Rat rod prices?

[Prince Valiant]

Not for me of course...but a friend is looking to get back into the hobby after swearing off it just three short years ago (had a really nice 57 chevy). Well, Rat Rods appeal to him. He likes to buy finished products so he can simply drive and enjoy...he did the 57 and swore never again. Put too much in and got too little out...

[awsomeears]

Yea some are cool but then ones I usually see are ticking time bombs to just fall apart, hell every weld I see is worse then my 1st day in Metals Class, plus who the FUCK needs to paint welds. Rat Rods LOVE the rust look. Throw some pabst blue ribbon stickers all over it, weld a 1/2 SAE box wrench for the door handle and you can apparently ask $32,000

Now I'm not dogging them, some are Badass, but most are slapped together nightmares...

[lordairgtar]

What does he really want? An art car or a vintage appearing traditional (pre 1964) rod or custom. Art cars are the ones with tool boxes welded onto it to look like it's gonna fall off, or open drive shafts running exposed through the interior. In the traditional arena, he should build his own. Those guys take great stock in it if you built it. If not, they just think of you as a check book rodder / gold chainer.

[BR3W CITY]

He can find mediocre cars done that way on CL all day long. It won't usually be the "Best" car to start with, but you can find random stuff like wood-flatbed 30's trucks with pontiac motors. 90% of the time a "rat" car is still gonna require him to do more work than it sounds like he wants.
These days ratrod just means "I didn't have the time, patience, money or skill to finish it or do it right....so i called it a rat rod"

[-stew-]

I think I would rather spend the rest of my life locked in a closet with Nikki menaj and rosey odonnell that spend ten seconds in anything deaned a "rat rod."

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk 2

[jbiscuit]

Just surf the HAMB classifieds for a NICE hot rod!

[michelle]

He should buy my '47.

[USMARINE1108]

I've got nothing to add but the pics at this link.

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f59/rat-rod-jeeps-1107325/

I LOVE that first one.

[wrath]

Rat rod = cobble job. If you want to pay too much for something you have to fix, buy a Chrysler cloud car.

[Gregor]

Some "Rat Rods" have years of time invested in them. Some do not, the problem is when you use that moniker for a style of car its almost always the cobbled piles that get the name and then drag down the car that have 40k invested in them. Some car clubs get pissed when you call the "Rat Rods" because it takes a lot to get one put together.

And the ones I have seen from that club would destroy most "Custom Fab and Rod Shops". Weld beads laser straight and even, chops clean with prethought in the design of the car and function. And not a single 350 powered car. All flat heads.


Its more of finding a clean car and go from there, go down south and buy a pre '40 and build it from there. Because if your doing this to make a profit when you sell it your in the wrong hobby.

[pOrk]

Gregor, there is a HUGE difference between a ratrod and a custom hotrod. Most idiots who know NOTHING about hotrods call them ratrods, like a majority of people on this site for example. Ratrods are wacked out faggot ass death traps

[Prince Valiant]

Ratrods are wacked out faggot ass death trapsHmph...I wasn't under the impression that Joe was looking for a VW bug.

[Korndogg]

http://www.bored383.com/gallery/albums/crap/vw_oh_snap.gif

[Gregor]

Gregor, there is a HUGE difference between a ratrod and a custom hotrod. Most idiots who know NOTHING about hotrods call them ratrods, like a majority of people on this site for example. Ratrods are wacked out faggot ass death traps

Look as I was saying the car culture has labeled with anything that does have shiny paint as a rat rod. And its bullshit, but how is a all steel body that has original surface rust, or channeled and boxed frame, any less car than a Fiberglass shitbox. That some old fuck went out and bought as a kit car. I will take all steel any day.

besides, thats why you took a VW right, easy to work on and half the parts?

[TheRX7Project]

Where's that popcorn .gif?

[michelle]

I feel like I missed something here.

[jbiscuit]

this is getting good. lol

[Rocket Power]

this is getting good. Lolqft. Lol

[pOrk]

I don't have a beetle anymore, not that it would have hurt my feelings either way :)

A simple Google search would result great results for any moron who things a RAT ROD is the same thing as a traditional HOT ROD, as car guys you SHOULD know the difference. If not, you are an idiot.

[Gregor]

Sorry for trashing what might have been a good thread Prince.


And yes I know the difference between a "Rat Rod" and a traditional rod. But thanks for the class on it.

[wrath]

pOrk doesn't have a Beetle anymore? I remember when you de-Hispanicized the black truck to start a business towing other people's crap around and then you re-Hispanicized the Beetle. What is next? Un-mudering an A4?

