I think the late 80:ies, early 90:ies cars, well, what are you going to do to make them special? The 24" rims could be the natural route. It's not like the tricks used on 40, 50, 60 or 70:ies cars would work as well on them. They're too blocky. You can't turn a 1986 Cutlass Ciera into a slammed and chopped 1950 Mercury no matter how hard you try.
The rat rod circus is a lot of fun. Enormous amounts of creativity. Anything goes. Semi truck wheels, re-bar grilles, three foot shifter handles. I like it. I wouldn't go there myself but that's just me.