The History of the Fuzzy Dice
This tradition seems to be a spinoff from when baby shoes were first hung from rearview mirror in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. These shoes signified that the young married couples little baby had outgrown their first pair of shoes. From there fuzzy dice filled the gap for those couples that were just dating. It was a symbol of them being a couple or going steady. The dice were made by the girlfriend and the guy who owned the car. They were constructed from angora yarn wrapped around a square block of foam or cardboard. This same angora yarn was wrapped around the guy’s oversized class ring worn by his girlfriend.
Fuzzy dice was popular throughout the 1960’s and later replaced with rubber shrunken heads, graduation tassels or shaking hula dolls. The dice were first offered for sale by J.C. Whitney (a popular automobile parts mail order company) as “Giant Dice” and sold for $1.49 in their 1962 catalog. J.C. Whitney also sold other novelty items such as fox tails, lucky 8-ball gear shift knobs, the Cattle Caller horn and shaggy rear deck matting.
Today, fuzzy dice have made their way back into the classic cars as a statement by the owners that their car, their passion, and their attitude clearly reflects their young adult days back in the 50’s and 60’s.