Hot Rods Damn,I hate it when someone says nice rat rod!

Just tell them it's SMALLER than a RAT ROD; it's a MOUSE ROD! 1956 Chevrolet Sedan Delivery here; "nice NOMAD"; if only I had a nickle for every time that's happened (well maybe a dollar). I too have given up on the "2 door station wagon, built-titled-licensed as a truck, more rare than a Nomad-yada yada yada", trying to correct folks who really don't want to be corrected anyway. I thought maybe having some business cards printed up, and just handing them out; Thank you, but it's a _________(fill in the blank for whatever you actually have), and then a short definition of what it is or what it's NOT. Too much work though. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

Thin skin only makes you bleed more.

 

Well---- several years ago when I found this place, I found out I was wrong too. I knew what I liked and heard it refered as a rat rod so that's what i called em. I wasn't aware of the welded chain/spiderweb/bullshit-tacked-on/trend at the time. Old style hot rod in varying degrees of doneness, HRP style "beater" ( I wouldn't call that a beater but he does). I could tell it was a fickle crowd here so I didn't join for a couple years but I think I had it straightened out before I did.

Last night I told a coworker (and it seems to fit here pretty good) "I can explain it to you - but I can't understand it for you"

 

One of the joys--or curses, whichever way you take it, when you have an out of the mainstream car is for it to be called everything but what it is. My Lincoln Zephyr has been called everything from a Nash to a Stude to a Packard, and it has also been called a rat. All from people not as informed or people just trying to act as they know what they are talking about to impress whoever they may be with. Some ask because they really don't know and are curious, others just think they know. Doesn't matter to much to me, I'm building it for me to enjoy, not everybody else. If they like it, fine, if not, that's OK too.

 

I have had 2 people(both under age25)call my 32 Henry cabriolet hiboy a "nice rat rod". This is telling me they don't understand how revered and costly a real 32 Ford is,nor how special the car is to me! I just bit my tongue and said thanks. Just because my car doesn't have a 4,000 dollar shiny paint job does NOT put it in the rat rod category. A rat rod(in my opinion) is a "hodge-podge" accumulation of mis-matched parts (the more outrageous---the better)

 

I hate that term.

 

That's not the point. Should I call you an a*****e because you don't dig Fox body Mustangs


Really enjoy reading these comments, but please give a few more letters I suck at "wheel of fortune".......

 

Also-- my ever so slightly OT Suburban has been called a Travelall more times than all of your rods have been called rats- combined! So I feel your pain HRP!


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John, I believe you just nailed it. It would appear that you have one opinion while some others may have an opinion that differs. Ron

 

19/20 people who meet my dog (who weighs 165# and is _3_ feet tall at the shoulder) tell me about their friend's Dalmatian. Uh... great story, Bob. Got any Chihuahua stories to go with it... since we're talking about unrelated dog breeds?

Oh well.

 

You should sell it to me cheap and avoid this happening again to you. You're welcome. LOL

 

I'm ready to sign up for one of those $4000 shiny paint jobs.
Anyone here would call that a bargain!

 

I've encountered many ignorant people that refer to my car as an RR. I correct them and tell them a real RR uses unborn mice hides (thousands of them) for the seats. I then point out that we killed only a dozen or so Naugas to do my interior.

 

When I got my T bucket completed in 1990, it was often reffered to as a "Dune Buggy " I didn't like it at all, however there was several show quality Dune Buggies in the area and it could almost be taken as a complement. Having it reffered to as a "Rat Rod" now a days, makes my skin crawl. Probably just have to put up with this nonsence until a new Buzz Word comes along

 

Shiny paint or not, a fenderless car is a ratrod to most people


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It seems that most people don't know what they are looking at when it comes to old cars. They call coupes "roadsters " and was it a kit? I accept their comment for what it is.

It does seem that a lot of us are too sensitive about labels, whether it be street rod, traditional, jalopy or rat rod.

 

I love t-buckets so when I saw this one I had to take the photo.

 

Look what I got this past weekend

 

Congratulations!

 

Oh my. Not much to say about that.

 

Hey Danny,
Nice “Mouse Machine” .
That sounds nicer than Rat Rod.....
I’ll admit it though, when I brought my Blue 34 3W home from the high desert, there was quite a stench in the deck area. I looked in the little hole in inner panel below the deck lid.....
Oh boy, I have a Rat Rod, mind you, this is before Gray Baskerville coined the term....
Not that I examined the carcass, but it was probably a field mouse of large proportion
more than a Rat so I guess I really have a Mouse Machine, Either way Ed Roth loved the tale of the rodent .

 

I get it from time to time. You can tell the perpetrators usually mean no harm or insult. But still....
I usually just shake my head, hold up an index finger and say "No, its a Hot Rod". And explain the difference if they look interested.
To be exact, it's usually nice to get any kind of personal response..... Most just seem to ignore it. Might as well be driving a jelly bean KIA, BMW, VOLT or whatever.......

 

"Did that used to be some kind of fire truck?"

 

Sounds like an oxymoron to me. Shouldn't the award go to the worst rat rod?

 

It is a GIANT red pickup-
I absolutely love it but civilians could be forgiven for that thought.



"If it ain't broke - fix it till it is"

 

Like I said before, there are a lot of dumb people that walk amongst us. Not just about cars either. Maybe I'll just be nice and call them grossly under-informed.