The little Rat Fink gumball toys were licensed by Ed "Big Daddy" Roth's company, spun off from his series of Revell model kits. Each cost a quarter, and were sold from late 1966 until 1971, when Roth ran out of original ideas, and sales of his model kits declined. Usually, only one or two gold Rat Finks would be in the machine out of how many would fit in the globe, as means of teasing customers wanting to complete a set.

Found a gold Rat Fink figure, still in plastic gum machine container, in an antique store near Madison, Wis. The asking price:$20. No, I didn't buy it. In irony, Ed Roth, designer of these grotesque (some disgusting) monsters, sort of tried to shed this image he created for himself. He moved to Utah and joined up with the Mormon Church around 1974. Fans of his model kits still held reunions, which he distanced himself from, at least temporarily. While Roth tried to shed his old image, his love for hot-rodding never ceased. At the time of his death in 2001 (age 69), Roth was still designing cars, be them for museum displays only. So ended the legend of Rat Fink, which began in 1962.

I remember in the late sixties guys wanted Rat Finks and girls wanted troll dolls.