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EFV-8 Club Forum / General Ford Discussion / RAT RODS

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Posted By Discussion Topic: RAT RODS -- page: 1 2     ole_Bill 10-31-2010 @ 7:47 AM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 165 Joined: Dec 2009 Ok, so I'm old, grumpy and intolerant, but the concept of rat rods completely excapes me. I envision the planning stages of the rat rod (assuming these disasters are planned) as juveniles (of any age) standing around the garage saying "Let's spend a lot of Daddy's money to build a hotrod" when the pimply-faced one pipes up and says "Yeah, but lets make it look as cr*ppy as possible - that will be different and people will think we are truely rebels." I've seen these monstrosities at car shows looking like they will give you a rash (probably an STD) if you stand close to them. They universally exhibit poor, if not dangerous workmanship, an unclean or filthy appearance, and an austerity that makes a skateboard look luxuriant. I propose we fight this trend by having MAC introduce a kit to equip every decent rod with a nuclear-tipped rocket that allows the driver to take out the rat rod in front of him. An added benefit is that the same kits would work on drivers who piddle around in the passing lane while cars pass them on the right. parrish 10-31-2010 @ 8:15 AM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 349 Joined: Oct 2009 wrong forum. trjford8 10-31-2010 @ 8:33 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 4227 Joined: Oct 2009 I think the ratrod trend is a passing phase, just like the "smoothie" billet aluminum fad of the 70's. Fads come and go, but nice cars always attract a crowd and are always easy to sell. You have to admit that the ratrod crowd is using old parts that most of us throw away. Yes some of it is junk, but some of these cars show some real fabrication skills.They may look rusty, etc. , but if you look close you may find some real crafty work. Many of these ratrods are using flathead V-8s. Many of these youg guys have a good knowledge of the flathead V-8. These kids have to start somewhere in order to move up to afford a better car. I'm seeing some of these youg guys now starting to move into the 1949-1953 Fords( they are still affordable) and making them into a mild custom and still running the flathead.At some point they will be able to afford a nicely restored car or be able to restore a Ford V-8. Most of us started at the bottom in this hobby and worked our way up. This club is in dire need of young people, so if they start out as ratrodders and work up to being real V-8ers it will benefit us all. I can't speak for all, but I owned some real junky Model A's before I was able to afford a good one. I then worked my way up through several V-8's before I got my two 40 Fords. Bill, remain calm as this too shall pass and another fad will take it's place. In the mean time we should enjoy our old Fords and have a good time. Life is short, so enjoy what is left of it. Rodster 10-31-2010 @ 8:52 AM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 4 Joined: Oct 2010 They are a form of art unto their own. I'm 64 and like rat rods, making something out of nothing! Their are also similar to the old time hot rods from the 40s and 50s. They are a backlash to the $100-200,000 "hot rods" that the baby boomers are building now. A lot of us can't afford them nor want that type of vehicle(trailer queens). I find them very creative and hope to "build" one! Old Henry 10-31-2010 @ 9:01 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 738 Joined: Apr 2010 It's the difference between art and history. When I first started showing my authenticaly restored '47 Ford at local car shows where winners were picked either by sponsors or popularity votes, the customized - "hot rods" - almost always took all of the prizes. I personally prefer a classic restoration over an artistic customization so I wondered why the customizations took all of the awards. I think I finally got some insight into the answer. It's the difference between art and history. While there are the "cr*ppy" customizations, most of the customizations are really the creator's creative work of art in which they express themselves in the unique style that they "change" their car from original and "decorate" it in a unique way. Whereas, the rest of us, a minority to be sure, prefer to recreate a historical piece that can take us and an observer back in time to the period the car was made, to see it as closely as possible as it was "in its day." The difference is that more people just plain like art more than history. You look at the number of people frequenting art museums verses historical libraries, and the volume of artistic works of every kind shown in all forms of media compared to the limited exposure that the public has to history. Most people just plain enjoy a creative work of art over a realistic glimpse of history. Perhaps it's partially because art is usually "new" whereas history, by its very nature, is just plain "old." And, so, the "artists" will continue to outnumber the "historians" (which each of us realistically restoring really have to become.) Well, there you have my "muzings" on the subject. Still Old Henry supereal 10-31-2010 @ 9:59 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 6819 Joined: Oct 2009 The near disappearance of authentically restored cars of years gone by is due to at least a couple of factors. Those of us who remember those vehicles are, ourselves, disappearing, and most of the shows, at least in our area, have reduced or stopped arranging classes for restorations and lump all into one or two categories, if any. Many rods, rat