Thread: My 15 week rat rod build or bust.....

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Very cool!

car looks sick man!! i love it!!!!!

Congratulations Dude, you've got a cool hot rod there. We kinda feel like Grandparents........been there all through the pregnancy and got to see it actually run for the first time.

Thank you for including us in the process.


Don

Never really liked "Rat" rods in the past....guess I was turned off by the unsafe, shoddy workmanship and general lack of concern for the lives of others on the highways that is so often seen among the "Rat" folk.
You and Donny though, have shown that a high quality, safe rod can be built and for very little money. While you haven't given us the final cost figures it looks like you brought it in very close to your budget. You have stayed true to your stated goals and not been tempted to turn it into a show rod. (Unlike some others here who threw the budget out the window once they got started.)
Congratulations on a fine job and thanks so much for sharing it with us.

Thanks man, we still have to add up the cost. I will have it this week.

Well I have a little update on the car. I have just over 250 miles on the car now and it has been a blast. We have a oil leak from the front seal....who cares, and the speedo cable broke. Thats it. It goes down the road with one finger on the wheel. It rides so smooth, you forget that you are in a 31 rat. I think that out of all the cars I have had, this is the funnest to drive.

I went to back to the 50's this weekend. This is the biggest show in the state, just over 15,000 cars and 300,000+ people over the weekend. This was the show that we made a dead line for. I rolled in Friday at 8 am and was parked in 10 mins. From that point on I was swarmed with people till I rolled out at 6. I was parked between two 40+ thousand street rods and they had little to no lookers. But there was my rusty little rat in the middle of a crowd all day.

I talked to everyone I could, they all had ?'s. There was one point that I was talking about the build and I looked around and there were 15 guys standing there listening to me talk. I had one guy and some lady tell me I had the coolest car at the show. I thought that was huge. Don't get me wrong, there were a few that did not understand it, and some that did not like it. But hey I knew that would happen.

I talked with several guys, normal blue calor guys, too guys with 150 grand street rods. And they all agreeded that the look of a street rod was getting old. The one color body, billet directional wheels, and 18's and 20's wheels and tires and "custom" inteiror was getting played. The guy I was blown away by had a 55 chevy. 100% perfect all custom, he and his wife were millonairs. He had the car built 4 years ago, he had never driven it...not ever. He said that it won a ton of shows and he loved it. But he started to feel like his passion for cars was dying. All the work in that car and it never drove under it's own power. This guy looked over my car for a hour the 1st time, then brought his wife by, then his buddies and family. He asked for my e mail to help him find and build a rat. His wife was so pumped that they were going to have a car to go drive around in.....

I hope this guys goes with this and makes a car. Seeing this happen makes me wonder if a change in the rodding world is coming? What do you think?

Originally Posted by Last-Call

I hope this guys goes with this and makes a car. Seeing this happen makes me wonder if a change in the rodding world is coming? What do you think?

First the qualifiers so you don't get the wrong idea, but you did ask.

You set a goal and you achieved it, good on you. There's no doubt in my mind that you're having one heck of a good time with your new toy. That's as it should be. And while I'm generally skeptical of claims that "my rat got all the attention and the painted cars didn't" (paraphrasing), it's easy to understand how a proud owner might see it that way. No big deal to me. This hobby/sport is big and diverse enough that there are admirers for nearly every catagory of build style out there. I'm mystified by the notion though that many of the devotees of rats express that comes across as "any car with shiney paint is a trailer queen" (paraphrased). I see that posted on here and elsewhere with some regularity. Again, perhaps that's hyperbole for effect. Having been around this thing for a few years I've come to know several genuine "millionaires" in the hobby. Many of them have cars costing up to probably $300k.............and they drive them babies! They can afford to. Rock chips in a $25k paint job don't bother them because they can afford to have it fixed if they want to. One of them, whose Minotti '37 roadster was featured in Street Rod Builder a couple months ago, jumped in the car shortly after it was done and drove it to Pleasanton last year..............a trip of around 800 miles one way. Pretty similar to what you've done. And even though he's a rich guy, he's downright genuine people, and a real rodder at heart.