[pOrk]

Racism is awesome!

[Gregor]

Taking this to PM

[wrath]

On another note, Woodward had hundreds of cars for sale. If you have cash burning a hole in your pocket it's a good time to buy. Literally thousands of different kinds of cars for sale and hundreds of each type you can imagine. In a ten minute period I saw three VR4s for sale, I didn't even know they made that many.


Racism is awesome!

I don't remember what it was you called it when you were removing the crap from the truck years ago but it was much worse than that.

[Prince Valiant]

I don't have a beetle anymore, not that it would have hurt my feelings either way :) Good...it was meant as a good joke. Mission accomplished.


A simple Google search would result great results for any moron who things a RAT ROD is the same thing as a traditional HOT ROD, as car guys you SHOULD know the difference. If not, you are an idiot.Well, not really. Being a "car guy" doesn't imbue one with like-minded thinking throughout. If it did, I'd think everyone an idiot for driving fords/chevies/anything not mopar...some might think I think that...but I don't.

Terminology falls under this category as well...ask people what a 3/4 cam is, and you'll get a crap ton of responses. Ask people what a "bolt-on" is and again, there is almost no limit to what people will tell you. That's the car hobby...and as with most anything, people aren't necessarily "idiots" for having a different definition than you/me/whoever. Rat rod's are no exception.

Thinking about it too, Joe wasn't terribly specific about *what* he wanted...just wanted a ballpark figure for a driver while using "rat rod" specifically, so he could get back in the hobby, though in a different genre than he used to enjoy.

fwiw, I think of rat-rods as being cars that *look* unfinished but in fact are. Using the body as picked up, whether having surface rust (or more) or not; sticking with period correct engines when possible, or engines built prior to 1960...Otherwise, they run the gamut of what can be made into a "rat-rod". Just like anything, some of these can be real crap, while others darn nice. My guess is Joe wants a real nice driver...

We'll see what he ends up with, if anything.

[BR3W CITY]

I gotta say, I've never seen p0rk get that pissy about something in a while.
Fwiw, so many "traditional" hot rods WERE built like shit, because the guys who built them were working class dudes using whatever they could get their hands on to build. I've looked through so many old albums that the near 70 y/o mechanic at my old job had lent me, some of the shit people did was just retarded. We somehow forget that just like today there were under-educated, under-skilled and just generally un-talented people who chose to "hot rod" their cars.

Its not really even possible to compare "back then" to now; with the internet, and the correct tools, materials and knowledge available, there is just less and less reason to do things intentionally the "wrong" way. Back then, you did what seemed to work, or you saw a buddies-friends-brother do one time...the people building them didn't know they were poorly done, or unfinished...its just what they had, and they were probably proud of it.

[DNT H8]

Its not really even possible to compare "back then" to now; with the internet, and the correct tools, materials and knowledge available, there is just less and less reason to do things intentionally the "wrong" way.
Soooo much truth right there!!!! I think some ppl dont even realize it....

Rat Rods are bad ass btw and there evolution is totaly different now.... duces

[USMARINE1108]

Good...it was meant as a good joke. Mission accomplished.

Well, not really. Being a "car guy" doesn't imbue one with like-minded thinking throughout. If it did, I'd think everyone an idiot for driving fords/chevies/anything not mopar...some might think I think that...but I don't.

Terminology falls under this category as well...ask people what a 3/4 cam is, and you'll get a crap ton of responses. Ask people what a "bolt-on" is and again, there is almost no limit to what people will tell you. That's the car hobby...and as with most anything, people aren't necessarily "idiots" for having a different definition than you/me/whoever. Rat rod's are no exception.

Thinking about it too, Joe wasn't terribly specific about *what* he wanted...just wanted a ballpark figure for a driver while using "rat rod" specifically, so he could get back in the hobby, though in a different genre than he used to enjoy.

fwiw, I think of rat-rods as being cars that *look* unfinished but in fact are. Using the body as picked up, whether having surface rust (or more) or not; sticking with period correct engines when possible, or engines built prior to 1960...Otherwise, they run the gamut of what can be made into a "rat-rod". Just like anything, some of these can be real crap, while others darn nice. My guess is Joe wants a real nice driver...

We'll see what he ends up with, if anything.

Well said. When you're in a hobby where the terms are defined by pop culture, there is going to be some overlaps. Some say a bolt on car includes things that are bolted on, some say a bolt on car means the heads have never been off an include a cam swap. There is a lot of ambiguity in a lot of terms in the car hobby.