Rat Rods

[shmoov69]

There are traditional rods, hot rods and rat rods. Rat rods are POS's that are for shock and the "trend", nothing else. Hot rods are done well, but with what you have laying around or can get on the cheap, maybe have a Holley or tunnel ram and a quarter stick shifter and disc brakes etc.....but not a POS or for shock value. Traditional rods are as close to what would have been built in the 60's or earlier with parts from that era.....and NOT POS's for shock value. Tell a traditional fodder he has a rat rod and you may get punched in the face! LOL. Hot rodders don't usually get offended at the term tho. And rat rodders don't know the difference! LOL!

[Ash]

Maybe I'm loony, but Rat Rods constantly hold my attention, as well as any type of car that has a weathered exterior. (Domestic, JDM, and Euros) Editorial status on this one :/

At least for me, whenever I see pictures of fresh barn finds (sometimes you can still see the dust in the air), or the picture taken moments after it was roughhoused onto a trailer; cars that appear, for the most part, structurally complete and in relatively sound shape...I get an honest sense of elation. In part, it's the inherent potential in finally being resurrected from the grave, and the following opportunity to be brought back to it's original glory. But 99% of it is the look; a very specific character that instantly conveys the decades of passing time. The only things that kept it from withering into a completely worthless shell, were a durable cover, a solid(ish?) floor, and a decaying wooden structure ( A big thank you to the old crotchety hoarders of the world). The bright-work oxidation, grime, and surface rust; from consistent panel wide sheets, to patchy spots. Not present from a couple years of in-progress-build neglect, but from a car that was simply parked and forgotten. The durable finishes and in-tact parts slowly getting beaten down from time itself. I doubt you could take a nicely used 10 year old corvette, throw it in the same conditions for 40+ years and get it to run with purely mechanical servicing/basic electrical replacement. To me that's special. The finish, half a century in the making, is preserved, and allowed to continue uninterrupted...instead of being sanded away.

The modern rat rods turned that character and feeling into a legitimate genre. Whether gradually occurring forces of time or faked with 80 Grit wheels and solvents...it still has that warmth and character as your walking around it, or see it on the road. It looks so incredibly out of place on the street among the new, and garners a "Hey, Hey...look look look" from any group of fellow motorists. Educated gear-head or minivan driver. Since barn finds quickly find themselves getting restored, that character has been rarely preserved, past the initial "look what I found" pictures. Hence the faking of the funk with these types of builds. As far as all the "junk" components used in the customizing, I find it endearing that neglected, perceptibly worthless items, are used in "fixing" and "modifying" that which was neglected and forgotten itself.


Some people may have jumped on the bandwagon solely to be apart of the crowd, but I think that's always the exception in the car culture, and never the rule (as apposed to fashion per se) and is progressively occurs further down the line of popularity. Someone gets an idea for a car...most likely an idea that has been thought of thousands of times before. But instead of the masses before him/her, letting the idea fade away, this someone acts on it...It comes to fruition. Now some other people see it and genuinely find it appealing. Most of which never imagined the style that lay before them. They now have a fresh example on which to build upon, they complete it. another person is freshly exposed to it, and they themselves act on it. etc.etc. until saturation and household name status. My point is, most of the people with a specific car style got there the same way, as described above. Just at different points in the styles timeline. Appeal is what makes something grow popular, what makes others want to build one...not the number of builds the style has under it's belt.

[BirdsThaWord]

judging by the first pic, cankles are also part of the shock value equasion.

[shmoov69]

Not into the "porkabilly" chics eh??!! LOL

[dropped72ss]

IMO rat rods are nothing more then junk. They are a lazy way of slapping a hulk of junkyard parts together to build a "rod" . It takes no skill or design to half ass a vehicle together. Rust belongs in trailor Parks and scrap yards.

[69cortezsilver]

^^^^^^^^^^^^I AGREE! rat rods are garbage...

[novaderrik]

IMO rat rods are nothing more then junk. They are a lazy way of slapping a hulk of junkyard parts together to build a "rod" . It takes no skill or design to half ass a vehicle together. Rust belongs in trailor Parks and scrap yards.

hey, now- that's not fair... some people put a lot of thought into it and write a check with a lot of zeros on it to get a car that looks that crappy.

[Trevon]

hey, now- that's not fair... some people put a lot of thought into it and write a check with a lot of zeros on it to get a car that looks that crappy.

But there are no numbers in front of those 0's!

[tommycomfort]

IMO rat rods are nothing more then junk. They are a lazy way of slapping a hulk of junkyard parts together to build a "rod" . It takes no skill or design to half ass a vehicle together. Rust belongs in trailor Parks and scrap yards.

Wow, that is a pretty bold statement. I'll have to disagree since our wagon has rust and dents but more suspension goodies than most "Pro-Touring" trailer queens.

