uh...I know this issue has been hashed to death but I just wanted your thoughts on the quote below. It is to appear in Fridays paper for m*** consumption and though not 100% acurate, hopefully nails it down. To understand the term Rat Rod, you have to go back into the rich history of Hot-Rodding. A specific era that Hot-Rodding began cant generally be nailed down because the hot rod culture has evolved from many different periods in time. If you didnt have a lot of money, you essentially needed to build your own car. Usually it was a 30s era jalopy that nobody else wanted and was regarded merely as junk. Hot-rodders looking to improve both speed and drivability would cannibalize parts from whatever source they could. Quite often you only had enough money for the bare essentials. If your car needed body-work, you usually did the work at home and drove around in primer until you could afford to have it painted. Returning WW2 vets, teenagers, depression survivors looking for the next big adrenalin rush embraced speed trials and the newly formed drag racing. All items deemed unnecessary were stripped from the car in order to cut down on the weight to make it both faster and more streamlined. Some of the largest automotive speed parts companies got their start developing go-fast goodies for circle, drag racing and speed trials. Many of their founders started out as back-yard mechanics looking to improve their own Hot Rod. The Hot-Rod phenomena has continued to this day and some of its veterans are no longer poor, working cl*** teenagers. They can now afford expensive and exotic speed parts and expensive paint jobs. More often than not, they can afford to have the Hot-Rod built for them rather than having to toil. Its not unusual for some of these cars to cost in the hundreds of thousands of dollars; certainly a far cry from the almost un-road worthy jalopies from their youth. Even people that did not have a history of hot rodding are now seeing the appeal of owning a hot rod and are jumping on the band wagon because they can afford to. The birth of a new subculture often referred to as Kustom Kulture is a return to the simpler days when Hot-Rodding was still young. Rather than concentrating on the optimistic fabulous fifties of poodle skirts and sock hop music, it embraces the anarchistic qualities such as rock-a-billy music, tattoos, pompadours and traditional Hot-Rods. Some of the elements havent changed though. New Greasers are still building cars with whatever means available but this time with an agenda of keeping it traditionally styled. The inevitability of these barely road worthy and sometimes dangerous cars appearing at shows next to $100000 Street Rods has caused some stir a**** the owners of these investments. Rat Rod is often a derogatory term coined to describe the new generation of new old cars. Traditional Hot-Rod is the preferred term and is countered by the term Gold Chainer ; used to describe the owners of high dollar street rods whom often can be seen sporting an abundance of jewellery. Arguebly, it was derived from the motorcycle culture where aficiandos would compete with each other in doing anything possible to make an old motorcyle road worthy. "Rat Bike" was already a well used term long before it was applied to hot-rods. Shiny billet aluminium speed parts, expensive paint jobs, large mag wheels and fuel injected Chevrolet engines are usually the pre-requisite for earning the undesirable term. In addition to the lingo is lawn chair set, Coined because they aficionados of expensive street rods are usually found lounging in them at car shows. I suppose Kustom Kulture fans prefer to stand. The term doesnt diminish the time or dedication required to build a car. An expensive Street Rod can be just as dangerous and poorly built. Visually a Rat Rod is to retain an unfinished look where a street rod is supposed to have a clean, polished look. Even traditional hot rodders can agree that any car you build should not be a road hazard. When Hot-rodding was in its infancy, the term Hot-Rod was considered to be somewhat derogatory. Many of the veterans would refer to poorly built cars as Beaters before the term rat rod was popularized. Print media has embraced the term and its continued use has taken the sting out of its usage. As the new generation of hot rodders grow to realize that it doesnt take a lot of money, just time, dedication and knowledge to build a traditional hot rod perhaps Rat Rod will become a mainstream term. I'm not really looking to stir the pot, merely trying to get my facts straight. Keep in mind that this will be read by non-car types and needs to remain somewhat general.
OK then. The cars probably had red lead as opposed to black primer. And I'm an older gentleman (loose interpretation of the term) and still don't have the cash or the inclination to pay someone a lot of money to build me a car just like the ones that the high rollers are buying. Who really gives a flip, live the way you see fit with whomever you see fit and let the rest of the world take an aeronautical *********** at a tumbling piece of pastry.
