A rat rod is a vehicle put together with function over form as a priority. A black primered model A coupe with a fully polished engine and 4 12" woofers begind the seat is not a rat rod. A black primered model A coupe with a stock 392 Hemi with pretty valve covers, holes in the floor and elsewhere, no stereo, maybe a gauge or two in the dash, is a rat rod. A rat rod has a pre-1948 body.

I don't have a problem with the term rat rod, it's the term hot rod thrown around so loosely that I have a problem with. A Honda Civic that does 9 second 1/4 mile passes is not a hot rod. A 2006 Ford F-250 diesel with twin turbo's is not a hot rod. A 1969 Chevrolet Camaro is not a hot rod.

Tradition gets smeered as the tradition gets further into history.

IMO a RatRod is a car that has no floor boards, brakes that barely work and is for the  most part an unsafe POS...You'd be shocked at some of the "Ratrods" guys are driving or atleast parking in show...Like VLV I saw a car with no front brakes or floorboards...If ya hit roadkill it'd be in yer lap...Jimmy Shines truck is just a badass Hotrod IMO...Which means alot...  

Here is a couple of shots from my cousins garage. "Upland Hot Rod Co." My cousin Victor and a top notch fabricator. Do just about everything imaginable . Last thing I saw was a whole trunk replaced with the wheel wells extended to accomodate the Z-ed frame and a new trunk floor with great lookin beads , Drilled and tapped all together with stainless fastners . No B S  pop rivets or self tapping screws holding a bunch of micky fuked shit together .

This is his car that he can never seem to decide what eventually wants to do with .



This is the last car I saw there (its been months since I've been back) that a customer left just as a chassis , cab , and a motor on a stand . He's had some other very coo shit through there . I'm sure he has tons of pics too. Not bad for a union paver 



-beerjet-

Finally got ta' se the pics...Sweet lookin' model A's! Nice zoomies and what about 3" chop? Your cousin chop it to? Nice biased whites...Can't wait ta' seem em done...Post some pics if ys can...And if he can't figure out what ta' do with 'em let me know....

No problem with the term. I DO have a problem with the people that Warlock mentioned!!!!
In the old days the cars were put on the road as soon as possible because it was thier only means of tranportation. They were CONSANTLY upgrading them as time and $ alowed. Some of the POS that I've seen at 10 CHRR & 9 March Meets, 2 VLV look the same as when I first saw them. They think it's cool!!!
They're missing the point... they were stripped down to make them faster. I have seen very few head down the bussiness end of a drag strip or Bonniville. Kinda like a chopper....nothing that isn't needed.
Unlike the cross-dressing cringing milk sobbs at OCC!!!! They'd be disoriented in a real bike biulding shop!!! The SOB's couldn't even find TDC when a bike did not start!!!
Whew!!! I'll get off my soap box out here in Colorado.
PSBS Hotrod 56 it was good talking to ya!!

I agree, exactly

It went from a necessity to a fad!

yeah, ratrods are such a fad... 

It's been a while...Heres another pic....For me it's all about the elbow grease. The shows we usually go to don't even have awards it's just cruisin', kickin' back drinkin' beer with folks of the same interest....Just like boating 

warlock....is that yours?

Yea....Heres another with someone else we both know at VLV last year...

impressive.... 

I like it a lot.

No problem with the term...
In the old days the cars were put on the road as soon as possible because it was thier only means of tranportation. They were CONSANTLY upgrading them as time and $ alowed. Some of the POS that I've seen at 10 CHRR & 9 March Meets, 2 VLV look the same as when I first saw them. They think it's cool!!!
They're missing the point... they were stripped down to make them faster. I have seen very few head down the bussiness end of a drag strip or Bonniville. Kinda like a chopper....nothing that isn't needed.
Unlike the cross-dressing cringing milk sobbs at OCC!!!! They'd be disoriented in a real bike biulding shop!!! The SOB's couldn't even find TDC when a bike did not start!!!
Whew!!! I'll get off my soap box out here in Colorado.
PSBS Hotrod 56 it was good talking to ya!!

...
Tradition gets smeered as the tradition gets further into history.

When the story tellers of yester-year told the story of Santa Claus do you think they had Marketing guru's sitting behind massive desks in corner offices on their minds, of course not. Same with anything, the further into history a tradition gets the more flocked up it gets. AA/Pauls reccolection  is right on, they drove them that way because they had to. They didn't drive them without floors because they thought it was cool, it's because they were late for work and couldn't take the chance of loosing their 15 cent an hour job just because their car didn't have a floor, too much risk/jobs were too hard to find. For the record, I wasn't there then, but my dad was and I know that's why old hot rodders did things they way they did them. Notice I said old hot rodder's, not old rat rodder's. The rat rodder's out there that drive their sh!t without floorboards, decent brakes, etc... are flockin idiots, completely stupid ignorant flocks that put every single person near them on the road in danger so they can be "cool". What a flockin joke. Like I want my kid to die in a car crash so the rat rodder could at least look cool while they kill my kid.

Warlock's ride is a SIK hot rod. 

Someday, I'll get off the jet boat thing and back into the hot rod thing... I promise... 

warlock--that is one bitchen truck--very nice work

... You still got budget builders like ya did back in the day that try to slap something together as cheap as possible and they are not mechanically inclined enough to do it right and it turns out like an unsafe POS...

Hey Warlock, I'm right here, don't make a post as if I'm not here anymore.     

marcsrollin had a great idea, I should just tow my '32 to Warlock's house so he and his dad can finish it for me.     

Finally got ta' se the pics...Sweet lookin' model A's! Nice zoomies and what about 3" chop? Your cousin chop it to? Nice biased whites...Can't wait ta' seem em done...Post some pics if ys can...And if he can't figure out what ta' do with 'em let me know....

He and his partner did the chop . He's been around older cars his whole life and his partner is an awsome fabricator . He was the shop foreman at Waltons Hot rod or whatever it's called . Really good at engineering parts and brackets and knows his geometry for building suspentions and what not . I'm gonna hunt down some more pics . He goes to VLV every year .

-beerjet-