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Wednesday, December 10, 2014

What is a RatRod You Ask...

I have a family member that is into building cars. Actually, back in the day, my father built his own custom blazer. He put a roll bar on the top and made a removable top with a large bed in the back so back in the day when we didn't have seat belts, we would have two in the front seat, three on a bench seat in the middle and the rest of us laying in the back rolling around or napping on the bed. 
 
One of my favorite memories growing up was us driving with the top off in the middle of nowhere driving next to a bunch of wild horses and we were neck and neck - even with them for quite some time and they were running fast right next to the car. 
 
It was a view that not many people will ever see and I loved that we were standing in the car holding onto the roll bar being able to view those beautiful creatures in the wild. 

That car was functional for many, many years until a drunk driver ran it off the road and nearly killed one of my brothers. 
 
I guess the bug to build cars took. My younger brother has been designing cars for years. He had a company for many years called "Urban Gorilla" where they built custom off road cars using truck bodies. He no longer owns it but I think he will always design cars. 
 
I have an in-law that builds custom "Ratrods" for fun. He has made many and post things online and I guess one of his builds caught the attention of a ratrod magazine who was having a contest. 

The idea was to build a rat rod for under $3000 in a month. They had to show cost and building progress and then at the end of the month, they all hauled their ratrods to a designed city.

Once there, they had to drive their ratrod for a few thousand miles to make sure it was runnable. They stopped along the way and enjoyed visiting some places of interest and then they chose winners. 


He won second place in the contest and got a few page spread in the magazine. 

Since then, he was able to sell that rod and get a few more orders for new rods. 

They had fun making them and we were all excited for them to have their name get out there as a custom maker of Ratrods. 


He is a very talented artist and I wish him all the best as he is building his own shop now so he can build them quicker. We wish him all the best in his new endeavors. 

I had never heard of a ratrod before this and now that I am familiar with this, I thought I would share this with you. Do you feel enlightened?

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