rats (no 56K)

Momentum57 said:
fbc said:
Err I don't get it - all I see is neglected cars.

That?s IT! All you SEE is neglected; it?s what lies beneath that have had all the attention. So its not that you don?t get it you only had half of it. You turn them over an the engine sounds angry "begerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr im mad crazy that i have this shit on me, my tires are tilted so i can rip it off with speed till im naked yeeaa"

Nope, I still don't get it - they look neglected - those cars shouldn't be in that condition, they deserve to have bodywork & paint in good condition.
 
what these guys are doing is the exact opposite of ricing a car, instead of a slow car made look fast, these are fast cars made look crap, or a crap looking car made fast. and it gives them so much attitude if you ask me

prachtigerat.jpg

does anyone know what that tube is for? there are several who have it

Blind_Io said:
Holy wheel camber, Batman! :shock:

what i've read is that's the only way to lower those bugs and vans to such extremes. but once you start driving, the wheels straigten themselves, and the faster you go, the higher your rideheigt will be
 
It's cool to drive a car that looks like it was dredged out of the ocean with collapsed suspension.
 
Vette Boss said:
I think that is actually very untasteful, classic cars are much better off being restored. What they're doing is very tacky. :thumbsdown:

This used to be done to old american cars back in the 50s and 60s. It was a culture so nobody understood it. As an example you put a Chevy hood on a Ford, unpainted of course. But the engine and drivetrain always ruled and was part of the parts swapped into it. That was the beauty of rat cars. Anybody could afford to do it.

I'll see if I can dig up that rat article from Hot Rod.

Edit: Here's the article:
http://www.hotrod.com/featuredvehicles/113_0503_vintage_drag_racing_hot_rods/rat_rods.html
 
bone said:
what these guys are doing is the exact opposite of ricing a car, instead of a slow car made look fast, these are fast cars made look crap, or a crap looking car made fast. and it gives them so much attitude if you ask me

prachtigerat.jpg

does anyone know what that tube is for? there are several who have it

Blind_Io said:
Holy wheel camber, Batman! :shock:

what i've read is that's the only way to lower those bugs and vans to such extremes. but once you start driving, the wheels straigten themselves, and the faster you go, the higher your rideheigt will be

That tube is a swamp cooler, they were mostly used in the US because of the hot dry air. Before air conditioning you would fill a small holding tank with water that would drip down onto a filter. As you move through the air the pressure would build up in the tube and force the hot dry air through the wet filter, in theory cooling and humidifying it. They never really worked that well.
 
A rat rod isn't a car that you MAKE look grungy and rusted, unless you're the worlds biggest poser, it's something you cobble together that's fun and fast without worrying about how it looks. That's the original hot rod style, and a lot of people are picking it up nowadays in response to the clean and showfloor look of most hotrods. It definately sets you apart by using original parts from back in the day and not clean reproduction ones(most modern hot rods have VERY little original parts. you can build classics like Ford 3 window coupes these days without buying a single old part).

Many people drive thier rat rods daily instead of trailering them everywhere like most modern hot rods.

there is a similar way of modifying cars in japan called boro(basically ghetto). basically you don't care what the outside looks like as long as it works.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_rod
 
ya, its basically completely opposite from rice. the car's main focus is performance.
 
i'd like them a lot more if it wasn't for that extreme camber and lowride crap... :?
 
I appreciate that those are good rats, but it really pains me to see a wire brushed microbus. Basically they've just totally ballsed the body shell and within a few years it'll be a scrapper, which is a real shame IMO. The semi restored cares are OK imo, although not to my taste really.
 
The negative camber is necessary to tuck the wheels in under the fenders when the cars are lowered. Also, if you lower a car without changing the alignment(either you can't or won't) negative camber results naturally.
 
Holy 7 year bump batman. I remember seeing this thread back in high school.
 
Holy 7 year bump batman. I remember seeing this thread back in high school.

Wasn't worth a new thread, but better fit than carbage, something about that A8...

Ratlook-Ratstyle-Ratrod-729x486-4a1c6e3cce26914a.jpg
 
7 years on and I still don't get it. :rolleyes:

Ghetto mods is cool. The original hotrod idea of speed on a budget is cool; and I agree not everything needs to be trailer-shiny.
Intentionally making your car look like it was dredged from the sea is pointless.
 
Top