Pilot House Rat Rod

[Vintrader]

Well I am kinda of a nut for stock trucks. But I gotta admit I like this one.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1953-Dodge-RatRod-Cross-Ram-440-Titled-1948_W0QQitemZ150181932316QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item150181932316

[Thunder II]

It looks GOOD down on the weeds like that. And ya' gotta' love the cross ram.....

[dmulhall]

Alot of people dont like rat rods,

but I however, love them..

That is really cool..

maybe my next project

[bigred48]

master of turd disaster

[Merle Coggins]

Rat Rods do nothing for me. I can appreciate the work and engineering that goes into them, but if they'd put some nice paint on 'em and finish them properly, I'd be all over it.

Interesting truck though,

Merle

[woodscavenger]

I love it!

[Guest Dave Claussen]

Merle, If they painted them up nice and so on then they wouldn't be rat rods from my limited understanding of the rat rod style. Personally, I don't think the looks are the outstanding feature but the drive train really says a lot about the mechanical "nature of the beast". Overall I give it a thumbs up. Cool truck.

[chucky07]

did they have these kind of hot rods in the old days? un painted and fast engines? I'm confused about the whole rat rod philosophy...anyone have any history....etc on the "rat rod"?

[Thunder II]

Typicly, old model Ts, chopped, channeled, lowered, big engines, lake pipes, anything that could be drug out of the junkyards, and bolted together, at little or no cost. Not really dragsters, but all about speed.

This one isnt mine, but I wish it was....

[48Dodger]

Closer to a counter culture against high dollar "slick" hot rods. The term "Rat Rod" first shows up in print in the early 70's, but only to desribe unfinished hot rods. The "rat rod" gains momentum in the early 80's in the UK. Today's "rat rod culture" is made up of lots of tatto'd men and women who lean towards the punk scene (music), but of course there's always exceptions. The cars are exaggerated, mostly underbuild, rust is appreciated, and cars are primered (or painted to look primered). The 50's "look" is exaggerated too(meaning how people dress/hair). Some claim hot rod artist Robert Williams buildt the first, other say The Low Flyers Hot Rod club of the UK did. Who knows. They keep a lot of old iron out of the hands of the crushers, but traditional hot rodders don't like to see the cars cut down to the point of "no return" (bringing the car back to the oringinal look).

Magazines:

Ol' Skool Rodz

Rebel Rodz

48D

[BobT-47P15]

And......they are "ratty" looking. Or scruffy. Or kinda crummy. Or maybe "rustic".

A guy I know here built this thing using parts out of an ancient truck salvage place.

Here's a rather ratty Dodge from Texas. At the HAMB drags in Joplin this

summer.

Now, this fellow used a little imagination and his torch to produce something really unique.