hooterville75 Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 The last time I looked up the definition of Rat Rod in the Dictionary the definition clearly stated this. Any scale model Dr. Cranky produces that contains rust. Just sayen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Von Don Koolkat Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 Nobody will every agree on a definition. Rat rods started out essentially as an anti-high buck, anti-establishment, and anti-street rod phenomenon. If rat rods irritate the snooty street rod crowd - they serve their purpose, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CemetaryAngel81 Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 Nobody will every agree on a definition. Rat rods started out essentially as an anti-high buck, anti-establishment, and anti-street rod phenomenon. If rat rods irritate the snooty street rod crowd - they serve their purpose, Amen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greymack Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Hey guys here a question to all of you so from what years were ratrods most common and when did the ratrod era end? Also same goes for hotrods. Just a curious question that everyone should know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Irwin Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 The rat rod era just started ten or so years ago. No one built stuff like that "back in the day". Hot rods started in the model T years when some kid found that a lighter speedster body made his T faster. They are still being built today but street rods get far more coverage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rel14 Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 ratrods & hotrods are still going strong as ever..Come to are Monday night cruise , 300 plus cars, you will see... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Lacy Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 The Burbank Choppers car club and the late Gray Baskerville would have been better off kicking themselves in the balls than coining the term "rat rod" back in the 90's had they had the foresight to know what it was going to devolve to. For what it's worth, there are THOUSANDS of shiny, pretty, "finished" street rods that are absolute safety and mechanical engineering failures too. People generally have the misconception that if a hot rod has shiny paint and chrome and looks nice then it must be perfect. Probably 50% of them that you see on the road aren't as well-built as you think. A lot of "good enough" and "close enough" goes on in the garages they are built in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austin T Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 A topic that gets threads locked and deleted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southpier Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 one can only hope Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 The Burbank Choppers car club and the late Gray Baskerville would have been better off kicking themselves in the balls than coining the term "rat rod" back in the 90's had they had the foresight to know what it was going to devolve to. For what it's worth, there are THOUSANDS of shiny, pretty, "finished" street rods that are absolute safety and mechanical engineering failures too. People generally have the misconception that if a hot rod has shiny paint and chrome and looks nice then it must be perfect. Probably 50% of them that you see on the road aren't as well-built as you think. A lot of "good enough" and "close enough" goes on in the garages they are built in. Yup. And not another peep from me on this. Not a peep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lordairgtar Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 The Burbank Choppers car club and the late Gray Baskerville would have been better off kicking themselves in the balls than coining the term "rat rod" back in the 90's had they had the foresight to know what it was going to devolve to. For what it's worth, there are THOUSANDS of shiny, pretty, "finished" street rods that are absolute safety and mechanical engineering failures too. People generally have the misconception that if a hot rod has shiny paint and chrome and looks nice then it must be perfect. Probably 50% of them that you see on the road aren't as well-built as you think. A lot of "good enough" and "close enough" goes on in the garages they are built in. Which is why the NSRA has safety inspectors set up and major shows like NSRA and GoodGuys and the WSRA Corn Roast. They look at them and tell you what you need to look at, cuz sometimes one doesn't know that a problem is there. Now let's just kill the thread. Kill it! Kill it with fire! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JunkPile Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Long Live Rat Rods Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrindy77 Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 (edited) Rat... Not a rat... At least in my opinion...and everyone is entitled to my opinion...#notserious. Edited February 17, 2014 by mrindy77 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LDO Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Not every "rat" has a chassis from a race car. To me, rat rod is a derogatory term describing a car that looks cobbled together and is unsafe. I've seen suspensions that look dangerous, I've seen a Tudor sedan that had its fuel tank moved to directly behind the driver's head, and another Tudor that was radically lowered, but didn't have a transmission tunnel. Four guys rode to the show in that one. Yikes. Watch that driveshaft. Essentially, it describes a turd on wheels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddyfink Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bpletcher55 Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 DUDE THATS FUNNY ,ANY THING TO DO WITH SOUTH PARK , AND I LOVE MOST RAT RODS , Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deano Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Hit it again, I think it twitched! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovefordgalaxie Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 Rat Rod: Something that is a waist of a nice engine and looks like it was done at the bathroom while reading the newspaper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jantrix Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 Rat... Rat1Small.JPG Okay, I'll stoke this fire up again, since wea re all enjoying it so much. That is NOT a rat rod. That is a traditional hot rod, work in progress. All the parts appear vintage. Any of the guys on the HAMB would kill for that, and would hunt you down and beat you to death with a blunt instument of choice for calling it a rat rod. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrindy77 Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 Okay, I'll stoke this fire up again, since wea re all enjoying it so much. That is NOT a rat rod. That is a traditional hot rod, work in progress. All the parts appear vintage. Any of the guys on the HAMB would kill for that, and would hunt you down and beat you to death with a blunt instument of choice for calling it a rat rod. They sound mean. I think I saw one once... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MachinistMark Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 mrindy, you have no clue. H.A.M.Bers know whats what, what you posted aren't rat rods. Rat rods are garbage wagons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrindy77 Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 mrindy, you have no clue. H.A.M.Bers know whats what, what you posted aren't rat rods. Rat rods are garbage wagons. It must be the snow and cold...it's made me clueless. I get it thanks for the clarification... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Buckaroo Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 This is what I consider a rat rod pic from local Craigslist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrindy77 Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 These are some pics of my dad's 'traditional' hot rod circa 1964. He was a member of the Drag-ons car club in Winona, Mn. In his definition a rat rod was a rusting rod without paint...it looked 'ratty' and was not cool, at least in the circles he hung with. I don't care for rusting unpainted cars...and as I had stated it was my opinion what I determine a rat rod is. I don't find rusted cars appealing no matter how many cool vintage parts you hang on them. I don't believe that makes me clueless, opinionated perhaps but not clueless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddyfink Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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