Rat Rods
I like some rat rods. I would like to build one for my next project. No top, welded doors and chrome exhaust along midline of body front to back, with mopar motor of course.
YouTube - hemi powered rat rod... omfg this is great
turn up sound
Before this thread goes totally sideways, I want to make one thing clear. The video bad shrimp posted is of Jimmy White's Hemi powered '31 model A. It is in
absolutely, positivley, no way, shape, or form, a rat rod.
Jimmy's model A is a well thought out, safely built, and expertly finished traditional hot rod that happens to be finished in bare steel.
"Rat rods" have had their definition change quite a bit in the last few years. Originally they were built as low dollar hot rods, and while they may have been rough in appearance they were mostly safe and built to be driven by folks that wanted a hot rod and didn't have a ton of money to invest in it, sort of an answer to the insanely high dollar "street rods" of the 80's and early 90's.
But, as near as I can tell, most rat rods now are built solely for shock value at shows, and are either rusty death traps, or cars that could have been fixed up that instead have been hacked to pieces in order to fit into what is becoming a ridiculous trend. It has become a derogatory term to a lot of hot rodders, especially in the traditional hot rod scene, because many people mistake unfinished, or even some finished, traditional hot rods as "rat rods".
And it's easy to see why it would be derogatory, and down right insulting to call Jimmy White's beautiful '31 model A by the same name as some of the rusty death traps that most consider "rat rods".