PhatBoy: Thanks for the thumbs up. I'm just havin a whole lotta fun with it. I agree about savin the old ones. They ain't makin 'em no more...so we gotta save the ones we got.
Thirlwell: A rat rod is almost a "lifestyle concept" as well as a style of vehicle. Unfortunately it's gettin WAY overused. If ya remember back to the 50s and 60s and think of the "jalopies" and "kustom kars" that the kids we called "greasers" built and drove, that's pretty much the definition of rat rod.
For example, the satin black paint, red wheels, (forthcoming) baby moon hubcaps, beauty rings and wide whitewalls all fall into that retro category. But so do things like rockabilly music, "duck's [censored]" haircuts (that doesn't look good with white hair, btw) and t-shirts with the rolled-up sleeves and a pack of Pall Malls in one of 'em.
I think it's more of a statement that the "new-school" Coddington and Foose customs are WAY over the top and have probably far exceeded the original concept of hotrodding.
In my case, I prefer to build an old truck and keep the 292 motor (no computer-controlled EFI here), 2-50 air conditioning (as soon as I get the passenger window to roll down) and indian blanket seat cover. Don't need no custom leather interior, no Vintage Air and so on. I just want a fun old truck like what I grew up with...and one that I can still drive all year round...and without a quarter-million dollars' worth of insurance on it.
Sorry for the rant...but that's my take (and reason) on rat rods. Btw, there's no billet stuff on my truck, neither.
