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definition of a rat rod


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  • 1 year later...

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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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Rat...

attachicon.gifRat1Small.JPG

Okay, I'll stoke this fire up again, since wea re all enjoying it so much. :D

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.

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Okay, I'll stoke this fire up again, since wea re all enjoying it so much. :D

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...

post-13258-0-70192100-1392859739.jpg

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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.

post-13258-0-18108000-1392873139_thumb.j

post-13258-0-12925400-1392873147_thumb.j

post-13258-0-50860000-1392873152_thumb.j

post-13258-0-98460100-1392873157_thumb.j

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