I agree it did start that way but now it is a style to discribe a look. Is a 51 channeled and chopped merc still a lead sled if bondo or heaven forbid good metal finishing was done?

Kevin
LFD Inc.

 

Bob, some years ago, I read a hot rod magazine article, about the birth of rat rods. The two cars they showed as the first rat rods were traditional rods, built at low cost and old school technology. They were good looking Duece roadsters if I remember correctly. The idea, the article said was to get away from the then current trend of big bucks cars, built by a rod shop, with all the modern technology. They appeared to me as something built in the fifties or so. Good looking, old school cars.I think the idea may have been to entice younger people back into hot rods.

Like many things, eg Thunderbird sportscars, they did not continue in that initial direction. It must be said that some cars with that general rat rod pickup style were built in the sixties or so. I have a picture of one In a sixties show, very nicely done, and Barris Ala Kart pickup was not hugely unlike the car discussed in this thread, though finished much more nicely.<O></O>
Some cars with rat rod styling are very nicely finished, I guess they just like the general styling. It is a shame that the junk part seems to have come to the fore.<O></O>

 

I know we can sit here all day and discuss rat rods, pro and con. I guess my main objection to them is, first, I've honestly have never seen one in person that I would want on the road. Second, like the truck noted at the beginning of this thread, they are done with no sense aesthetic quality, at least to me. They seem to be build more for shock value than anything else. I personally just think the thing is plain ugly. I really don't get the big heavy frame and huge truck wheels. Again, I thought the whole idea is to so something that was low budget. Using parts from a big truck isn't cheap, just ask a few of us who are working on bigger trucks. Third, whenever I do something, be it a project at work or on one of my vehicles, daily driver or old car, I want it to look as nice as possible. Believe me, I know what it is like to work on a low budget. If I was scraping by to build a vehicle I'd think I could scrape up $25 for a gallon of hardware store paint and either brush or roller it on to make the vehicle a lot more presentable.

Rat rods, to me, are on the same level as the people who wear $150 jeans with holes in them or the guys who wear clothes three sizes too big and have their underwear showing. To me that just looks sloppy. When I was a kid we didn't have a lot of money so we tended to stretch the usefulness of our clothes. They usually ended up pretty tattered and worn by the time we were finished with them, after they had been handed down through a few people. At the time it wasn't a fashion statement other than saying you weren't very well off. I remember those days and I didn't enjoy them. Why in the world would someone purposely spend extra money, and work, to live like that? I always try to present myself in the best way possible. I just don't get it.

 

I think most of us here can agree to disagree on this subject. Rat rods are a very polarizing style. You either love em or hate em, and when you hate em, you loathe them.

 

Like putting a non Ford engine in a Ford!

 

Would it be better to build a rat rod if I swapped the rusty body sheet metal of a '48-56 Ford truck onto a modern, late '90s Chevy frame? Of course I'll need to patch a few rust holes so I'll just lap weld a few pieces of old sign metal to cover a few of the larger rust holes.

Dang I think it's been done!!

 

Not worth discussing, you dont get it. Funny how you bitched about the guys on the AACA ragging you for putting a later model engine in your buick but you spew the same hatred towards others who think differently than you. Nothing good to say then say nothing.

Agreed, and usually the guys who hate them are pissed that people walk by their car to check out the rat rod. Its an ego thing, I see it all the time. Dont like them dont build one, but no need to spread hatred.

FWIW I would not build a truck tire RR myself, but I would like to check out the engineering details to see how things were put together on it.

 

Geeze Dave, don't get your undies in a bundle. I'm stating my opinion, as an American I can legally do that, at least for a while yet. I do see a difference between what I stated about the AACA Buick guys and my opinion on rat rods. In my Buick build I am also building on a very tight budget but in the end I will have a safe and nice looking vehicle. Again, I will state I have never seen a rat rod in person I thought should have be let on the road. Also, the AACA guys seem to have absolutely no tolerance for anyone that veers the least bit from pure by the numbers stock restoration. Not only do they make comments about a person's build but they will also personally attack the person with rude posts, telling the person how they go about doing their build. I didn't do that, in fact I complimented you on your builds. If I see something that I think is unsafe I am not going to walk away because I don't want offend someone.

I enjoy must any type of build from total stock to hot rod to street rod to resto rod. I just have to draw the line at vehicles that I see as dangerous and unsafe. I feel the general public, a politicians, look at the rat traps and all they see is an old car or truck, they don't differentiate them from a well restored or modified vehicle. They use this opinion to cast a blanket over the whole old vehicle hobby. I will agree that some of the rat rods someone has put a lot of work into but that still doesn't justify driving a death trap down the road.

I personally haven't ever seen a person pass up a nicely restored car or a nicely done modified car to look at a rat rod. I have, but usually the crowd is a group of people critiquing the rat rod making comments about the unsafe condition it is in. This is my honest observation, maybe it's different in your part of the country.

 

LOL you dont know me, because if you did you would know this stuff doesnt get me riled up in the least bit. It is sad, and I have used your very attitude I have seen at car shows to teach my daughter to respect others work regardless if it is up to your standards or taste. You see it is one thing to voice an opinion in discussion, it is another to push hatred (and you have posted already that you hate rat rods, never saw one you liked, they are all death traps, etc..) which is more than posting an opinion, it puts down the builders that create them. Lumping them all together as unsafe death traps is just ignorant. So keep hiding behind the "stating my opinion". I have plenty of opinions myself but I will not put anyone or their work down, just because something is not done as I would do it does not make it wrong. We both have 37 Buicks and I did mine on a totally different path than you, but you never saw me post a negative word about it. It is your build, do it your way and good luck, you are building it for you and not me. Just as everyone else does.
I am done, no more from me on this subject.
Man I wish it would warm up so I could get back in the shop.

 

WHAT? Who would even think of doing that!

 

Dave,

Not to beat this to death but I felt I had to respond to your lasted post. If you would read my posts and then reread your last post you will see you are doing exactly what you have accused me of doing. I didn't attack the builders directly, I just posted my opinion on a subject just like anyone else would when they see something that just doesn't seem right or even dangerous. I didn't accuse anyone of doing something they didn't do, like trying to "push hatred "
or label anyone as "just ignorant"
because I didn't agree with them. Now those I take as a direct attack on me personally. I have never posted anything about you or your vehicles other than stating I have seen your builds and I think they were well done and took a lot of work.

As for pushing hatred, I don't feel I have done that either. I don't gather a crowd and incite them to demonstrate and I am not encouraging anyone on this board to back me up, I just posted my opinion. I don't really care what a person does as long as it doesn't affect me and if I feel it could affect me, then I will post a response.

 

Just for info I found out this truck was built (running gear) from a 97 F350 chassis. He used the PSD, 5 spd, front and rear axels , wheels and brakes . So not that expensive depending on shape and miles on it. So he repurposed used parts and did a ford in a ford.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

 

Yeah, but he did do a frame swap

 

Yes he did use a larger safer frame but it was not big truck stuff, just 1 ton.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

 

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