Rat rod style trucks post em up

[original_balzer]

**Update** Today I figured I would go out back and get some pics of this truck and look it over a little better. My neighbor gave me this truck for free and I didnt waste any time getting it home. I was working a lot at the time and didnt look it over very well. ANYWAY its in MUCH better shape than I remembered and it DOES NOT have the cab light humps on the cab I thought it did. Now I want to change direction and make a nicer truck out it.

Does anyone want to donate a SWB roller chassis set up with bags and a nice 4 link rear and frame notch?heres a few pics




First of all hello, names will Im new to this forum but Im a member of CK5 Gmfullsize and astro safari forums.
I have a 71 chevy cheyane 1/2t long bed 4x4, sorry dont have pics of it yet. I bought it with intentions of restoreing it completly. Although I would rather have a shrot step side 4x4 to restore. so Im not real sure what I will do with that truck. I wont start on it or a step side until Im finacially in a position to do it right. Just started a trucking company so most of my time and money goes into that right now.

With a great big huge BUT(not the kind you sit on) I also have a 67 c30 cab and chassis model 1 ton dually. Its not in the greatest shape but it is rust free. I want to shorten it alot lower it and do a rat rod style to it. super short steakside flatbed big 4" stacks (exhaust) satin black body with red wheels maybe some von dutch style pinstripes.
It would definatly be differnt and not everyones cup of tea. but I still think it would turn heads, and be alot of fun to run around town in. Im getting long winded here so heres the best pic I have of MY truck, and a photochopped idea of what I want. (Im pretty sure I stole the pic off this forum so if its your tuck I hope you dont mind)
mine

stolen pic photo choped

[special-K]

What`s a rat rod?

[ChevLoRay]

Get a copy of "Ol Skool" magazine.....it's rife with rat rods. The uglier (rusty-finish) and more outlandish the powerplant, the better. You won't need brakes except for the rear wheels. Glass? Why? Seats? Whatever you can find and sit on.

I had an idea to turn mine into a rat rod style, but I was thinking suede finish on the paint and a Mexican blanket on the seat. That all got nixed after a couple years. The same preparation for a suede finish is the same as for a glossy finish.

If you shorten your truck as you show on the photo-shopped image, and you keep the heavy suspension, it's gonna be a candidate for the Teddy Roosevelt Award.....a "rough-riding S.O.B." But, it's gonna be different, huh? If you like it, it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks.

[original_balzer]

Yea exactly "rat rod" used loosly in this case covers a whole range of vehicles. Their main focus is NO billit or bling, and keep it cheap, also your right some guys take it too far and risk saftey. You dont need to do all the body work , just the worst of it small dents and stuff dont really matter much. You can also add kooky stuff like tikki gods skulls rats spikes whatever your tastes desire. I want suede black as well and was even thinkin mexican blanket seat cover.

Outlandish powerplant? hell yeah caddy 500 C.I.D., suspention probably bags, firestone 2600lb'ers,(thats what we used on a buddys 96 dually) ride quite well. If not I am more of a 4x4 guy anyway and have delt with rough rides all my life.

My goal would be to keep it cheap and where I can do everything well enough to fall under the "rat rod" umbrella, I figure my plan can be done under $2500. I knew not everyone would think its cool but thats ok differnt strokes for differnt folks. But most on this board (I THINK) would rather I do this than the other option, witch would be let it sit out there forever and rot away.

Granted it is rust free but it has the cab light bumps and enough body work that would need to be done, that it would be just as much work as starting with a rusty but otherwise clean cab.

[special-K]

I thought they were fenderless pre-50s vehicles,like hot rods.

[67_C-30]

Welcome to the board.

I guess my beater/shop truck kinda falls into the rat rod category. I'm into it for around $1500, and lately, and I have been driving it almost everyday. I'm working on a shop door logo for it, but I haven't decided on what I want on there yet.

Originally Posted by original_balzer

But most on this board (I THINK) would rather I do this than the other option, witch would be let it sit out there forever and rot away.

BTW, I wholehearted agree with this quote!

[67_C-30]

Here's some more examples (not mine) of what I think fall into the shop truck/rat category.

