Thread: Rat Rod Rules

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My thoughts on the Rat Rod:
They have always been around, I even built a few I just didn’t know it at the time. My first was a 1957 Plymouth Belvedere. I put a 383 magnum from a ’70 super bee and painted it flat black with the full moon disk hub caps. This was in 1983 (I think) I was about 17 and it’s all I knew how to do. I never understood why nobody liked it, I still don’t. That car was more fun than anything I have ever owned. Maybe that’s the thing….. The people that own the Ratters always seem to be having fun. They don’t stress over scratched paint, or a cigarette burn in a seat, or the unexpected rain storm when the windows haven’t been put in just yet. There are no hours of chrome polishing to get ready for that show, just pop a cooler of ice cold beer in the trunk, fill‘er up, grab your best girl, and hit the road.
It seems to me that all the anti establishment-ism (if that’s even a word) gained steam a few years back when the TV shows came out where motorcycles and hot rods are built in an hour and are magazine ready. (Or maybe that’s just when I noticed it, I’m really not that in tune with the world) These are cars that a majority of the car building guys will ever be able to afford. I find myself in that position. For me, having a car that gets from show to show in a trailer is just not something I can afford to own. Not that there is anything right or wrong with it, it’s just not for me.
I remember when I was a kid tagging along with my dad at car shows I spent my time looking up & down the rows for my most favorite of all cars, the 41 Willis coupe. It was in my opinion the coolest car ever to grace a car show or drag strip. They were just cool. That’s the only way I can describe them. Most of them (when you did find one) were dangerous looking and really loud & fast. It was, for me, the definition of what a hot rod should be. The last street rod event I attended, there were rows upon rows of the Willis coupes, all fiberglass, all tubbed, all having the same stance, all having the basic same drive train; BBC / TH 400 / 9” Ford. It’s like a formula for the Willis. Anyway….I never even look at them any more. It’s kinda sad really.
The stuff I found most interesting were the ones that were unpainted, loud, and different in one way or another, standing apart from the crowd, the way the Willis was 25 years ago.
I’m building a 1935 ford 3 window coupe now, and I’m not sure of what I’ll do or exactly how it will turn out, but it will be something I’ll do myself, on weekends, and with what ever disposable income I can muster up for the month. Not sure how long it will take, or what it will be exactly, but the best I can hope for is when it finally does find its way to the road, that some kid somewhere with his dad will think it’s cool and think, “That’s what I want when I grow up”.
That’s the kind of thinking that will keep the hobby alive.

krash
dallas tx

Ok. Rule #1 Keep them safe for you and everyone one the street!
#2 Other than #1, there are no rules

Originally Posted by Kustom56Merc

"Wrenches for steering arms are not cool, they are deadly."

Hahaha I've yet to see that, and when I do I will run very fast in the opposite direction!

I've seen it done and I wouldn't want to drive it across the parking lot yet of the trailer, it was have been trailered.

Originally Posted by dick lobach

I've seen it done and I wouldn't want to drive it across the parking lot yet of the trailer, it was have been trailered.

I think it's ok to do that, but you have to use a Craftsman wrench. .....or two.


Don

junk!!!!!!

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

junk!!!!!!

but, cool junk just the way i like it

Harmon

i mean just because its a rat rod does that always automatically make it some form of danger to someone else?

Originally Posted by CHEVYBOY

but, cool junk just the way i like it

Harmon

Cool? What could possibly be cool about stupid???

Guys,

I think you are missing the point about what a basic Rat Rod is. Having just spent the last four days working Lead East (ok 3 days as I stayed home on Saturday due to the rain), I saw some really well thought out Rat Rods. They were not put together poorly with bad welds, or no brakes, they were however very basic surface rust and primer black hot rods built on a very low budget (or no budget as one of them was built with parts donated from a local ad in the racing newspaper). Again, Rat Rod does not mean junk, just another mans vision as to what he wants to drive. The car pictured above is 100% unsafe and 95% of the Rat Rodders out there would never set foot in a car like that. Sure there are always the lunatic fringe element, but I'll bet that you would most likely see them driving it around the corner and putting it on a trailer after an event and not using it for much of anything longer than that. If so, then those are the folks who need to have their heads examined.

Just my two cents worth.

Bill S.

Originally Posted by RatSalad

Ok. Rule #1 Keep them safe for you and everyone one the street!
#2 Other than #1, there are no rules

Pretty well sums it up for me!

I try to think ahead and make everything solid. I have had a couple things on my car I wasn't 100% positive about, so I redesigned them to be stronger.
My thinking is this, I cant predict what may be wrong with/on the road in front of me, I need my car to be able to roll over whatever it is without it shattering in the process, OR, be able to stop before I hit it w/o twisting my front axle off the mounts.

As for the BS line of thought about "hey, my car, my ass" comes from incosiderate fools that haven't seen an out of control car careen into oncoming traffic. Unless you eat it on a deserted road, odds are there could be someone else in the accident with you. I somewhat doubt they are gonna think your car is real cool then.

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

I think it's ok to do that, but you have to use a Craftsman wrench. .....or two.


Don

At least he used a washer on the heim end!

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

Cool? What could possibly be cool about stupid???

i didnt mean it as to be used as any type of part that would put someone in harms way. just so you know that i know what stupid is as stupid does

Run Forest Run

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

I think it's ok to do that, but you have to use a Craftsman wrench. .....or two.


Don

The only car parts with a LIFETIME warranty..

Originally Posted by RatSalad

Rule number 1. There are no rules

I think these rules will fit every ones project nicely.

New member just saying hello

Hey RatSalad, did you get that from the Black Sabbath song Rat salad. Just wondering,Mike