Having grown up during the age of Hot Rods and Muscle Cars, the term Beater or Rat Rod meant a low cost amature street rod, thrown together in some dude's garage with the badest power plant they could afford, but little else.

It seems many of today's "Rat Rods" are Hollywood or Disney versions of beaters. Namely a high dollar professionally built Hot Rod that has been maded to look like a beater, but still has many of the features of a pure custom Hot Rod.

Now there is nothing wrong with this and artistically these are damn hot rides. But I feal we should come up with different term orther than Rat Rod. Or maybe we should note the difference between Beater and Rat Rod.

To my poorboy pocket book way of thinking a Beater is badge of skill - making something out of trash. Hot Rod and Rat Rod is a badge of artistic ability and cash.

But that is just me!