ViVA las rat rod

Rat Rods Rule

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Where did the term Rat Rod come from?


A magazine writer. The original intent of the term as I understand it was; an old hot rod that was (or looked to be) pulled out of the barn, got the mechanicals freshened up then hit the road.
 
Not to "stir" things up but what's a "beater". Haven't heard that term discussed lately.

I know my car isn't a true rat rod but this site was a refreshing view, before I joined I watched and snooped for a while and guess what, nobody slammed, belittled,flamed anybody, no negative comments. And all are welcome.

My "ride" is the dreaded fiberglass it even has discs up front, an alternator, radial tires and even the unisteer rack for a steering box and it will have some form of a heater so I can attempt to drive it throughout the year not in ice and snow but as much as I can. It has a hint of old look about it and that's what I'm going for. It will ride on it's radials and baby moons, be eventually painted a form of black whether it be flat, satin or semi or maybe even glossy. I always liked Henry's choice of colors.."any color you want as long as it's black" he didn't do have bad back in the old days.

When it's on the road I know I will drive with a smile and when my little guy is with me I know he will have a big grin also....and that's all that really matters.
 
I always thought a beater was an unfinished car or a wornout car that you just ride while you work on it or another .
as fare as rats haveing a futcher ,i guess as long as you and i and people likeus contiue to build and drive em' they will continue to exist in one form or another .but like i said before ,a rat is just an unfinished hot rod to me.
my 41 is a rat ....for now ,i cant leave good enough alone and if i keep it some day it will see paint and possibly see some new stuff on it .
All my cars start off as rats and evenutally make it to street rod or what ever the next new term that these people come out with. and i will drive them as long as the government will alow me to ,,,,,,buy the way does anyone know how i can pu hydrogen in my 50 model???????????????:rolleyes:
 
To me, a beater is a car that is driven often without regard for chips or road rash. A buddy of mine is retired and has a Zipper Track T and a T bucket. He drives those 2 rods more than his truck. In fact, he had to change insurance companies because he was putting too many miles on them.

Another guy thats retired, has a 34' Coupe that has about 300K miles on it. Faded, chipped and cracked paint but he attends shows on the east and west coast.
 
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I've been thinking a little more about this Las Vegas thing. Maybe they aren't banning the cars so much as the people who come with those cars. Please understand, this is not my way of thinking, but I'm just trying to get inside their heads. Perhaps they feel that a certain "element" comes with rusty cars and they want to keep them away?

The reason I thought this might be behind some of their thinking is I read a letter on the HAMB that an Official from Paso wrote and in it he comes right out and says they decided to drop the show after all these years because of some of the people it was attracting...........Hells Angels, etc. He went into statistics about how many police calls were needed year by year, and it was increasing.

Could this be part of the reason VLV is shooting for cars that come more from midstream America and are excluding those built by "rebels." ??? Again, not my thinking, just tossing it out there.

As a side note, when I was in the car club we banned ricers from our shows for this reason. It seemed when they showed up some of them didn't know how to behave and were doing burnouts and speeding around. Finally, we just put a notice on the flyers and stopped admitting them.

Don
 
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Don,You really took the words out of my mouth.I think it may have to due with some of the crowd it draws.I think that there were many people that just dont have any respect.Public Drunkiness,Fights,Gang Type trouble makers and ECT.This is just my own opinion.
 
i agree that people like this shouldn't be allowed to attend but i think there are better ways then simply banning whole groups. If you're going to put on a large show, beef up the security. I don't mean a couple guys at the gates and one patrol car. I mean real security that can maintain control of the situation. Also play zero tolerance. If two people get in a fist fight or one guy is causing trouble for others; boot them out-no questions asked-no second chances. Also, boot them out without their cars and have the cars impounded by the local police. This may sound harsh, but honestly, what right do people like this have to make everyone else miserable. None. They'll learn real quick how to act after getting their car out of impound a couple times, and something tells me the local muncipalitie wont have any qualms about the extra income.
 
What don touches on brings up some points, but you cant blame it on a group of car drivers! its a natural accurance ,when you have 1-2 thousand people at a show for 3 days drinking lots and lots of booze, fights are gonna happen, even at peace festivals in the sixties. But when you get rowdy young adults ,the odds go up, you could take away the car show and it would still happen!
 
I personally think that it has less to do with the people and more to do with the cars. I think that VLV has got so much attention and so many people are showing up to get involved that they are out of room and resourses. I think that they are a victim of their own success.

It is a shame that the line that they have drawn puts guys like me on the wrong side, but it is really no different then a bunch of tuners getting together and not wanting old hot rods in the mix.

I think that where the shifters messed up was not pressing the rules in the first place. I think that they allowed every one to show up, and got the press, and now they do not need word of mouth to make a big show.
I think that a lot of the anger that I have seen on KB is the fact that guys like me feel as if we have been used and now are no longer needed. I read some of the posts that the Shifters made in an attempt to explain what they are doing, and i think that they would have gotten a lot father by just saying they were sorry that they did not enforce the rules to begin with and now nessisity is dictating that they do so.

like I said in one of my posts, i will share a beer with any one who loves cars, and shoot the breeze with any one who loves cars, IF they want to.

It seems like the guys and gals who visit this forum are a little on the out side of the main stream hot rod culture, and I think that is great. I see a lot in the pages of HOT ROD, Car Craft, OSR, Iron Horse etc that I like, but would not do to my own vehicle. the shifters are a group of guys who derive joy from making period correct vehicles, no differnet then a guy who takes thousands of hours to build a little tiny gas powered engine that sits on a stand. I appreciate the work of both, but would not do either with my time.

your cars are your artistic expressions of who you are, you do not need the approval or acceptance of any one. if you are happy with what you have built then I am happy for you and would love to share the experiance with you in a posative way.

now turn off the computer and turn on the welder LOL

Pablo
 
Just look at the different attitudes between us and other web-sites. We have come together to celebrate cars and car guys. We all have different opinions, but all are welcome. I guess it boils down to respect for ourselves and each other.

Now look at the flaming on other sites and imagine those people, face to face at a car show, fueled by alcohol..........yikes!
 
Well, I'm the guy from the FAMOUS thread. Hotrodron sent me over here. We thought there may be a few people over here that realize the old iron will be gone, and relatively soon. Then what happens to the hobby for them? :confused:
 

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