Steve Thaemert Jr. - The Illustrated History of the Rat Rod: The People, the Cars, and the Culture

Introduction

T heres no question that rat rod culture is surrounded by a lot of gray area. For every fact, there seems to be a million opinionsopinions often formed through misperception or even bad information. And while this gray area sometimes creates confusion about what a rat rod is or where the term came from, its also part of the rat rod scenes charm. Rat rods and the rat rod culture leave a lot of things open to interpretation. Some elements of the culture simply cant be defined, while others are so subjective that they are entirely different for each person.

In this book, well try to sort through the myths and get to the facts of what a rat rod is, what rat rod culture truly represents, and where this movement came from. Ive written many articles in response to the question what is a rat rod? and Ill probably write many more. Its the question Ive been asked most often throughout my tenure as editor of Rat Rod Magazine , and its the popular pot-stirrer in online forums. Want to get people talking? Ask them what a rat rod is. People naturally love to share their opinions, and their opinions are flavored by their own needs, ideas, and experiences.

Again, this is the charmand possibly the biggest downerof rat rod culture.

Im not here to define anything. No single person or idea can do that. Only the community of builders and enthusiasts who collectively make up the rat rod scene can define exactly what a rat rod is. And even though people argue about and lobby for their own personal views on what a rat rod is, the culture tells us exactly what it is already: a rat rod is a blue-collar hot rod. Period.

Now, regarding that fact, there is a lot of room for interpretation, but the roots of rat rodding will always be deep in hot rod history. A rat rod is a form of hot rod, and the two cultures run parallel even todaymaybe even more so today than in the past. The term rat rod may not have surfaced until the 1970s or 80s (no one really knows for sure), but the rat rod mentality has been around since the creation of the automobile. And, as with the automobile hobby, the terminology used in the rat rod hobby has changed over the years. What we considered a rat rod back in 1960 is much different from what we considered a rat rod in 1995, and both are much different from what wed consider a rat rod today.

The automotive world is always evolvingcycling and recycling trends and fads, flowing alongside culture, living and dying and living again with each generation. The beauty of rat rod cultureand hot rod culture in generalis that its so rooted in American history that it endures. Its multigenerational appeal carries it from fathers to sons to grandsons, changing along the way
but never deviating too far from its foundations.

Preservation comes in many forms. In the automotive world, you have museum-quality restorationswhich are an important part of historyall the way down to the daily driver. Yes, you can certainly drive a piece of history; in many cases, that is the best form of preservation because you are maintaining it and people are seeing the vehicle in motion in a very real way. The thing about expensive restorations is this: once you restore a vehicle, its original story is covered up forever. Take a faded 33 Chevy sedan with all of the dents and scratches on its patina-laden body. Its story is there, in those imperfections. Maybe it has a bullet hole. Why is it there? Did it come from a couple of kids shooting targets in a field, or was this car used for a bank robbery, or what? Patch it and paint it, and that mystery is gone. Same with old lettering or historic markings. Cover them up, and you can no longer see the story. In rat rodding, these imperfections are usually preserved. The story is left visible for each observer to interpret.

So, yes, the rat rod community is essentially preserving vehiclesalbeit in an unorthodox manner. But doesnt it make sense to leave some history alive in all of its distressed beauty? Time is an incredible artist. So is Mother Nature. They work in tandem in fascinating ways, not just on cars and trucks but on people and really everything around us. Rat rodding tends to capture that artwork and display it.

The exciting thing about todays rat rod and hot rod scenes? Youre seeing cars from the 1930s and 40s and sometimes earlier that have sat for decades in scrap yards or in fields and have been resurrected and given new life. I think its fascinating that a seventy-five-year-old car can be patched together and driven around the country, with all of its historyits soul, if you willpreserved and passed on to a new generation. What a cool way to honor automotive historyby enjoying the very essence of the automobile: the drive itself.

Like Rat Rod Magazine has done since 2010, this book will take you on a visual journey into rat rod culturefrom its roots to its modern manifestation.

Part III The Foundations of Rat Rodding

The Rat Rod Lifestyle

Part of the rat rod scenes charm is that it is made up of people from all walks of life. With a community this diverse, its hard to pin a singular style to it, but there are some prominent lifestyle elements often associated with both the rat rod and hot rod scenes.

R ockabilly music and wardrobe are stereotypical of pretty much every classic automotive scene, but even more so in hot rod and rat rod circles. This style pays homage to the 1950s with its somewhat rebellious rock-n-roll-meets-country flavor, which fits seamlessly into classic-car culture. Many modern examples of rockabilly music have a more aggressive style with a punk edge, and attendees of entertainment-driven car shows and events often get to see and hear high-energy bands performing this type of music. While rockabilly may represent one side of hot rod and rat rod culture, anything that reflects the styles of the 1950s and 60s is fairly prominent.

Perhaps the most visual nostalgic tribute is the pinup girl. Pinups are everywhere from magazines to live events, and there is an entire hot rod subculture devoted to this art form. Anywhere there are people, there will be a way to celebrate beautiful women, and in the hot rod and rat rod cultures, this is certainly it. One of the cool things about the pinup scene is that its more of a girl-next-door type of vibe that focuses on fun rather than perfection.

Another similar part of the culture that has its own subculture is burlesque. Burlesque is a style of performance that combines the sensual with the comedic; it is predominantly vintage in theme and traces its roots back to seventeenth-century Europe.

Vintage pinup-girl fashions and hairstyles are popular with many female rat rod enthusiasts.

Because the rat rod scene is essentially a hot rod counterculture, it carries with it a bit of an edgier contingency. While the rat rod scene is largely made up of average Joe blue-collar Americans, it does attract many bad boy characters. This rebellious nature goes hand in hand with vintage cars, although you can certainly be a clean-cut, khakis-wearing, tattoo-less rat rodder. You are, however, more likely going to see a lot of tattoos, jeans, t-shirts, and a general rock-star style at a rat rod event.