Procrastination Racing

I was wondering if anyone has one. You see rat rods at all of the car shows anymore, but I haven't seen a rat rod Corvette.

Some of you probably think that is nuts and rat rods don't apply to Corvettes, but the philosophy of a rat rod is a car like was done "back in the day".

And back in the late '60s and '70s, it wasn't that unusual to see a Corvette that someone had smashed the front and replaced the front clip but hadn't painted it. There was this coupe that ran around outside of St. Louis in Illinois that was red with a black '67 front clip.

There was a '59 I think, white with a primered front clip.

To many back then, it wasn't looks that counted, but whether it could beat the other guy from the stop light or at the drags.

paulywannafly

4 years ago I brought a 66 conv painted semi black , BB hood alloy wheels and side exhaust to Carlisle . I sold it before I even got it off the trailer

Beach Dude

We are currently in the process of stripping the paint off my 64, it will be in flat black for the summer, sometime in November, it will be painted. Not exactly a rat rod, but the best I can do.

I'll post some pics in the next day or two.

DZAUTO

No, I wouldn't consider the 56 a ratrod. BUT, I do have an ultra ratty ole rusty POS 51 Chevy that I'm finishing up with the install of a 383 I just built. I expect it to be the king of sleepers.

This was last week. It's the old 350 I built 35yrs/300K+mi ago.


And this was the new 383 going in yesterday.


By the weekend, it should look like this again (minus the snow).


Tom Parsons

narlee

With a '52 grill, would that make it a custom?

66jack

This one, "MINE" could have been a candidate for one



But i decided to do this instead

Bowtyeguy

http://ventura.craigslist.org/cto/2223715809.html

Saw this on CL

aworks

I drove this around for a few years. Orig. paint and int. All beat to death but I liked it as a rat rod. When I bought it I rebuilt all the suspension and brakes. Then the motor and trans. It still smelled like the garage I pulled it out of. After a few years I ran out of projects so it came apart pulled the body and well you know. I still call it my rat.




After



The eng. before it was finished. Runs great now.

tyoneal

===========================
Wow! What a change, the car looks awesome.

I love those side mount headers.

Well done.

1lildog

My 67 Rat Rod

emccomas

Yep, got one. Here it is. This is the way I drive it.

The driver's door doesn't have a window or any of the window parts. Also doesn't have the inside door handle, so I just reach out and open the door using the outside handle.

Car has a soft top, but the top material is so old and hard that the top won't stretch to fit, so I don't bother with it.

The seat bottom springs are so worn and rusted out that I have to use kitchen chair cushions in each seat. The cushion is pictured, but I do have seats and seat belts installed now. The cushion sits on top of the seat bottom.

None of the original instruments in the dash work (and they have never been removed from the dash, as best I can tell), so I hung a 3 gauge underdash instrument cluster that I got at the local parts store.

Car was sandblasted decades ago, except for the deck lid and dash area, which still has some sort of paint on them.

One of these days I am going to spray some black primer on the car to make it all one color and protect the fiberglass, but for now, this is the way I drive it.

Of course, like all of us, I am worried that someone will scratch it...

In the garage, prior to engine install


First drive in almost 20 years


Sitting in the parking lot at work, view is from my office window


Interior with kitchen chair seat cushion

DZAUTO

Ed,
I'd say your 57 definitely qualifies as a ratrod Vette. Now I don't feel so bad about my 51 Chevy. Here's a look at some of the interior---------------------I know what you mean about the cushions in the seat!




Under the hood will still be just as ratty looking----------but it will be clean and there will be a fresh 383 in the mounts.


Tom Parsons

jim lockwood

My '59 POS rat rod Vette:

No chrome, not much fiberglass, no two tires the same size.


Rat Fink shifter, pink **** carpet, and a loose seat spring that demanded careful entry.


Open tri-Y headers and an AFB on top of what might have been a 283. It was good for 13.6 in the quarter.

6T7L71CPE

This was my '71 I owned for 20 years with most of it's life being the daily driver. I bought it in '79 with about 60K miles on it and a spotless metallic brown paint job (Originally Orange) for $5300. Someone "keyed" the car around 1983 so I gave up on nice paint jobs. I drove it for years without the carpet since T-Tops LEAK no mater how new the WS is. I had new carpet in the box that went to the new owner. I left the floor plugs out to facilitate drainage. I'd drive down the street erratically trying to get the puddles to the drain hole. I sold it in '99 with around 140K? on the "numbers matching" engine and TH400 trans for $7500.

earl schieb

I'd like to respectfully disagree with that statement

True 'rat rod' philosophy is doing up a car for shock value--i.e., rust, crappy paint, sloppy welds, skulls, spider webs, rubber rats, tractor seats, mismatched tires, etc. etc.

I think the term 'rat rod' is too casually thrown at anything that doesn't have shiny paint or a finished interior and clean engine.....and that's just wrong. (Seen the Wanda Sykes commercial on TV where she tells some kids not to say "That's GAY" when they mean something's funny or stupid? )
"Back in the day" cars like you describe were in that condition temporarily because of money or time constraints. Amazingly, some guys are insulted by the term....and rightly so.

Thanks for letting me vent

DZAUTO

Does this qualify for the rust part----------even though it's not a Corvette (but it does have a Corvette steering wheel!!! )?






Tom Parsons

Procrastination Racing

I know where you are going, but the first rat rod usage I saw and heard was basically an extension of the term "beater" as applied to hot rods. They were more of an imitation of the cars you described that were unfinished due to money, time, and occasionally skills constraints. The first use of it in magazines was derogatory, so there is a reason some are offended. "Ratty old car"

However, like all good things, people take stuff to extremes. The last 5 to 10? years has seen rat rods being "shock" rods, with deliberate attempts to do stuff to shock, offend, and annoy most spectators. while there may have been some car somewhere similar in some ways 40 or 50 years ago, no one built cars like that in all elements like they are today.

Even the "shock" hot rods of the '50s and '60s (Rat Fink and others) were well finished and detailed, just overly exaggerated on size and proportions usually.



Typical of what Rat Rods were, not the shock rods built recently.

earl schieb

meh.....I'd call that one a hot rod(cause that's what it is, albeit a grubby example), and I doubt it would ever have been called a rat rod before ten years ago. The "rat" thing was never a mainstream term except in the case of motorcycles, and I only remember that term being used not before the early 70s
Oh yeah, I know what you mean.....not tryin' to start a urinating contest Maybe I'm trying to(in vain) stop people from calling everything that's not pristeen a 'rat' whatever. I had a guy come in my shop and call my period-correct mid 60's custom car a ratrod

emccomas

I concur. My concept of rat rod is, "Don't worry about what it looks like, make it reliable and fun to drive". Mine ain't quite reliable yet, but it sure is fun to drive.

Needs a good quality radiator (a new Dewitts is sitting in the box, waiting to be installed) and the race build Turbo 350 that I have in the car is too much tranny for the car. I can't seem to find anyone who can "detune" a race built Turbo 350 so it doesn't put such a load on the engine at idle (1100 rpm in park, 400 rpm in drive). Yes 1100 is too high, but that is what I have to do to keep the car running in drive when car is stopped.

My goal is to get this car to the point where I can drive it to Kissimmee in January. Guess I might need to think about the top.

I have done the "show quality restorations", etc. to the point where I was worried about driving the car. I am having more fun with this 56 than I have had with any other Corvette in years.

365GTB4

These post are too much fun!