Longbox55

If you go back to origins of the Rat Rod movement, it's an evolution of the Rat Bikes of the late '70s. The idea is function over appearance. They weren't pretty, many were built with used/salvaged/refrubished parts, no flashy paint. They were meant to be used, not show queens. It's not really a new concept, what most people call "rat rods" today have been around since the beginning of rodding, but the term itself is relativeley new, as I mentioned, is from the rat bike trend. Unfortunatly, it has gotten to the point that you have fake patina cars, cars intentionally rusted to look "ratty", and even the thrown together cars that look very unsafe to even be around, let alone try to drive. It's gotten to the point where calling a rod a "rat rod" will get you dirty looks from the owners, even if it does fit the description. BTW, not all rats are unsafe peices of junk, many are actually very well built. They just arent necessarily "pretty". Not all of them have flat paint, either. As far as unsafe, I've seen my fair share of Tuner, Low Rider, Lifted Pavement Pounder 4x4, and Muscle Cars that would not pass a state inspection due to improper build quality.

Brad had been warned the last time he had his phone with him in the car not to do it again. While I do like Brad, and would like to see him take the title, he still broke the rules and should accept the punishment.

Uhhh, who ever said anything about Denny Hamlin????

That's just for the show. Like George said, Google Foose, especially any of the full customs his shop has turned out, several of which are AMBR winners. Foose also designed many of the cars built at Boyd Coddingtons shop, including Boydster 1 and 2, as well as the Eddie Van Halen Chevy truck.

You don't see the 2wd variants very often, most buyers seem to pop for the 4x4 option, almost always with the Powerstroke engine, too.

http://www.oldcarbrochures.org/index.php/NA/ChryslerTrucksVans/1977_Trucks-Vans/1977_Dodge_Pickups/1977-Dodge-Pickups-14 Perhaps this might help? All the main dimensions are there, overall length, wheelbase, and bed inside dimensions.

Neither suspension was really very good. Poor handling, exessive camber loss through the suspension travel arc, exessive tire wear, pus premature wearout problems in the radius arm bushings, center pivots, and balljoint issues.. Putting wide tires on aggrivates the problems. About the only real positive about it was that it's dirt simple and very strong. But on the other hand, from a mechanics point of veiw, good money can be made servicing either one, but especially the TTB.

The Super Duty F250 and F350 2wd trucks are still using the Twin I Beam, but as stated, 1996 was the least year for it and its 4x4 Twin Traction Beam variant on the F150.

I dunno. Nick. I've had the misfortune of actually having to work on a Yugo. At least some of the Bricklin was made with sevicable parts.

Isn't that basically the same as saying Yugo?

On the custom wheel version, is the suspension camber angles in the kit messed up like the box art is? Or can be built with a correctly set alignment?

OK, here's the scoop on Chevrolet and GMC pickup beds. '47-'54/'55 1rst, Chevrolet used the following bed sizes, 6 1/2' (3100 1/2 ton), 7 1/2' (3600 3/4 ton), 9' (3800 1 ton). GMC had similar offerings, however they did offer the 7 1/2' bed on their 1/2 ton trucks. In 1955, Chevrolet introduced a long bed 1/2 ton, model 3200. It used the same chassis, brake hydraulics, rear springs, and 7 1/2' bed as the 3600 3/4 ton. The rest of the drivetrain, suspension, and brake system was same as the 3100. This body truck was produced until March of '57, when the 3200 and 3600, along with their GMC counterparts, went to a full 8' bed. The '57s with the 8' bed have extensions at the rear of the frame, bolted on where the original rear bumper mounts went. After '58, both the Stepside/Fenderside and Fleetside/Wideside beds were made in both 6 1/2' and 8' lengths, plus the 9 foot Stepside/Fenderside for the 1 tons up to 1972. In 1968, there was a special version of the Fleetside/Wideside bed in an 8 1/2' length used on 1 tons and Camper Special/Camper Custom 3/4 tons. Chevrolet called it the Longhorn, GMC does not appear to have had a model name for it. All Longhorn 3/4 ton trucks used the 133" wheelbase as the 1 tons, with leaf spring rear suspensions and generally were equipped with the GMC version of the Spicer 70 rear axle. No 4x4 option on those or any 1 ton '60-'77. After '73, the 6 1/2 and 8' beds were offered on 1/2 tons, with the 3/4 and 1 tons using the 8' beds. Currently, GM does offer a 6 1/2' Fleetside bed on 3/4 and 1 tons trucks, but only on extended cab and crew cab trucks.

It will cover just fine, even with only 1 coat. It is water based, so nothing out of the ordinary will be required to clean your brushes. You make mention of "colored primers" for certain colors. Virtally all of the colors in the sytem will cover with one or two coats, with nothing really special as a base coat. However, they do have what they call "foundation" paints, which are to be used as a base layer, then drybrushed with the regular paint, then a wash. Those are really intended more for figure/diorama painting, and is not unlike weathering processes. The effect works very well. But the metal paints don't really need anything for a base, other than perhaps a primer fo better adhesion (Tamiya and Duplicolor work very well with it). Oh, and one more thing, don't let the fantasy/roleplaying game names of the colors put you off. There's several very interesting colors that will work very well with building cars, especially for interior and chassis weathering, plus figure building. I've been using them for a while now for building custom action figures (mostly GI Joe), and have been very pleased with them.

I took a look at their prices on some random parts, just out of curiosity. Nothing out of the ordinary, just standard replacement parts for a reasonably late model truck. While they were lower on shocks for this particular vehicle, O'Reilly beat them on everyting else, in some cases by a $30 margin. Plus the parts were all listed as in stock. That was even regular walk in customer pricing, with my Jobber discount, Rock Auto can't touch any of the local parts stores I go to.

I see. I mention it since I get Jobber prices on part from my local parts stores. Usually, if they have to order anything, they can have it within a week, most times with no shipping costs. About the only time I order online is for items that simply aren't available at the flaps, then I go to the specialty sites for my vehicle.

Nick, don't you work for a local repair shop? You might want to check with whatever parts store the shop uses, you might be able to get Jobber prices on the parts, which may beat the prices from Rock Auto.

That is correct. The reason the Volt got the production nod first is due to the higher exposure that using the Chevrolet nameplate would offer. There are man differences between the 2 vehicles, only the basic mechanicals of the driveline are the same.

Just took a look at some of the top teams to see if any were definitly sponsored by a competing battery manufacturer. Turns out the local team in my area, Hall Brothers, is sponosred by Optima. Electric Raminator anyone?

It probably won't, unless the other AGM battery manufactrures decide they want in on the action. I'll almost bet that JCI/Optima will get together with one of the teams to build a truck as soon as they hear about this.

Depending on which source you beleive, it's anywhere from 13 to 22.

In the movie, they used 2 door '58 Belvederes (still referred to as a Fury, though) .

The cycle fenders are removable on the 1:1, again, intentional on Stacey's part to allow for different looks on the car.

If they followed how the car is setup, there should be a set of hoodsides, a regular louvered top peice, plus a pair of veleocity stacks with air filters, as Stacey has the actual car set up to be able to run all 3 ways. As far as the color goes, I told him to paint it RED!

This is the diecast that is on the box, with the Pepsi markings and background retouched.

None of the Weird-Ohs I have had any decals in them. They are all mid-'90s Testors issues, I don't know if any of the earlier or later issues would have had decals.