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We wanna do a rat rod!

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Nitrohaulic

Nitrohaulic

Nitro Member
The girlfriend and I have decided that this is going to be our new side project. We're trying to get ideas. We both like 40s pickups. I also like 20s pickups. I've got funky looking old big and small block Chevy stuff (Rodeck valve covers with the old bonnet breathers, an old shoebox small block tunnel ram intake) that I've occasionally looked at over the years and said "I'd like to build a car around that but, I don't know what."

A rat rod seems perfect for us because we can be creative AND possibly do it on the halfway cheap side, using a lot of what I already have. They have that "anti conformist" aspect going on that appeals to both of us, along with that they usually don't look "perfect." She's into retro stuff, too.

I'm lovin' the idea of something fairly light with a short stroke big block and four speed.

Does anyone here even own a rat rod or does anyone here have any interest in them? Since we want to combine this with letterboxing and, that thread went over like the proverbial lead balloon, in addition to my mater friends being practically no help at all, I figure "Why stop while we're on a roll?" :D
 
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Do it! A late 40's truck can still be bought reasonable, anything from the 30's is way out of hand. I've got a "rat" 68 Impala, I've had it 22 years and never painted it once.
Funny thing about the rat rod scene, they all seem to hate the phrase "rat rod" even though it is a perfect description for most of the cars. Oh well!
 
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Ron, take the idea & run with it! Rick and I have managed to come up with several 41-46 Chevy pick-ups between us. The original purchase prices vary greatly from 2 trucks in pieces for $350.00 to one running on a 79 silverado chassis for $500 to $1500 for one complete that needs an engine rebuild and will get a complete makeover. We traded one of the dog houses to a neighbor a couple blocks away that has a junk yard for a running pick-up that has a 350 in it with the intention of putting the 350 in one of the not running older trucks. Everyone is happy with the trade & the truck we got in trade has provided some donor parts for my old dually. Recycling at it's best.
 
The Chevy is freaking beautiful, G! I have truck envy.

The appeal of ratting an old truck for me are all those sexy curves and the patina, coupled with whatever personal, odd touches we might want to make. I'm especially attracted to the look of a worn-out, painted sign on the door. It's that old, loved, used, history-rich feeling. Yum.

The artist brain is going ninety miles an hour with ideas. Seriously will be hard to narrow down. Double that since there are two of us with ideas about what would work.

Of course, the whole "how it runs" thing is a bit beyond me. For now, anyway. ;)
 
Thanks Christine. :) We have been having a blast with these.

Rick found my blue one (my avatar) and when I went out to look and talk to the owner (and buy the truck) I was looking at the lot and said, "You know, I'm pretty sure that's another couple of them, but I am stone broke now." Rick stopped the truck and got out. He came back a little bit later and said "You have a good eye, I just bought two trucks for $350, want to come out this weekend with me to get them?" :eek: One is completely rusty, but the metal seems mostly solid. That will get a few patches and will become the "rat" of the group. It doesn't have any of it's original chrome and Rick has found an old '38 grille for it. The other one he traded to a neighbor.

The "redhead" is the one on the Silverado chassis. Rick found it a few years ago and had been trying to locate the owner, it was originally a firetruck. Over time as he drove by (he spends a lot of time on this stretch of road) he watched a pickup come in & get parked next to it and slowly watched this get moved onto the pickup frame. One day he was driving by and saw a "for sale" sign, stopped & called. Turns out that the owner actually lived a couple blocks away. They poured some gas into a bottle (because the truck's gas tank wasn't attached yet) hooked up the bottle & drove it around the block. I kid you not. $500 & all the guy wanted to do was drive it once.

The latest one is in my album. I know I have Rick hooked on these trucks now because they are following him home when they are supposed to be hard to find. :rolleyes:
 
Ron, cool idea, I saw a badass rat rod at a carshow in Kilgore a few years ago, it was a mid thirtys pick-up built on a heafty boxed frame, slammed to the ground (it was probally waist high) with a blown small block chevy and a four speed, it had wheelie bars and zoomies on it. they used old wrenches for the window cranks and door latches, it had connecting rods holding the headlight buckets, which had skeleton fingers wrapped around them, it was way cool, LOTS of detail. Nice workmanship but old and rusty with primer, the emergency brake handle was an old pair of channel locks, it had drag seats with harness'es and a roll cage. Had the drag race look and sounded killer, big cam,blower,dual quads, and zoomies. Good luck and if I see it again I'll snap some pics.
 
The problem with rat rods...

1. some cars are absolute junk for the sake of being junk.

2. some cars are "junk" but the owner/builder spent a ton of $$$ to make it look that way.

3. none of the conventional car show judges will like it. If you decide to build one, build it for yourself.

I like the idea of a basic, plain, spartan, etc Hot Rod. Whatever title that may be...

For me, the perfect Hot Rod can be seen in the move The California Kid. Change the body to a truck, bucket T or whatever, but the style is the right one for me.

YouTube - The California Kid (1974) carchase 3

EDB
 
I'm fresh from the Dallas AutoRama yesterday Ron and the number of RAT RODS was up three times what it was from last year.

Of course I'm including the old style Rods with Offenhouser Manifolds on V8 flatheads and Buick Nailheads as long as they looked Rat .
I wish my Camera hadn't failed or ran out of space , I only got a few Pic's.
There had to be at least thirty of them there.

Bobby Langley was there with replacas of his Scorpion's 1 and 5 and will be doing the cackle thing with both of them Sat. and Sun. !

Also there was a 69 Camaro F/C , an old Big Mike Burkhart car with a phone number cause it's looking for work ! A working F/C.
Shows , Match Races , Attention getter.
I think it's owned and driven by John Hale .
 
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We're running into "creative differences" already! :D

What she wants wouldn't really seem to fall under the loose definition of "rat rod." She likes those big, fat, round fenders. More of a hot rod truck, though, still on the rustic side.

Most rat rod trucks seem to be minimal. Cab, bed, exposed engine. No fenders, running boards, hood etc.

We'll probably lean more toward what she wants since I've done my share of cars over the years in addition to the nostalgia F/C that's going together now.
 
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Registered member said:
http://mysticspeed.com/CentralCruise2009/slides/c020.jpg

http://mysticspeed.com/CentralCruise2009/slides/c087.jpg

http://mysticspeed.com/MainStreetCruise2008/slides/main007.jpg

Found this for you if you didnt run across it already, lots of stuff for sale.
Rat Rods | Rat Rods for sale | Rat Rod Stuff

This would be a cool start
eBay Motors: Studebaker : 1/2 TON (item 280313554223 end time Feb-22-09 06:13:56 PST)
Click to expand...

She's all about the beer keg gas tanks! :) Friends are getting me leads on various 40s trucks. We'll see where this goes.
 
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