But far more of the rodders I know have less expensive toy cars that span the wide range from a few thousand bucks to the biggies noted above. Nearly all of them drive their cars, and some of the one's I've caravaned with will really lay the hammer down. It's all attitude. You're either in it to enjoy, or you're in it to be trendy/showy. Price (either way) seems to mean little to the folks I know who are in it for the enjoyment.

So, be proud of what you accomplished, enjoy the attention you'll get and the miles of smiles you'll put under your frame. But you don't need to insinuate that all the "high dollar" cars are unworthy or less appreciated just because you may have met one or two people who don't allow themselves to enjoy their rides. They're the exception in this hobby, most are in it for the enjoyment of the cars and the folks that come along with them........................regardless of the style.

You said it right my man.

I thought I would give you guys a little update over the last few weeks with the car. I have had little to no problems, the speedo cable unwound, the drivers side bag leaks really slow, and I had to put mirrors on it. That is it! I have been driving it when ever I get a chance, thats why I have not been on here. Sorry to say, but there will not be a burn out video. I have a felling that the used tranny we put in it is in need of a little love. So maybe over winter I will pull the motor and trans and have them gone through.

I still have not got the final $ yet, but I will have the parts break down on sunday.

By the way, if you are thinking about ever building a rat....it is by far the most fun to drive and watch the faces of people you fly by!!!!

A lil pic for ya!
Zach

I'm happy for you Zach. I lost track, what was the actual time it took to build it? Whatever it was, you guys rolled right along.

Is that Corona sign an indication you took Donny out for a little celebration? I would say you owe him a few beers and a big steak.

Don

We hit the 17 weeks right on the head, and yeah I have bought donny a few drinks, and there is way many more to come.
Ok, so today me and Donny went over the money that was spent on the car. So here it goes.....
Body 1900
axle 100
drop axle 340
valve covers 30
parts car 400
air bags 100
grill 66
radiator 65
calipers 200
4 link 200
steering colum 20
wheels 15
tires 580
shocks 80
door handle 1
vega box 50
gas tank 20
tail lights 2
speedo cable 14
pullies 1
headers 40
u joints 24
lock nuck 11
steel 150
ex pipe 26
seals 16
breaks 73
batt cable n parts 95
steering u joint 82
more brake parts 58
trans filter 13
speed way order 245
plexi glass 45
carpet insul 30

for a total of 4733
-440 in parts sold off parts car

for a grand total of $4293

Yeah I know that we thought we might have been out the door for 3 grand, but there a bunch of new parts we bought for safty reasons. We also did not have time to gather parts at swap meets like we wanted to. So to have a safe and reliable car for 4293.....an extra 1293 is fine with me.

Zach

I sawe a rod very similar to yours that was coming back from Des Moines (Good Guys show) on a trailer. It was setup a lot like yours except for the noticable difference of 3 deuces. For a minute I thought that it could be your car.

Keep up the good work!

"on a trailer".....it sure as hell was not mine.

good looking ride man, i am getting ready to start a 35 ford truck rat and you have put a lot of inspiration in me...we are going the same route do-it-yourself. I have the cab, motor, tranny, and grille, need to pick up some tubing and then i am gonna get started. Any rate yours looks awesome. Lovin it. Have fun with it and congrats on your deadline.

Yo, what going on guys? I have not been on here much in the last two weeks do to driving the beans out of this car. So way back when I told you guys I was going to tell you the good, bad, and the ugly with everything about this car. So here we go...Last week that sweet 20 dollar gas tank started leaking, why wouldnt it? So I had to have one drop shipped to my house this week so we could have the car down to the Car Craft Summer Nationals. Once we swaped tanks we were back on the road. The car has been thought everything at this point and taken it well.The damn speedo calbe has a mind of it's own....No biggy. I had to idle for a hour to get to my parking spot at the show today and it never got hot or loaded up. It was sweat watching the 50 grand street rods blowing coolant all over the street! Here is a pic or two from the show.







Zach...

PS Hey Colorado Dan, what do you think?

Dang, Zack, that car is reliable as heck, isn't? Great job.