The Illustrated History of the Rat Rod. Steve Thaemert, Jr.

it’s cool, and maybe was built in the style of a rat rod, doesn’t mean it’s a rat rod. You wouldn’t consider a 2000 Mustang with a Corvette engine, no front fenders, and a rusty paint job a rat rod, would you? No. Sure, it’s using different makes and models and has some rust and, hell, could be chopped or whatever … but come on, let’s get real here. The time of calling anything under the sun a rat rod is long gone, and the rat rod community has established what a true-blue rat rod is. It will always evolve, it will always change, but there will always be things at the root of rat rod culture that are definitive and absolute.

      We love new parts. There is nothing wrong with using nice, new modern components—especially where safety is concerned, because, above all else, you want your ride to be drivable. Hell, many rat rodders are fabricating their own parts or finding ways to repurpose old parts and make them safer, stronger, better. That’s the ingenuity that this scene is built on. But if your 1930 Model A becomes a 1995 Ford with a Model A title, you’re in a whole different scene. The body and what a vehicle is titled as are very important. Aesthetics are important. If it smells, looks, and drives like a 1995 Ford, it probably is. If it’s a Model A with a modern driveline, it’s still a Model A (makes sense, right?).

      A true Model A rat rod.

      It comes down to this: Rat Rod Magazine will be featuring rat rod culture in whatever form it becomes. If it changes, we’ll change with it—but because this scene is so rooted in nostalgia and vintage appeal, don’t expect the scene to shift too far one way or the other. At the heart of rat rodding is a whole lot of history, tradition, and multigenerational involvement. As in the hot rod scene, the passion for these machines is usually passed down from father to son and so on, which means that the ideas behind it are always rooted in the generation before and the history that formed it.

      This magazine exists to feature the blue-collar builder, the Average Joe, the common person, and so on. Your submissions, stories, creations, and passion are our foundation. Don’t be afraid to show us what you’ve got! We’re here to support and showcase this scene before anything else.

      As I have stated in these articles—I am only one voice. The goal of the magazine is to represent rat rod culture in its entirety, as a community voice, and to showcase the men and women driving the scene with their builds. I can only hope that these articles and the other facts and opinions shared in this book can help to eliminate some of the gray areas surrounding rat rod culture and shed some light on the history of the scene.

      The reality of today’s rat rod community is this: most differences between rat rods and other automotive scenes are aesthetic. Paint, chrome, and other shiny new components are still often rejected by rat rod enthusiasts. If it’s rusty, has patina, or is just an old survivor, it’s likely to be called a rat rod at some point, by someone.

      Rat Rod Magazine has featured many rat rods with paint. Maybe not nice paint, but they’ve had “newer” paint jobs (as opposed to the original weather-worn paint). We have featured rat rods with chrome pieces as well. No full-blown billet-laden street rods, but there have been touches of chrome here and there, mostly as accents.

      Even these aesthetic elements that people reject are at least somewhat relevant in today’s rat rod scene. It’s best to look at the whole project—the build, components, historical significance—before determining if it is a rat rod or not.

      Part II - Rat Rodding Today