rat rods?

Personally, the rust finish makes no sense to me- I've always thought of it as something to be removed(come to think of it, I'd like my Scamp more if I was a rust fan:D).
However, there's an old truck in town (I want to say mid-50s Chevy) that's done in the 'whole body surface rust' look -well, it's actually original I think lol- and across the tailgate it has ALL THAT'S LEFT AFTER TAXES.
I thought that was funny the first time I saw it.