Very well said. If you don't mind kicking around the "gold chainers" some more , it's always fun to point out that they usually weren't always hot rodders. Most of them are the "losers" of yesteryear who want to be cool now that they can afford it. Love the story, though.
I work in a high visibilty job and it's well known that I am a hot-rodder. I have the local paper coming down to interview me on the "Rat Rod" phenominum. I was kind of hoping to remain neutral on the issue and merely give facts but after a quick proof read...I can see that I am clearly kicking the 'chainers around a bit.
Given the small size of the article, I think you did a great job of explaining a complicated subject. Sure there are MANY exceptions on both sides...but you covered the basics reasonably well. The only thing that hits me is that its obvious which side of the fence your on. That might need some work...you need to appear totally impartial as the author of an article like that.
I'm only 47,but I can't remember not calling my car(s) "my old beater" or "the old pile". In point of fact I think "The Pile Drivers" would be a cool name for a car club.LOL Motto: "You Too Can Be A Pile Driver" Big Brother ****s,T.OUT
ok. why the need to put labels on everything? i always thought cool was cool in the car world. it didn't matter what you were drivin as long as it was something breathed on. i came up thinkin that a) if you were a ****head... fukya b) if you were alright with who you were & what you had you were pretty cool. 3) anything else....see #a wouldn't you rather hang out with cool folks that KNOW they're a (fill in the blank) & accept it than some ***hole that thinks he invented the wheel & he's better than anyone? hell everybody knows i invented the wheel.
Steevil, I think the article is very well written. I write articles for Garage Magazine from time to time and generally put a "hint" of what team I play for in every article. I usually write with every intention of remaining neutral but it never seems to come out that way. Oh well, cant please everyone. With that said, I also try my best to write so that someone without any knowledge of the subject will have a general idea about it when finished. I think you nailed it!! I really enjoyed your article and once again think you did a great job. What are you going to do with it now?
Well crafted ... I would have added the fact that the lawn chair people won't answer your questions and look at you with that "what gives you the idea you're neat enough to talk to ME ?" look ... 302
I'm one of those ol' graybeards that you might run across sitting in a lawn chair someday,,,and I can ***ure you if you ask me how much money have I got in my car or some other stupid and pointless questions I have been asked ,,,you can rest ***ured i'll be giving you a look,,,,,,,,, And it doesn't have anything to do with who is good enough to talk to who,,,,,I does have something to do with putting your mind in gear before poping the mouth clutch! HRP
thanks folks. I am being interviewed today and the article is to appear in the local newspaper. I wanted to make sure that the reporter has a hard copy so there can be no mis-quoting or artistic interpritation. I've been misquoted in the past and it kind of pissed me off.
Mine is a Frankienstien Kustom(rod) it has parts from all makes of vehicles.. Well it did have a rat livin it at one time till the decon got the best of him!! that big *** black rat looked like it coulda been rat fink himself swollen eye almost poped out and all.....blah put the can of worms in tupperware and burry it!!
Well done. It could be said that many of the folks in today's rodding community (us younger ones) have "joined in" and were not around in the early days. I for one feel as though I have been welcomed into the group.
mouth clutch. very well written article, very concise and to the point. (i thought the shifters cc in soCal "invented" the term rat rod, or atleast they are reported to claim to have done so ) hope you get lots of feedback on your article.
When you come by my spot to talk about my truck, or your's, please let me know up front if there is going to be any discussion at all(not even one ****kin' reference to whether it's a rat, or a hot, or a street, or oldskool, or newskool.)about what category it's in, because then we can save a whole bunch of time. I could care less what you think a rat-rod is, or isn't...........
Seems to me this guy took up a whole buncha your time to explain somethin that he barely even touched base on in the article. Exactly the reason I wish the "mainstream" media types would just do articles on Corvettes and go golfing and leave us alone. Always misquotes. I was at Blockbuster the other day and this guy comes up to me and looks at my club jacket and says "hey your one of those guys who hates cars that arent flat black and likes all that 50's stuff" AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! Thanks Discovery Channel!!!
When I was in college (Eastern Michigan U), there was a bunch of guys that came in to Abe's Coney Island from the Arbor DAs. They were cool greasers with cool cars. Today they'd hate the Discovery Channel. Then, I just thought they were cool and their cars were cooler. No newspaper article needed to 'explain' them.
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