hello hello! flashback a week or so ago. a car show in town drew a big crowd w/ an even bigger group of shiny...spanky roadsters. i walked around. admiring them from a distance...but never moved in for a closer peek. that is til i rounded the corner and saw this {below}.
giant white walls. rust. license plates. is that a tractor front end?! i could hardly focus on one detail in all my hurried excitement. i was making such a stir hooting and hollering that i drew in a small crowd wondering what was going on. on the flipside hubby hesitated to pretend that he knew me. this here "rat rod" was best in show in my book! for those of you wondering what a rat rod is...here's an excerpt from wikipedia...
A rat rod is a style of hot rod or custom car that, in most cases, imitates (or exaggerates) the early hot rods of the 40s, 50s & early 60s. It is not to be confused with the somewhat closely related "traditional" hot rod, which is an accurate re-creation or period-correct restoration of a hot rod from the same era.
Most rat rods appear "unfinished", whether they actually are or not, with just the bare essentials to be driven.
The rat rod is the visualization of the idea of function over form. Rat rods are meant to be driven, not shown off. Sometimes the customization will include using spare parts, parts from another car altogether, or even non-car parts.
and per the above definition...i'd say this rat fit the criteria. have a peek @ the collage of pictures {below} to judge for yourself!
as i mentioned the front was once the grille on a farmall tractor. the bed was lined in rescued license plates with the interior being more of the same. there was a reserve gas can...just incase. and a cooler full of beer for...well...the same thing! {that impressed hubby}. and if you look really close @ the air cleaner in the overall photo {above}...you will see that a little rat is hijacking along for the ride. i would've asked to do the same if the owner would have been around. sadly i couldn't even gush to him how cool his creation was. and that i'd happily take his rusty ol' masterpiece over any of the restored relics around!
so now i am on a mission. i have a vision. and a lead on a tractor front end. i may have to beg my hubby to lower his normally meticulous standards in restorations & help me slum a lil to make it reality.
and to sum it up...there was one thing in the wikipedia definition above i disagree with. i do believe that a rat rod most definitely should be shown off! which i would be proud to do if one materializes down the road! i'm already well on my way w/ a collection of gathered objects to make my vision a reality!
life is a highway...i wanna ride it!