[Bob 68327]

Heres what I call a rat rod !!!

[67_C-30]

A few more.

[tcb-1]

Eastside's truck was one of the nicest flat black rigs I have ever seen. Hope Mrs. Eastside keeps her....

[ChevLoRay]

This is the embodiment of the concept, although the wires seem to have been powder-coated and that may be a no-no. Lack of paint, a mish-mash of parts and no "theme" to carry through are all part of the genre.

Take some more "off the top" and leave the top open to the heavens.

[67_C-30]

FINALLY! I have looking for this for you. This was Dubie's truck. He used to be a member here.

[67_C-30]

Now, if we are talking about REAL rat rods, I had one of those. I sold it on Ebay in 2005 and it was an authentic rat rod built in 50's. It was still wearing the Gum Dipped Firestones and was untouched. It was a '30 2 door Ford sedan and had a '52 model flathead with an old Edelbrock (2) 2 barrell intake, with an antique Cal Custom fuel pump. I searched forever to find out what the seats came out of, and finally found they were out of a 50's Volvo. I sold it when the the rat rod craze was really getting hot, and I got a lot of money for it. I liked it OK, but they are really my thing. Here's some pics of it.

[dieselarmy13]

I think the term 'rat rod' get thrown around a bit too much now days. I don't really think our trucks are old enough to be considered rat rods. I really hope this rat rod phase passes. I liked it when nobody liked rat rods. The whole point of owning a rat rod ( or unfinished piece of sh!t, as I prefer to call them) was to be different. Now everybody wants them. I think my next step for my truck is going to be shiny paint, because I'm sick of hearing 'Man, that's a cool rat rod'. By the way, I blame this completely on The Discovery Channel.

[original_balzer]

Originally Posted by dieselarmy13

I think the term 'rat rod' get thrown around a bit too much now days. I don't really think our trucks are old enough to be considered rat rods. I really hope this rat rod phase passes. I liked it when nobody liked rat rods. The whole point of owning a rat rod ( or unfinished piece of sh!t, as I prefer to call them) was to be different. Now everybody wants them. I think my next step for my truck is going to be shiny paint, because I'm sick of hearing 'Man, that's a cool rat rod'. By the way, I blame this completely on The Discovery Channel.

While I almost completely agree with you I would like to point out the title says rat rod STYLE. Everyone has thier own idea of the definition of rat rod and yea its an over used term but its a style everyone can understand.

The original "Hot Rod's" would fall into todays "rat rod" terminology. Simply because in the 40's and 50's it was how they was built. Take parts from differt cars to make your car faster and stand out from the rest AND they was CHEAP.

The same can be said for the word chopper in the motocyle world. You say chopper and everyone thinks of super high dollar jesse james bling machines. When realy the word chopper was from guys getting lets say a military harley and "chopping" everything off the bike but the bare essentials.

Now why do I use the term rat rod? because its basicaly 2 words that explain low budget, satin painted, faded, mixed breed parts, unusual, make the best of what you have, custom cars and trucks.

Fads and terminoloigy will come and go and theres no sence in argueing the definition of the terms or labels.

You know I have another project its a 79 crew cab 4X4 rock crawler beater. My baby bros friend told me not too long ago that it was "murdered out and sick" guess theres some skater with a show on MTV that paints his cars flat black and calls it "murdered out" That wasnt why I painted my crew cab flat black, just to get the label I just wanted the damn thing all one color.

Now I would love to have a 28-32 hot rod , and I guess it would fall into the rat rod label as well, but I would call it a hot rod built the same way they did it in the 40's and 50's. back then they didnt have alot of color options no Boyd C billet parts, no modern high performance computer controled fuel injected disk braked glory hound cars worth multiples of 100g. And they didnt call them rat rods, they called them hot rods.

I know a 67 chevy 1 ton isnt a real rat rod or a real hot rod but rat rod style is the shortest way to say almost all the features of the truck after my plans.


And thanks 67c30 you understood exactly what I was looking for. I would also like to do a shop truck theme with mine.