or otherwise, have been constructed from cars that were to far gone for restoration, I suppose, but so often our reaction is "couldn't it have been saved?". jimc9990 10-31-2010 @ 10:17 AM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 3 Joined: Oct 2010 I have seen some unsafe ones and I have seen some safe looking ones. Most of them are using up parts nobody else wants,but not all. They remind me of the early HOT RODS we had back in the 50s.Some of them are well enginered, better than we could do back in the day.There engines run better than most of the high dollar trailer queens I see brought to the shows . Thats because most of them are good at building engines and they drive them , something some of the big bucks guys can't do.I have seen scr*p iron welded to different parts , like the tie rods maybe , just to make it look bad. No other reason that I could see .The only part I can't understand is 'how do they get by driving on the highway with out a registration plate, open exuast straight off of the engine. No seatbelts for little kids, no floor sometimes with kids in the car.I know they don't have to have belts ,but I thought kids had to be secured somehow. The state police have to meet them on the road sometimes I would think. Now I'm talking about Idaho, I don't know about other states. Would I build one ? Maybe, I'm not sure. JIM Jimbos Junk This message was edited by jimc9990 on 10-31-10 @ 10:21 AM bobs36 10-31-2010 @ 11:42 AM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 42 Joined: Oct 2009 no difference from the late 40"s to the 50", people said the same thing, about what "Kids" did to there cars etc. Stroker 10-31-2010 @ 3:35 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 1460 Joined: Oct 2009 I too am old, and probably getting grumpy. My 32 pickup in the late 50's might today have been called a "rat rod", although its appearance (primer) was more a result of economics, and the realization that gloss paint which would have highlighted ALL the warts. I find it interesting that some of these creative folk go to great lengths (and expense) to add "patina". From the onset, my 54 year love affair with my 38 has been focused on getting it back to the way it was when dad bought it. Having said that, there have been a couple of trends in the past that I have found to be frustrating to me, probably because I never seemed to have enough discretionary income to run with the big dogs. The first were the "factory hot rods", which sort of came into being with such examples as fuel-injected Chevy's, McCulloch-blown Fords, and of course the famous 409's and Mopar monsters. My contemporaries and I felt that the ability to simply buy your way to performance was somehow "wrong". The second, was the high-tech approach to traditional hot rods, wherein stainless steel batwings Superbell axles, and air-conditioned, tilt-wheel rides became the standard. At this point, I had a nice steel 29 roadster, and was seriously thinking about building the "period correct" highboy hot rod I never had in the fifties. This project would have been flathead powered, used a narrowed 32 frame, had split stock wishbones, a column shift trans with Zephyr gears, and virtually no chrome. I collected a nice 32 grille sh*ll, a Jack Hageman fabbed 3-piece aluminum hood, a Halibrand V8 quick-change, and a lovely set of original Ardun heads. Time, job requirements, kids and family postponed this project to the point that I finally decided to part with everything except the heads. In retrospect, what I would have created would have been too primitive to appeal to the "hot rod set", and too sophisticated to appeal to the "rat rod set". I'm a long time Bonneville racer, and records generated in that venue have eclipsed any possibility of being competitive today with such a combination. So...Do rat rods have a place? Any automotive endevour has a "place". Some would view our group as being a little "retentive". For now, I'll keep plugging on my first love, and try to keep her as close to "as dad bought it" as is economically feasible. This forum and the V8 Times have been the best source of great information I have ever experienced. I joined the EV8 Club back in the late 60's, and my only regret is that I didn't continue my membership until I rejoined about 6 years ago. Be kind to the "rat-rodders", as I believe what they are trying to express is that "more is not necessarily better". wmsteed 11-04-2010 @ 9:44 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 613 Joined: Oct 2009 Is the EFV8 Club Forum the wrong place to have a topic about 'Rat Rods"? I don't think soooo! Actually the majority of the cars we built in our youth, that is for the 65 plus age group, would generally fall into the rat rod class. If it was not for the Hot Rods, the early V8's would have faded from view many years ago. I find it to be very interesting that many of my friends that have cars that are restored to better than new levels have either built, and/or are currently building Rat Rods... Their thinking being that the cost to restore a car has gone off the charts, where-as a rat rod requires no paint or upholstery. I also find it to be very interesting that a vast majority of Rat Rods are based on a early Ford chassis and powered with a Ford flat head. A couple of years ago me and a friend of mine were at a car show at Nick Alexanders..... Lots of beautifully restored early V8's and many rat rods... My friend looked the rat rods over, stating.. these cars are the same things we put together when we were kids using parts we gathered up from the junk yards in the Vernon area of LA. Everything changes, yet nothing changes.. Bill 36 5 win delx cpe

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