What year did the ratrod start

[66L-79]

In what year would you say the Rat Rod really got started, I have a 33 Dodge pickup and it has some stickers where the truck was at some shows back in 1992 the truck is in black primer and has all the fenders and the original decals on the doors where the truck was a Sinclair gas station truck. I consider it to be more of an old Hot Rod instead of a Rat Rod just wondering when they really got started.

 

[donsrods]

Very good question. I really don't know, hope someone has the answer. I think the concept has been around for a bunch of years, I know in the 40's and 50's similarly built cars were called Gow Jobs or Jalopies, but not sure when the Rat Rod words were first used.

Don

 

[Tripper]

About the time old T's & A's got cheap enough for young cats to afford... off came the fenders etc. Look at some of the old hot rods from the day. Only cats with $$$ could afford a real paint job & for many guys that wasn't a priority... performance parts were! I don't know when people 1st started using the term "Rat Rod" but it was probably someone in Calif since many trends come from the left coast & work their was across the country!

BoB

 

[Flipper_1938]

The first rod that i remember seeing that had heavy patina (that was not a "survivor") was in the early 90's. It was a really low fat fendered ford (from Texas?).

For me, that was the start of my love of rats.

 

[donsrods]

Didn't the term sort of derive from some motorcycles that were called rats?

Don

 

[brad]

Ok in Maine back in 1977ish had a Essex coupe friends called it a rat or ratty my 2[ cents/I]

 

[dmw56]

The December 1972 issue of Rod & Custom Magazine was dedicated to the beater, a low-budget alternative to the over-polished, slickly-painted, customized early car. The beater could easily be considered a progenitor of the rat rod with its cheap upholstery, primer instead of paint, and lack of chrome or polished metals. However, owners of these beaters often had a high-dollar machine sitting in their garage.

As with many cultural terms, there are disputes over the origin of the term "rat rod". Some say it first appeared in an article written in Hot Rod Magazine by Gray Baskerville about cars that still sported a coat of primer. Some claim that the first rat rod was owned by artist Robert Williams who had a '32 Ford Roadster that was painted in primer. Hot Rod magazine has since verified this. Although the term likely started out as derogatory or pejorative (and is still used in this way by many), members of the subcultures that build and enjoy these cars have adopted the term in a positive light.

 

[donsrods]

Here is a little history that might shed some light on the subject. In 1987 the street rod movement was in full swing and high tech/ high dollar cars were what everyone was building. All of a sudden Jim Jacobs (the Jake in Pete and Jakes) comes to a show and parks his homebuilt, rough around the edges hot rod right in the middle of all the big dollar rods. He takes out a gallon of red paint (and a case of beer) and starts brush painting the car right there!

People who were getting a little jaded by the high buck cars were blown away that a high roller in the hot rod world would dare to build a car the way we did it in the 50's (and the 40's before that) and found it refreshing that a car could be bare bones, rough, and still cool as h***. Some at the show took a brush and helped Jake paint the car, and later on Jake glued magazine covers and pictures of cars to the body, creating a rolling art display.

Gray Baskerville says Jake was a couple of years ahead of the first rat rods coming onto the scene and feels Jakes car was the first. Here are a couple of pictures of the tub Jake built.

Don

 

[Shea Laking]

Man, I remember seeing that cool old tub in the glossy magazines "back then."

A cool car to call "The Start Of It All," for sure.

Mind you, Baskerville's own red deuce roadster was a little "rough" by then, too. Also a cool car.

Regards,
Shea

 

[Krooser]

They called the car "Jakeoupage".... it is still in existence BTW.

I remember the first time I heard 'rat' associated with something on wheels were 'rat bikes'... crusty old Indians and Harleys that were hitting the street in the 70's and 80's.

The very first coverage of a show featuring primered cars was the 'Unfinished Nationals" held in Washington state sometime in the early 90's, I believe. It gave the guys who wanted to drive their cars a a chance to hit a show without the 'no primer' caveat that was very prevalent at the time.

Plus the show took the stand that your car was still cool even though it wasn't shiney.

I don't remember how long that event lasted... several years if IIRC.

I've always flocked to cars that were a little rough around the edges and I also love old survivors. And I really prefer cars that are fairly close to what would have prowled the streets of America in the 40's thru the 60's...

