Budget rat rod

[pablo]

good luck

Dude, keep the Honda, you will need dependable cheap transportation to get you to school and work. If I were you I would look and getting a running truck and customize it within your budget and abilities. as your budget and abilities grow so will you next progect. You are in the early stages of an addiction that has no cure, pace youself.

I would suggest a 40's or 50's truck. they are cool rigs, can still be purchased running for reasonable, and they can easily become the donor vehicle for something radical if you decide to go that way. they usualy have small block V-8s and or six's in them, straight axles which can be converted into open wheel hot rods, and cool cabs that can be chopped.

trucks are the cheapest to do, i am doing one right now, and i am well under 3000 into mine, i will probably be at about 4000 when i am all done.

good luck and ask lots of questions, there are a lot of great people here that would love to pass on thier addiction, LOL

Pablo

 

[Willowbilly3]

Move up a couple years. I got this 37 Ford cab at a local junkyard for 200. Bought a 37 Dodge with an extra cab for $50 and got a 24 chevy roadster and a 31 model A coupe with it. I have the Dodge on ebay right now. There are gobs of post war cabs for little or nothing. There are a couple 51 Chevys at the ranch you could just about have for scrap price. Also look at the threads for what can be done with an S-10.

 

[workin class]

TRY any vintage truck cab and front clip on any mini truck and your on your way. A decent running mini truck should be around a grand or less. Try searching the net for a while there are all kinds of ideas.

 

[maddog]

College? Now there is an idea that will eventually fund many hotrods.

 

[Bonehead]

Sure is a drag, hearing all these old guys trying to talk sense into a 16 yearold. But Dude, they know of what they speak! I think it is great, what you want to do. I remember when I was you age, although it is a little foggy. There was always a few guys who seemed to pull of building a hot rod, usually a Camaro, Mustang, or an old pickup. I don't think it is out of the question for you to build something. It means getting a job, working, going to school, and saving up the funds. There are aot of stories of cheap Ratrods, under $3000, (mine is close), but part of that is lucking into a donor car or truck, and having good skills tools and a place to work. I say keep a driver and work on a hot rod until it is done. Good luck. Keep us posted.

 

[joehalford01]

i agree with a lot of what these guys have said, you will hear a lot of stories of really cheaply built cars........did they mention the $3000 worth of tools they own and all the connections they've built up at local yards to score the deals? lol.

i'm thinking somewhere along pablos line of thinking, but a sixties to early seventies truck may be an even better choice. you can pick one up with a sbc that runs good and is driveable anywhere from $500-$4000 depending on how hard you look and how much work you are willing to tackle. Then take your time as money permits and hone your skills on it. Enjoy it as you work on it. Shoot, the first cheap mod is free......cut the muffler off , now it sounds awesome!

 

[donsrods]

Does anyone remember Tex Smith? He was a contributor to some of the old hot rod magazines and started his own magazine "Hot Rod Mechanix". It eventually merged with Rod and Custom then folded completely. Anyway, he did a series on a "Dollar a pound Hot Rod." He did it by making most of his own stuff and getting deals wherever he could. That was back in about the late 70's I think, so with inflation it would be about $ 3.00 a pound now, which is reasonable. I think you could build a decent rod for $ 6000, but you couldn't start out with a $ 4000 body to do it.

The later truck body suggestion is one way to accomplish it. I see guys on here all the time who score a late 30's pickup for cheap money (I had to drive to Atlanta and pay $ 900 for a nice cab because Florida is so devoid of old tin ) so if you started with some $ 500 body you could probably come in at one of those budget figures. That is one reason these "bobber trucks, or Rudy trucks" are becoming so popular, they are still semi-reasonable to buy initially. I'm sure even those will start climbing in price in time though.

Don

 

[Ratrod29rpu]

Your best bet is to sell the honda and buy a cheep truck like an s10. Then you can just keep the running gear and strip off the fenders. S10s are easy enough to lower and you can weld the doors shut and cut off the roof and you have an instant unique rat rod roadster for cheep. Modifications can be made later on as time and money allow.

 

[tusk]

yea most definitly you want to start with a good donor,for example i know of a 70 shortbed ford f100 i can pickup for 250.00 cash,it has no title(thats a easy fix),the body is rusted to hell but for a home built body who cares,it has a strong running 302,plus its a column shift three speed to boot,get your local bargin trader and start searching or do like i've done and probably everybody else take a ride to the country and started looking in peoples yard,you'll be surprised what you find

 

[Unkl Ian]

''32-33-'34 ANYTHING is expensive.


Save your money,learn as much as you cam.
Put your beer and cigarette money into tools.

 

[donsrods]

''32-33-'34 ANYTHING is expensive.


Yep, and consequently Model A's and cars of that era are getting nuts too.

Don

 

[workin class]

30s truck bodys are still around as long as you are not looking for fords. Let the ford guys rip each other off and sneek under the radar with any other make. If you are stuck on ford just get a bank loan and forget about collage.

 

[RoddingRon]

Dude....i didn;t read every post here, so if this suggestion is a repeat...blame it on an old guy who was to lazy to read through everything. If you have your heart set on a pick up, look around for a cheaper model. I think you could come up with a late 40's through late 50's cab and bed for cheap...be it a Chevy, Ford, Dodge, Studebaker...whatever. Take that and throw it on an S-10 chassis or a Ford Ranger chassis.....2 wheel drive of course so you can get it down low. It'll take a little fabrication to make new mounts to adapt the old to new, but that's part of the fun and you can make it sit as low with as much attitude as you want.

You can build something cool and reliable on the cheap if you look around and think through what you want to do...and have a little mechanical ability....Plus I'm sure it's been said several times already, but, ask questions here...throw them out and you'll geta bunch of good suggestions and ways of doing things.

The only request is that you have to keep all of us updated on what your doing and your progress as your moving along
Ron

 

[Willowbilly3]

A local towing yard has a running S-10, light roll over, for $250 with title.

 

[workin class]

Thats a deal right there.