Blog : Rat rod - a cool craze or best left alone?
Jul
01
Rat rod - a cool craze or best left alone?
Ok, the whole rat rod scene seems to have created mass discussion on car forums, some are loving its rusty off-the-wall look, while others just don’t seem to grasp the concept. We hope to give you a further insight to the origins of the scene…
As you would expect, it kicked off from the hot rodders - hence the name - with a few wrech-throwers building classic 40’s, 50’s and 60’s era cars to be driven rather than becoming garage space artwork.
The problem with the traditional Hot rods is that so much time and money is invested into a restoration project that they become show & shine pieces, and victims of their own beauty. The function of the car is traded in for the painstaking aesthetics. Rat rods reverse these rules though, preferring to open up their flathead V8’s on the road, instead of sitting pretty at car shows.
However, now the rest of the modified world has taken note, and the cars that were built for purpose have come to compete for the lime-light with the pristine fully-restored models at car shows world wide. This has lead to the rat scene leaving the rods and moving it on everything from Imports to Euros.
No longer is the look down to the age of the car and the level of decay of the bodywork. Modifiers are now speeding up the process, stripping paint and soaking parts in salt water to get the trademark rusty brown rat panels.
So, how do you rate making your ride look like it has been left abandoned for the last 30 years?
Do you like the look on other cars besides ‘rods?
Have your say…
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