 

[Krooser]

Update... did a search of Unfinished Nationals are it's still a viable event...

 

[Gregster]

I don't have any idea when they started , but I sure like 'em !!

 

[donsrods]

This subject is also kind of funny in some respects. If you go on some of the "traditional" hot rod sites, where they hate the R word, you will find lots of cars that they like, but that could also be described as rats. A lot depends on how well liked you are on that forum, from what I can tell.

Same with Jake building that tub out of left over parts, with no interior and all. If it were some nobody who did that same car he would have been looked down upon by the Street Rodders of that time. But since it was Jake it was cool.

Don

 

[66L-79]

Thanks for all of the input to the question I guess I never noticed the older rough around the edges cars and trucks back in the 70's and 80's even the early 90's I was always into muscle cars and still have those today. Back then I was like most other people to busy looking at the shinny street rods, and probably thought like some people think today about my old truck, I have had a few people say it's going to look good when you get done with it or when are you going to paint it etc. I tappears that my truck was built in the late late 80's or the early 90's according to the stickers on the truck and the shows it has been to.

 

[skull]

info on unfinishrd nats

here is the 2010 flyer[ddev

also do a search, l did this topic and some info should still be in the archives

Later

 

[Arkansawer]

The December 1972 issue of Rod & Custom Magazine was dedicated to the beater, a low-budget alternative to the over-polished, slickly-painted, customized early car. The beater could easily be considered a progenitor of the rat rod with its cheap upholstery, primer instead of paint, and lack of chrome or polished metals. However, owners of these beaters often had a high-dollar machine sitting in their garage.

As with many cultural terms, there are disputes over the origin of the term "rat rod". Some say it first appeared in an article written in Hot Rod Magazine by Gray Baskerville about cars that still sported a coat of primer. Some claim that the first rat rod was owned by artist Robert Williams who had a '32 Ford Roadster that was painted in primer. Hot Rod magazine has since verified this. Although the term likely started out as derogatory or pejorative (and is still used in this way by many), members of the subcultures that build and enjoy these cars have adopted the term in a positive light.

Looks like i wasnt the first to read Wikipedia. [cl

 

[Rat33pickmup]

I havent been to the unfinished Nats in a few years. the last year I attended was 2005 when I got the new my best friend had Cancer. I plan on going next year because the Budget isnt here this year plus its about 350 miles away where it used to be around 65 miles.

 

[Willowbilly3]

My guess is the term was picked up some years after the rat bikes. I first heard that term around 80-81 and Easyriders even had used it then. There were a few of them around Sturgis and I built my first one in 81. It's a pretty widely used term now but I don't think most of them bear much resemblence to the old jalopies and gow jobs of the 50s. It is a genre of cars built to a newer fad than that.

Here's what wiki has to say
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_rod

 

[donsrods]

Years ago I worked for a radio station and put together a car show at a local mall on the water. I advertised it as being for all old cars, whether they were completely done or not, and even ones that the owner wouldn't normally enter in a show because they were a little ratty. People kept calling the station asking "Are you sure I can bring my car because it really isn't all that nice, it's just half finished, etc?" We told them that was what we wanted.

The show ended up overflowing the area we had and people walked up to me all day thanking us for doing that because most of the cars there had never been to any show because the owners "didn't think they were worthy." Folks had a blast and the spectators had fun seeing cars in the process of being built.

When I saw the ads for the Unfinished Nationals I thought that was just such a cool idea, probably where I got my idea from. If any of you are in a car club and are having an event, include a section for unfinished cars, you will make a lot of rodders very happy.

Don

 

[hotrod preacher]

If any of you are in a car club and are having an event, include a section for unfinished cars, you will make a lot of rodders very happy.

Don

the first ( and amybe only) show i put my 46 in was like that- a section for the "unfinished" rides....only problem was they judged them just like the others--how nice is the paint, interior, chrome, underhood etc.....
the car that won was a finished car with a couple of spots that were primered -a re-do if you would-.....kinda aggravated me, so i'll just drive mine to the show now, keep my $20 entry fee and enjoy it alot more![P

and m BTW my first sight of a rat -by that name- was a little model kit of a model A truck that gave info about ratrods around 2001......i was hooked on primered hotrods since a kid, but this model gave it a new name for me....
ratrods