Thread: Describe your Rat Rod project here.

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One more since you like it so much.

All depends. They're probably well wrapped with airbags and such. (i'm not being serious here)

I've never driven a car with no front brakes, and good back ones. What does that mean to street driving? Is it possible that it stops (because of weight) as quickly as a lot of new cars on the road? Dunno.

Wow! Talk about opening a can of worms! Ive been lyin low on this thread, but now the 'them and us' attitude seems to have fizzled out so i guess its safe to make another point.
I think my interest in ratrods is closely related to my the interest i have in looking around junkyards. Sometimes i think id rather spend the day in an old car breakers than any prestige vehicle museum... somehow the battlescars and patina on an old car can say so much more than a pristine example of the marque ever could.
Seeing a ratrod for me is this feeling personified. It invites you to guess at its history, and conjures up all sorts of nostalgic images.
If theres one thing this thread has highlighted, its that the term 'ratrod' is too broad.
For some, an unfinished running project is a ratrod, some consider a poorly maintained and badly engineered machine worthy of the label, while others catogorize vehicles with deliberately added patina a ratrod. It is this misenterpritation that has caused the friction.
Once you take poor engineering (which i might add is not exclusive to rat rods) out of the equation, it really all boils down to personal preference- something we all as hotrodders do not have to justify to anyone.
This thread has however been host to some cool images of some great ratrods, so definately worthwhile.

Sled.

IM GONNA ASK THIS QUESTION AGAIN..WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME ANY OF YOU GUYS KNOCKIN THE SAFETY OF THESE CARS, HAVE SEEN ANY HEADLINES OF "ANY" ACCIDENTS INVOLVING AN UN-SAFE ROD... THE FACT IS THESE CARS ARE DRIVEN BY SOMEONE WHO IS MORE ALERT OF HIS SURRONDGINGS THAN THE AVREAGE DRIVER...

SO PLEASE, IF YOU KNOW OF A ROD ACCIDENT AND YOU BLAME THE SAFTY OF THE CAR..POST IT HERE, THEN CHECK YOUR LOCAL DATA ON ALL ACCIDENTS IN YOUR AREA, OR ANY AREA AND FIND THE % OF ROD ACCIDENTS DUE TO SAFTY EQUIPMENT TO ACCIDENTS DUE TO DRUNK DRIVING, CELLPHONES, OR WHATEVER TOPIC YOU PICK...I DONT THINK YOU'LL BE SO DOWN ON RODS AS YOU WERE WHEN YOU POSTED HOW UN-SAFE THESE CARS ARE. THINK ABOUT IT AWHILE BEFORE YOU TRASH ME ON THIS, HOW MANY ROD ACCIDENT DO YOU SEE TODAY

Ya know Rick, it's clear you get real aggitated about this. And yeah, the incidence of any hot rod accident is real rare. But comparing it to "normal" accidents is specious. The cold reality is that the "news" and people in general are innured to common accidents.

For example, political hucksterism aside (although it's a big factor), every day we hear about "there's one U.S. soldier killed everyday in Iraq". It leads the news. Is a source of arguments among friends and family. It's used as a club in political fights. But over 130 people a day (on average) are killed in automobile wrecks in this country, and it gets practically no coverage. UNLESS THERE'S STREET RACING INVOLVED!! Which might account for what? Two, three deaths in 6 months? It's not the death that's important to the naysayers (sad to say) it's the leverage!

