‘Rat Rods’ are the current version of the famous and popular 1950’s’Hot Rods’. They are built from the ground up to the best of their owner’s abilities and are meant to be driven and shown off, not sit in the garage or showroom and collect dust.
These vehicles are meant to imitate the way a hot rod of the 50’s performed in both form and function. Even today, ‘bikers’, ‘greasers’, rockabilly, and punk are related to rat rods and take credit in shaping the way these vehicles have developed.
Rat rods were actually being built as early as the 1920s. Many of them had their fenders, hoods, running boards, and bumpers moved and then given different body parts and accoutrements such as Maltese crosses, which are still seen on the automobiles today. Any vehicle that appears to be unfinished is now referred to as a Rat Rod regardless of whether or not the vehicles themselves existed in the golden age of the hot rods.
Rat rod pickups are some of the more interesting customizations that have occurred over the last few years. Some of the most popular models are trucks from the 1920s, Chevrolets, Desoto’s, and any other old pickup truck that one can find. Since these rat rod pickups are made from the ground up, anyone with an old, rusting truck can make some money by selling it to a rat rod enthusiast. By the time the person is done making all their customizations and fixing up the truck they acquired, the original owner won’t recognize it.
Rat rod pickups can be found all over the Internet and there are plenty of people willing to help you build yours. There are even patterns and layouts available for you to use that will walk you through the process. Remember, you have to build the frame, the suspension, determine your drive train, and how sparse or full you want the interior to be. This entire process will take some time to complete, so make sure that when you start working on a Rat Rod, you are ready to devote your free time to building yourself one of the coolest vehicles around.
