.FEATURE
56 MOTORTREND.COM SEPTEMBER 2020