I'll throw my vote in for liking Rat Rods that are truly built to drive with available parts. But, if a vehicle is professionally built to look like it was affordable, that doesn't really do it for me.

Just my opinion of course...
Tom

[ndians68]

IMO rat rods are nothing more then junk. They are a lazy way of slapping a hulk of junkyard parts together to build a "rod" . It takes no skill or design to half ass a vehicle together. Rust belongs in trailor Parks and scrap yards.

you must have never been around rat rods... my uncle and cousin built there, dafter they had to sell a 32 coupe that my cousins gpa had built before he passed, it took them about 2yrs to do it, it takes more time, thought and skill then you think, idk how many times we helped them take the body off and put it back on before they go it right, its very impressive, given its still not complelety done, but its driveable, for anyone that was at day that the strip, for the show, its that rat rod that was parked next to the cobra, with the tent with all the fans in it.

[novaderrik]

you must have never been around rat rods... my uncle and cousin built there, dafter they had to sell a 32 coupe that my cousins gpa had built before he passed, it took them about 2yrs to do it, it takes more time, thought and skill then you think, idk how many times we helped them take the body off and put it back on before they go it right, its very impressive, given its still not complelety done, but its driveable, for anyone that was at day that the strip, for the show, its that rat rod that was parked next to the cobra, with the tent with all the fans in it.

that's not a "rat rod"- it's a nice car that isn't finished yet.
the "real" rat rods are the ones that look like they were thrown together from a pile of random parts in a weekend with an arc welder cranked to WFO when welding the sheetmetal. the owner/driver will look like he's trying to do his best Jesse James/James Dean/generic 50's greaser dude impersonation and get pissed off when you call his car a "rat rod"..

[Ishmael]

Some guys go to great lengths to make the rust look right, get the right parts, the right stance. The problem is the same with many genres of cars - some are done well and some are just hacks. I would say Rodney's car looks like it was done well. I think we've been over this based on what Vengeance seems to be eloquently saying, but if it is safe, fun and doesn't have crap welded or glued to it and has somehow escaped black, red and white paint, then why not?

[muthstryker]

Ya this Rat Rod was thrown together with no skill or design at all....

[Mr.VENGEANCE]

hell nah..

THAT is a Ratrod.

[Mr. Anderson]

The above is an abortion on wheels.

Not into the "porkabilly" chics eh??!! LOL

I always called them "Orca-betties" haha

[WS6]

I've seen some "Rat Rods" that I think shouldn't be allowed on the road for safety reasons. Those "cars" are junk and I'm very serious about them being restricted to being trailered not driven. When you put looks or style above safety, you're an idiot. With that said, I've seen many rods that will fall into the Rat or uncompleted or budget category that have a lot of great design and skill involved. Many want the rusted/patina look and they go to great lengths to make it look that way even if the metal and paint are freshly applied. While I may not like that build style in general, I've seen many cars that do grab my attention and many more that have my respect for the level of build and attention to detail.

Two cars that come to mind immediately are the new Camaro that had the rusted/patina paint job done to it and the BMW Rat Rod. Those two cars are cool as hell. Find the build thread on the BMW and you'll see tremendous work put into a car to make it look like junk.

[Mr. Anderson]

I know, different strokes for different folks. But I have never understood the appeal of a rusty car. I don't mean a car with rust issues, I mean one that is covered. Rust is rot...deterioration...a virus to be eradicated. On those same lines, it is one thing to start with a rusty car and just not do anything with the sheetmetal....but to take nice, clean, virgin sheetmetal and intentionally make it rust is beyond my comprehension.

Not everyone is in the same page in the dictionary when they define the term. To a guy with no experience with '30's/'40's cars, a rat rod is any of them with flat paint and bias ply tires. To someone who has played in that game, a rat rod is a rusty, thrown together deathtrap with no regard for public safety. And in between are what I call shockrods. They are well built and wont have parts falling off of them going down the road, but they have no consideration for scrubline, ackerman, proportion, etc.

[dropped72ss]

The above "rat rod" does appear to be thrown together by someone in there early teens. That thing is flat out GARBAGE and it makes me sick seeing such unsafe unreliable swamp trash at car shows with real hot rods! JMHO

[ndians68]

^ hows it unsafe, tell me, what do you see in hat pic that makes it unsafe?, and yes... my uncles is a rat rod... and it IS done, the only thing they might do would be put a different front axle under it ( it has ifs off of a old chevy because the frame is a truck frame)

[69cortezsilver]

you consider your chevelle wagon a RAT ROD? i dont think your car fits the RATROD stereotype! sorry missed point!

Wow, that is a pretty bold statement. I'll have to disagree since our wagon has rust and dents but more suspension goodies than most "Pro-Touring" trailer queens.

I'll throw my vote in for liking Rat Rods that are truly built to drive with available parts. But, if a vehicle is professionally built to look like it was affordable, that doesn't really do it for me.

Just my opinion of course...
Tom