Originally posted by m falconstien
I like the idea of the modern rat rod being more of a style, than of being a vehicle thrown together. Some of the rats I've seen of late have been so simply built and free from all the glitz that has cluttered up the street rods of the past 10 or 15 years. My son is 20 and has done the hotrod blazer, import car craze and now has gotten interested in the rat style vehicles.

I am not opposed to rat rods, even though they aren't what I would choose to build. I can appreciate almost any building style, and appreciate the creativity in the many different genres of the car/bike hobby. Besides the rods, customs, dragsters, choppers, and street machines, I've done lowriders, minitrucks, 4X4s, trikes, Jr. dragsters, and on and on. That is why I don't have a toy of my own. Seven days a week I'm working on somebody's toy, and I get to be involved in everything!

HOWEVER....to build something with bald tires, inadequate brakes, bad engineering, and a disregard for others, is not smart.

It also is not the attitude of a "rat rodder"......it is the attitude of an adolescent, and you have to remember many of these guys are newcomers to the hobby, therefore young in age.

I can still remember when I was very young, and wrapped up in my own needs. I thought bad things always happened to other people, and that I would be able to handle any situation. That was until a couple really close calls, where I was lucky to be alive.

Today I see the folly of my judgement back then, and I also realize that the human traits continue on in the young people of today.

The best thing us older guys can do is make friends of the young guys in the hobby, and try to have a little positive influence.

(I will now write my acceptance speech) :-)~