Here is an example of a real Rat Rod, or would this be more of a Rat Machine?... This is a car that some friends and myself took to the Street Machine Nationals in Springfield MO. last year... It is a 67 Firebird Convertable that my friend got in a trade deal... This car was last titled in 1987 and has been sitting in a field every since... We drug it out of the field and into my friends shop and found that it was so rusted out that there was no saving the car... We decided it needed one last outing and got the old 350 2 barrel running again with the help of some Marvel Mystery Oil and a new battery!!! It blew a freeze plug from the back side of the block so we got a nibbler and cut out the passenger side fire wall so we could replace the plug without removing the engine... After getting the brakes working good enough to stop the car we took it for a ride... It smoked but was running... Everything was good until we decided to fill up the tank which fell to the ground with the rusted out trunk once the weight of a few gallons was added... Next we atted a 16 gallen fuel cell in the trunk, but it also fell through when some gasoline was added... We ended up having to cut a piece of plywood to build a makeshift floorboard so we could mount a Ford Truck fuel tank... We then cut a hole in the passenger side rear quarter to make room for the filler cap to stick through... Next we decided it needed some new rear floorboards so after a few cases of beer we decided to use the beer cans to make the floorboards from... We smashed the cans flat, then stacked them on top of the cardboard packaging and set them in the rear floors... Mixed up some fiberglass resin and poured it over the cans... Wala, new floorboards... We then decided that the car needed a set of 18s and 20s to set it off... Found a mis-matched set of wheels and tires around the shop and mounted them to the car... Sure, they rubbed until we broke out a mallet and beat the fenders out!!! Next we bolted an old swap meet blower body and Hilborn style to the hood for effect... Last we added a surf bord to get the right look... You would not believe the looks we got droving this thing around the fairgrounds all weekend!!!

For the record, other than our test drive this car was never driven on the street, but we drove the heck out of it at the show!!! It was a blast... After the show, we removed the wheels, tires and blower and returned it to its resting place in the field behind the shop...

There is a true Rat Rod!!!

Dave Brisco