Ok, that logic works for me, Richard. I presume that's because weight is offloaded from rear to front when slowing down. Some cars have serious nose dip when hitting the brakes, while cars with very stiff suspension don't. Is it still 70/30? 50/50? Lets say it is 50/50 (probably not right), and you are running large discs in back compared to stock drums all around. Does this mean you're close to the same stopping power as an older street rod?

yes i do get a bit aggitated when people bash early rods, saying things such as "early brakes with a single master are un-safe and will kill innocent people" if these brakes are that un-safe, then i guess we should get down on all the restorers out ther putting all these old cars back to stock, they must be un-safe to,and how about all the deisel trucks that run with no front brakes, thats legal ( at least in calif) how 'bout them ? or choppers with a spool front wheel & no brake?

now ya got to understand, i myself would never build a car or drive on the hiway a rod with no front brakes, (there is a limit to nostlgia) there is no excuse for this, but all early rods cant be slamed for a small fraction of derelics who do this crap

my "a", my daughters "t", my girlfreind "a"coupe all have front brakes, i may be stubborn, but not stupid

im just stating you cant say this type of rod is going to cause an accident and kill someone when in fact that a pro-built rod with all the safty in the world, and a blown chevy will kill just as fast as any thing else on the road if you drive like an idiot..so dont try and blame early rods for a bad name on the hobby as i'v seen many billet rod drivers out there acting the fool, with less than perfect craftsmanship

$8000.00 paint jobs,$5000.00 wheel & tire combos and some tweed interior dont make your street rod any better than a well built hot rod

and as for your 30/70 brake ratio, that sh!t goes right out the window when you put them small tires on the front and them big'uns on the back...think about it

oh wait..i forgot..the new hot rod look is 17's on the front & 20's on the back....yuuuuuuk!!!! notice how they look like a hot wheels car???


o.k. now maybe we should bag on street rods with no fenders...thats un-safe...or those 1/4 inch thin taillights you can hardly see in the daylight, or no outside mirrors, or,or,or

Brent,

Borrow someone's motorcycle and gently experiment with using just the rear brake and compare that to using the front and rear together.

I say gently because a mistake could put you and the bike on the pavement.

Stopping a motorcycle from speed with just the rear brake is possible, but it stops much faster if you use both.

Using just the front can be scary, but if you are careful, you'll get a very clear impression of just how much more of the braking is done with the front rather than the rear.

check this one out...

I agree Richard, I knew he could not stay away....

As for tail lights... I went with LED's way brighter than the old teardrops I was using and I don't worry as much about getting rear-ended while cruising around at night!!!

I guess that blows the whole Nostalgia Rod thing then... Guess I will have to get a massive audio system (for my Hip Hop tunes), CD player, do a molded ultraleather interior and put lots of billit on it!!! ...

Rick, don't worry I still dig the Nostalgia Rods!!!

Dave Brisco

streets, check my pic again...its got a mirror on the driver side & a rear veiw, its got '41 nash tail lights, but u r right !! the damn fenders are gone!!!! what i was tryin to get accross was that tech was implying (or what i got from it) that certian aspects of these cars are way un-safe...and i was try'in to point out that there are many things that would be in the same catagory of un-safe that we all use in all types of hot rods,street rads,rat rods,billet rods or ???
we all have cars with no fenders...cause it looks cool, some have no mirrors cause it breaks up the flow, some have little thin taillights cause they like'em, even some guys (like me) have a
5 1/2 in tall windsheild 'cause it looks mean
many of our rods could have a citation list a mile long but we dont need to jam on one type of rod saying they are un-safe just cause we are not into that look
im tryin to keep an open mind on this topic but its gettin hard

drive what ya want...but drive it like ya stole it!!!!!!

I don't know about anyone else, but this is what i consider a rat rod.

That's not a phone pole, its one of those tall skinny trees that grow up through the engine compartments of cars that don't move at least one every decade or so.

I have one like that in the back yard.

Hey Rick, I sure hope you made the show up in Paso Robles a couple of months ago. They had a whole mess of those Rat Rods!! It was my first experience seeing those cars! While I prefer custom hot rods, the guy I went with was totally stuck on the Rat Rods, Some of the things they did were pretty cool, White painted plumbing pipes for tubes on top of two barrell carbs, wooden lawn chairs, no floor boards, wrenchs for shifters, most painted flat black, no Ford or Chevy Engines,etc.. Pretty Wild!!! R.W.

If the pictures turn out this is one of them from Paso Robles