A Love-Hate Relationship

By Joe Whitaker

A rat-rod on the cover? What is Chevy Classics Magazine coming to? In a world of shiny chrome and perfect paint jobs, a low-buck driven car with mud in the fenderwells can be quite stunning to see; stunning in a good way to some or in a bad way to others. Like it or not, the rat is here to stay and may become ever more popular in the next decade as car owners are forced to spend more and more for food and fuel and less and less on luxury and recreational items.  

Who Loves Them?
The new guy. To the guy who is brand new to the hobby and sees no way in without spending a fortune, the rat is a way to have fun with an old car. He can have just as much fun (or more) than the shiny car guy, yet he can still afford to drive it because he can afford to put fuel in it since he didn’t spend all of his cash on his car.

The old guy. There are many of us who have built and owned many types of cars over the years. The motivation has always been to build a car better, faster, slicker than the last one. After all, the future of mankind hinges on us impressing people at the next show or cruise more than we did with our last car, right? All jokes aside, we often get caught up in trying to outdo others and ourselves by building the best car humanly possible. There is nothing wrong with that until it begins to dominate our every thought. (See “Does Your Car Own You” editorial May 2008.) Once we realize this, we are ready to let ourselves off the hook and take the pressure off to build a better car. Some leave the hobby altogether, while some figure out they can still have fun with a rat and decide to build one!

The cheap guy. There are some among us who are just plain cheap. Three hundred dollars for a grille bar? No way, that pitted one for $25 will do fine. They don’t spend much money on anything including their car and the end result shows it.

The young guy. I am very fortunate to have become involved in the hobby back when it was not yet so popular and was far, far less expensive. People just weren’t spending any money 30 years ago to restore a Chevy, so the supply of cars and cheap parts was plentiful. Advance the clock forward to today. What if I was a young person working at a fast food place and wanted to get into old cars? All I could afford would be a lowly rat.

Spectators. Go to any car event next month. Chances are there will be two or three rats there of various makes and models. With some, you can’t even tell what the make and model it is/was. If this rat is parked next to a $100,000 machine, which car are the spectators looking at? There is something beyond interesting in a car or truck that the owner has put together using the parts he has or can afford. Those cars and the people who own them sometimes tell a far more interesting story than the shiny car guy does.

Sentimentalists. The sight of a rat brings back fond memories to many who grew up in the early days of hot rodding. Before each and every part to build a top-notch car was available in reproduction, the early enthusiast had to use what he had; that old car behind the barn plus a few extra tractor parts equaled fun!

Junkies. Not the illegal substance users, the kind of people who just love junk and junkyards. I would have to include myself in that mix. Given the choice of attending a concours car show or spending a day rummaging through a junkyard full of neat old stuff, I pick the latter. There’s something special about looking at forgotten rusted hulks that people once bought, washed and waxed every Sunday and took the kids on vacation in, which, after the car served its purpose, was cast aside along with the trash. With many rats, the junkyard comes right to us!

Who Hates Them?
Retailers. The folks who make a living (hey wait, that’s what I do!) selling parts to people who build shiny cars. You will find that these folks don’t have much use for the rat because the rat guy doesn’t become their best customer. Enough said on that.

Guys who own expensive cars. You’ve just finished a six-year big-dollar build of your dream car. You put on the finishing touches, stow it neatly in the trailer and off you go across the county to the show you have been wanting to attend for years. You arrive, carefully unload (as long as it is not raining and the trees are not shedding any pollen) and park. An hour later some freak in a rusty jalopy that he just decided to build last week comes smoking in and parks right next to you. And what’s worse, this barbarian doesn’t even lock his doors and roll up his windows much less throw on a car cover. And he is smiling the whole time!

Guys who build expensive cars. Same as above.
Car show promoters. This is a tough one. Many show promoters live and die by the amount of gate revenue (locals that pay to come see cool cars) they collect from their events. You may think they are in it because it’s cool and fun. Wrong. They are in it for the money. While some of us appreciate the homebuilt low-buck rat, that’s not the kind of car that local dude took his wife and kids out of church to come and see (“You’re wasting our Sunday to look at this junk?”). Plus, show promoters make money on the fees they charge vendors as well as participants. Nothing is wrong with any of this, but the shiny car guy and the vendors might just stop coming back if the field is full of rats.

So where does your opinion lie...do you love them or do you hate them?