[special-K]

Are we calling unrestored trucks that need paint rat rods these days?Here`s mine:



The term rat rod spun off of the rat bike Harley that was rode hard and put away wet and got fixed with whatever it took to keep it on the road as opposed to the typical highly maintained sunny day rider that spent as much time havinging chrome polished as being ridden.So,picture one of those in a four wheeled cage and you`ll have a rat rod.But,first it has to be a rod,which is a pre-war modified car or truck.There have always been "under construction" or "unfinished rods" out there.But,even those would not be rats,unless it started going downhill alot more than up.As in wear and tear was winning out over fixing up.
We all have our opinions.We call all kinds of things hot rods that really aren`t.I guess a 500hp Neon could be called a hot rod because in this day and age that would be about the same as taking a 10 year old Model A and pumping it up with a Caddy 8.I just had to ask what was being looked for since we seem to broaden a name to the point where it could be defining any number of things.

[bigdon-70blazer]

Originally Posted by 67_C-30

Welcome to the board.

I guess my beater/shop truck kinda falls into the rat rod category. I'm into it for around $1500, and lately, and I have been driving it almost everyday. I'm working on a shop door logo for it, but I haven't decided on what I want on there yet.





BTW, I wholehearted agree with this quote!

I need to know about your wheels...Are they the ones with the clips to hold the cap on? They look to be the 16.5 X 8.25 size. I am looking for caps to fit my wheels like this.

[bw4sale]

Are we really having the "what is really a rat rod" discussion again? No offense if you are new to the board.

[Ole Blue 68]

Originally Posted by dieselarmy13

I think the term 'rat rod' get thrown around a bit too much now days. I don't really think our trucks are old enough to be considered rat rods. I really hope this rat rod phase passes. I liked it when nobody liked rat rods. The whole point of owning a rat rod ( or unfinished piece of sh!t, as I prefer to call them) was to be different. Now everybody wants them. I think my next step for my truck is going to be shiny paint, because I'm sick of hearing 'Man, that's a cool rat rod'. By the way, I blame this completely on The Discovery Channel.

X2 diesel...

[HoupPhotography]

Like Special K mentioned, the rat bike started the whole thing, when guys took whatever parts they had to build a bike... Harley chasis, Indian tank, triumph wheels and motor, the top sut off of something for a seat, etc. The same goes for the cars, parts were used from whatever they had to build a rod. Back in the days when these were on the road, people didn't have money to buy new parts, if the floor was rotted out, they borrowed street signs and that was the new floor pan, the paint was full on patina since they couldn't afford to paint it.

I agree the term "Rat Rod" gets thrown out there way to often, and I am guilty of using it to loose. I refer to my truck as "rat rod style" because I don't know what else to refer to it as and folks seem to understand it when i say "rat rod style".

I also have a '29 ford truck that has a 454, 4 bolt, square port with a 671 blower, a yield sign for the passenger floor board, a hacked top, and B-52 bomber kind of covered in mexican blanket with original patina paint.



Here are some photos of my truck, I think this may be the style your looking for.....

[jorgensensc]

Houp,
Use the steelies, sell that bling, convert to disc up front. Oh yeah, get rid of the shiney under the hood and send it to me!!
Shawn

[OrangeCrush1970]

Originally Posted by tcb-1

Eastside's truck was one of the nicest flat black rigs I have ever seen. Hope Mrs. Eastside keeps her....

Guys, I'm just catching on to this but I can't get any answers...did John (ESLL) pass? I apologize for asking this way, but I have not herd from him in a while...

[Rollie396]

Here's the link OC1970....http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=291219

[HoupPhotography]

Originally Posted by jorgensensc

Houp,
Use the steelies, sell that bling, convert to disc up front. Oh yeah, get rid of the shiney under the hood and send it to me!!
Shawn

I am getting rid of the bling (wheels) and putting steelies w\fatty whites on. The chrome under the hood is getting painted and stripped.

I like the drums on the front, no conversion here.... I don't drive it everyday and when I put the 15x8's on it will stop much better than it does now, almost as if it were converted.....

[dieselarmy13]

That's gonna look badass, Houp! Can't wait to see it!