Ratlook en luchtkoelers leuk maar de oorsprong ligt natuurlijk bij de HotRods uit de jaren '50.
De eigenaren hadden/hebben trouwens hekel aan het woord "Rat" , ze hadden/hebben gewoon geen geld voor een mooie paintjob.
stukje uit een topic over Ratrod:
A "Rat Rod" is basically a 1940's-1950's hotrod. Having grown up in the 50's I can attest that no one had much money to invest in their cars and that repairs and modifications were done in your own driveway, garage, or in the street by yourself and your friends. This will have a direct relationship to what your car would look like in most cases.
For example; You purchase an original 1928-32 Model A for $50. Take all of the fenders off & hood and re-sell them back to the junkyard for $10. You sand the body clean, bang out the dents with a hammer and a block of wood or a rock wrapped in a rag(poor man's dolly). Then you either forget to prime it or don't have the money too, and let the car "rust in piece" to a vintage patina. Normally, you would brush on primer. No one had a spray gun. The muffler was usually taken off. The seats would be shot so you would throw several blankets over the exposed springs and finish it with a colorful Mexican type blanket for 50 cents. The tires were mostly cast off skinny white walls that you found at the curb with little tred left or you shopped at the universal "Midnight Auto Store". If you are too young to know what "Midnight Auto Stores" are, ask your Dad! If the car did not run, you used wire, wood blocks, chewing gum foil, or anything to get running. These were not the best running cars at the time. They were called Hotrods, Jalopies, Heaps, Bombs because they looked bad, spewed clouds of smoke, and might blow up if you pushed it too hard.
Basically, the folks today are trying to recapture the old hotrod look and they look "Ratty" by todays standards. Hence the name, "RatRod". There are different degrees of RatRods too. The original barely running types and the Expensive made to look old and junky types. I am planning to build a RetroRatRod now.I have researched for the past 2 years what this ride will cost me. To be honest, I'd like to spend no more than $10,000 but that means really scrounging for parts and doing it all myself which I want to do. Unfortunately, I tend to get a little impatient in my older years and want to get down now. I have talked to rodders who have done their RatRods for as little as $4,500 and those who had spent well in access of $30,000. So I guess this "Class" of car is still to be determined. I would think that what ever you invest in your car is worth the invest....to a point!
Hope this make some type of sense.
