Toronto – Some five years and two title changes later, Ron Mann has wrapped his long-awaited ode to the custom-car craze of the 1960s.

The project formerly known as Confessions of a Hot Roddin’, Pin-Stripin’, Customizin’ Teenage Icon and, later, as Hip Stories for Hip Kids, now goes by the title Tales of the Rat Fink, and will make its debut March 11 at the SXSW indie festival in Austin, TX.

It’s a mostly animated biopic about the late Ed ‘Big Daddy’ Roth, a legendary gearhead from back in the day known partly for his bodywork but more so for creating the Rat Fink character – an eyes-a-poppin’, drool-and-fire happy rodent still seen on T-shirts and posters today.

John Goodman is the voice of Roth, joined, as the voices of various cars, by such notables as Jay Leno, Tom Wolfe, Ann-Margret, Brian Wilson, Matt Groening and ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin.

Mann (Grass, Go Further) directed and produced through Sphinx Productions in association with CHUM – working from the script by Solomon Vesta, and with DOP Arthur Cooper (Love, Sex and Eating the Bones). Michael Roberts did the animation, while Terrance Odette edited. The pic is represented in North America by sales agent Catherine Tait of Duopoly.