Thread: What I like about rat rods...seriously!

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wonder how you will feel about that in about 20 or 30 years? :-)~ I bet you will feel much wiser than you do today



Yeah............my head is getting so full of wisdom that my hair doesn't even fit anymore.




Don

It will be great if i remember it all in 30 years

I'm sure that this has been answered already... but why is it that if a car is dressed in suede, it's a 'rat rod'?

I love the look of black primer with some great retro pinstriping, scallops, or good ol' flames!

I'm only 29, still trying to build my American Dream (house, family, great job, etc.) and I'll be damned if I'll spend thousands on a shiny paintjob just to fit in with the older guys and their pension paintjobs.

(QUOTE) I'm only 29, still trying to build my American Dream (house, family, great job, etc.) and I'll be damned if I'll spend thousands on a shiny paintjob just to fit in with the older guys and their pension paintjobs.

You don't need to be angry, because nobody is requiring you to paint it a certain way. This is America, and one of the great freedoms is to choose any color you like. :-)

Easy............not sure if you meant it like it came out, part of the problem with the written word. But right off the bat your first post comes out as an "Us vs Them" thing. Suede paint doesn't automatically mean "rat rod" to most of us here, but a negative attitude usually goes with the rat rod devotees'. Most will pass on the first time, and give anyone another shot at the game. It's in your hands how you fair from here on out.

I guess most of us call a car in primer..... well, just a car in primer..... Anyway, welcome to CHR, hoping you will tell us about your car and maybe even post a picture before you put the bad mouth on us geezers who like shiny cars.....

'm sure that this has been answered already... but why is it that if a car is dressed in suede, it's a 'rat rod'?


BigEasy: Calm down. The feellings you are venting have been hashed and rehashed here a million posts already. I see you just joined, so you would have no history on this to base your comments on.

The four gentlemen who posted immediately prior to this post of mine are all very knowledgeable rodders, and I have seen each one of them go out of their way to assist less experienced. younger rodders with some issue. So please don't make this a young vs older matter.

I am 60 years old, and am building a car right now that will sport flat paint, and am building it to follow what I see as the rat rod style. Except mine will be well built and safe. Not that all rat rods are not built to those same standards.

In addition, I have seen a real softening of some of the anti-rat feelings that did once fill up some of the threads on this forum. I have to thank the four gentlemen above, as well as many others, for causing that to happen. There seems to be a general agreement now that all rats are not necessarily bad, as long as they are safe, well constructed, and roadworthy. That is all they ask.

I have gotten my dander up a few times, too, only to realize that I was wrong about the way I took something in print. It is very hard to convey ones exact meaning and tone no matter how many happy faces we place in our posts.

Sit back, like I do, and learn from these guys. They are teaching me stuff I never knew, and I am very gratefull for that.

JMO,

Don

Originally posted by BigEasy
I'm sure that this has been answered already... but why is it that if a car is dressed in suede, it's a 'rat rod'?

I love the look of black primer with some great retro pinstriping, scallops, or good ol' flames!

I'm only 29, still trying to build my American Dream (house, family, great job, etc.) and I'll be damned if I'll spend thousands on a shiny paintjob just to fit in with the older guys and their pension paintjobs.

I know what you mean. I can never afford the thousands for the paint job either. Its always been out of my reach. Every time I get enough money a crisis happens. Or if I'd get a better paying job, then the price went up accordingly. $1000 in the '70's, 3000 in the '80's, 5000 in the '90's, now it would be over $10K. Even if I won the Lottery, I have this suspicion that as soon as I paint it, I will be rammed by a drunken, non insured illlegal immigrant. (who will probably somehow be able to sue me.)
I will most likely spray it myself. I do like the flat colors, I'm thinking of a flat metallic copper color. But first, I want to install rack and pinion steering... (there I go again)
I don't mind folks calling my truck a ratrod, it makes me smile. My truck is ratty, but it kind of reflects my personality. Appearances are not a requirement for me to enjoy something. (Or someone). But what do I know, I'm just a nut from California...

"I'm thinking of a flat metallic copper color"


That is exactly the color I have sort of finalized for the '39. The new 350 Z has a great copper, and I think it would really look old timey flattened out.


Don

Originally posted by Itoldyouso



That is exactly the color I have sort of finalized for the '39. The new 350 Z has a great copper, and I think it would really look old timey flattened out.


Don

Oh hell yeah, your truck would look SWEET in flat copper!

Local guy here had a 49 ford chopped, nice car. Spent several years building it. Finally got it painted.....it was pretty. Not long after that, wham, got rear ended sitting at a light. The guy that hit him was drunk, no insurance, and hit him so hard the car was junk. He found another one and between the two built it again. He drives it all the time but it's in primer....says he's afraid to paint it.

I'm back... pardon me, and let me try to set things straight.

I didn't mean for my post to sound like I was all bent out of shape... I'm not. I guess it's amazing how the printed word can be mis-interpreted, when poorly written on the author's(read: MY) part.

I guess I just get a little perturbed when 'people of means' look down their noses at a car, simply because it's in primer. I guess it's not just a car thing either... the same people usually have the same attitude about other people, too. To me, cars are like music... everyone has their own taste, there's no right or wrong. Except maybe Lawrence Welk... that stuff is just WRONG!

Even if I had the means to have a $10k paintjob and a tuck and roll leather interior with AC, I'd probably still go for the primer and saltillo blankets, with the windows down... that's just my style. But I still love to look at the high-dollar rides, and check out the creativity and ingenuity of the builders.. especially if they were built in the owner's garage, with his hands.

No pics of the ride... still looking for the ride! My eyes are WIDE open, looking for something like a 49 Olds, or a similar sled. I was aiming for an A-Sedan, but I'm 6'7", about 300#... the A's just don't cut it for m, for a car that will eventually do an Americruise/PowerTour type run... that's the goal. A friend of mine is gonna teach me how to do a proper chop, and how to do leadwork as soon as I find the proper canvas to start my masterpiece. He's the 2nd owner of his 34 Ford sedan (his first car in 1960), and is just buttoning up a 50's Stude pickup project.

Anyone have any leads on a ride?

Sorry for the rant...
Corey

I'm back... pardon me, and let me try to set things straight.


It takes a big man to say these words.

But I think we sometimes confuse older with richer. I'm 60, and work 6 days a week, and I do it because I need to work. True, now that my kids are grown I am now able to have a few more bucks than when I had a wife and two kids looking at me for their next meal and a roof over their heads, but I stil couldn't afford to dump $ 20K into a paint job, nor would I want to.

For me, the fun of owning a rod is to be able to say "I did it all myself.". so I lean toward those homebrew paint jobs and simple interiors too. Plus, I like the style of the cars I remember from when I was younger.

We older guys and you aren't a whole lot different, and I actually shock myself sometimes when I realize I am 60. How the hell did that happen !!!

That Olds sounds like a great future wish, especially in car restrictive Pennsylvania. I'm from Pittsburgh originally, have they relaxed any of the fender/ hood/ lowering laws, or are they still strict?

Don

Originally posted by BigEasy
Except maybe Lawrence Welk... that stuff is just WRONG!

Tough to argue with that. Isn't he from So. Dakota? Besides, who's gonna argue witha guy 6'7" and 300#.

6'7' and 300#...............................


Yeah, I think that A sedan might be out of the question. Especially chopped and channelled.

Don