Jump to content

Import Rat Rod Fad?


Chief8one

Recommended Posts

I'm seeing more and more of this ... I drive a 99 Accord with 250k as a DD and try and keep the rust off of it... I see VW people do this as well.. and "sticker bomb".

 

 

Lettuce...

 

Maybe I'm just getting old.... Get off my lawn!

 

http://columbus.craigslist.org/cto/5015202994.html

 

http://columbus.craigslist.org/cto/4999508806.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is a certain kind of respect that goes into build a "rat rod" as they are engineered and built...sorta.

 

These......pieces of crap are just that, pieces of crap

"Oh I wrecked my car" NO WORRIES, Just sticker bomb that fender and sand the paint off the hood and call it custom.

Don't forget the race car zip-tie stitches.

 

Like that douchebag host/owner of gas monkey garage/Fast and loud.

buys car for nothing, paints over the rust and profit...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's the look my body is going for once it turned 40. Anyone have some Gold's gym or GNC stickers I can use to sticker bomb my body with?

 

Why skimp when you can just get an affliction shirt and be done with it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As long as good paint jobs are expensive things like the "rat rod" look, wrapping, plasti dip, sticker bombing, etc... will remain options to the kids with street cred.

 

Wraps and dip are one thing and can (if done correctly) look halfway decent.

but the rust, blackboard paint, stickers, zip-ties holding body panels on, putting giant band-aid stickers on crushed body panels, etc. are just untasteful.

 

like some of the crap they do on MCM.. It's all for "show" these days because everyone wants a race car apparently.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The gap between the "scene" kids and actual enthusiast grow daily. They would not know a rat rod if it ran them over.

 

 

Calling these car anything but crap-is crap.

 

http://www.hotrod.com/cars/featured/hrdp-1011-rat-rod-history/

 

This about sims it up.

 

there always are when hot rodding art becomes interpreted by guys who have neither the eye nor the subtlety for it. Speaking of which, rat rods have also led to what we don't mind calling the single most ridiculous fad ever: fake patina

 

"Third are what used to be called schlock rods or shot rods and what I derisively call crap rods today. They've always been part of the mix, unavoidably. I take exception to those who think that shoddy construction is somehow cool, or worse, those who know they can throw a bunch of junk parts together and peddle it as a cool rat rod to some inexperienced buyer who doesn't know the difference."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The gap between the "scene" kids and actual enthusiast grow daily. They would not know a rat rod if it ran them over.

 

 

Calling these car anything but crap-is crap.

 

http://www.hotrod.com/cars/featured/hrdp-1011-rat-rod-history/

 

This about sims it up.

 

there always are when hot rodding art becomes interpreted by guys who have neither the eye nor the subtlety for it. Speaking of which, rat rods have also led to what we don't mind calling the single most ridiculous fad ever: fake patina

 

"Third are what used to be called schlock rods or shot rods and what I derisively call crap rods today. They've always been part of the mix, unavoidably. I take exception to those who think that shoddy construction is somehow cool, or worse, those who know they can throw a bunch of junk parts together and peddle it as a cool rat rod to some inexperienced buyer who doesn't know the difference."

 

On a related note, I just got finished reading this book:

 

http://www.amazon.com/The-Hot-World-Robt-Williams/dp/0760326606

 

For those who are into hot rods and who don't know who Robert williams is, shame on you. For those that aren't and don't you can read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Williams_%28artist%29 but just understand that for a long time he was a barometer for the next trends in hot rodding.

 

There is a great chapter in the book about rat rods/traditional rods and the origins of them - basically hot rodding had become so sanitary and clean that guys wanted to make fun of that by building "unfinished" cars. Robert's primered Deuce was one of the first recognized "rat rods" or "primered rods" in the 1980's and it was at first reviled, then accepted, then copied, and then...He repainted it because the rat/primer rod trend got to be a character of itself and it wasn't fun to have something like that anymore.

 

How does this all apply to Euro cars? If there is one group of car customizers that takes itself way too seriously it's usually euro car modders (im excluding hellaflush from this because while it does affect euro cars it is not limited to them). So it makes sense that there are going to be people who want to lampoon that, and one way to do that is with less than "clean" cars. But like anything that requires personal expression there are going to be good quality efforts and bad quality efforts.

 

These are two of my favorite efforts because they are "higher quality"

a239bf44098268650ef435358bb926ea.jpg

 

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2012/04/07-rat-rod-bmw-2002.jpg

 

These are cars that treat their rattiness as a cosmetic statement but are otherwise still useable cars or at least well thought out and modified.

 

Not that I hate low quality efforts too but I find that the lower quality you go the more you get people who just want to participate, which is kind of cool and fun. Here is the point which buggs me - when it becomes more than something fun to do, when suddenly there is a "scene" and people are asking a premium and there is a pattern to it that it no longer is about cars and having fun is when it sucks. considering this thing has been around since 2007 I think the course has run and what you are seeing on CL are the late to the party or the hold outs for whom it became something more than a lark.

 

TL DR: Euro rat rods are so 2007.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can we just call those shitpiles "Frat Rods"?

 

They look like they're made of shit you find lying out behind a frat house.

 

They're driven by bros.

 

The only people who like them are other bros.

 

Real rat rods require an extensive knowledge of metal working and automotive technology. This is the opposite.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...