Malcom - a "rat rod" is pretty much any old-looking rod that seems
unfinished, unpainted, purposely ugly or outrageous looking, and
sometimes even unsafe. Personally, I haven't seen many "customs" that
met this criteria, but the latest buzzwords are often overused.
The real head scratcher for me is, the people who seem to be living in
this "lifestyle" that corresponds to the rat rod culture. What gives?
Ed Roth didn't do anything similar, and when asked about the culture
his response was "it's nuts!".
It will soon be supplanted by another fad, and we'll be seeing more of
those words that define that concept. Don't sweat it!

LOL.....here Malcom...check this out...hey ,did you ever here the old
saying, ''if I have to explain ,you wouldn't understand''..
ebay......      170010165899       oh yeah, it runs, moves under its
own power and stops...and doesn't appear to be too ugly, LOL

When I was at Bonneville a few years ago there were several rods
running around that were termed "rat rods." This was a new term to me,
so I asked a guy who was driving a flat black '33 Ford coupe. Now this
thing was chopped so much that its windows were only  few inches high.
It had no insert in the roof. Bare bones.  I pleaded ingnorance and
asked the owner/driver about his car and the term rat rod.  He smiled
and said that his car was not a rat rod, but that it would be one next
year. I asked what change would make it a rat rod.  "Next year it will
have a straight eight Buick engine not this small block Chevy."   The
essence I think is being different. True rat rods are driven, home
built (by the owner and friends not by a fancy shop that turns out show
cars), usually flat color (manytimes but not always black), steel
bodies (original seems to be preferable.) with something unusual
powering them.  Lots that I saw used minimal interior and upholstry.
It is a rebellious trend that has recently slipped into the custom
field as well. Although those vehicles need to be earlier than the
mid-'60's it seems.  Different is the key word, thus four doors, six
cylinders, not traditional power (Olds, Buick, flatheat, even Studebakr
engines fit the bill.)
 Yes. the term is now being much overused which of course confuses the
issue. I can see the term rat rod/custom falling our of favor soon just
because it has become too popular. This would naturally go against the
idea of being different.
   These are my humble observations about what rat rods/customs are.
Yep, I sort of like 'em. Let's see a '29 turtle deck roadster, flat
black w/flames, red wire wheels (or solid red wheels with small caps),
Cathcart 185 Champion motor and a floor shifted 3sp/od tranny........

Joe Roberts

Those are the last items I worry about.<g> My list would be:

1. How's the body, chrome ?
2. How's the paint?
3. How about the interior ?