The ratrod in Dearborn Florida

FLORIDA. The night was still young and music was playing in every street corner. This month’s cruising evening had arrived. The smooth, the well shined, the chrome was royal and they all ruled the town. One special project immediately caught the eyes of the other visitors and left them stopping short. It was a rat rod.  by Lars Krantz. Translation Ellen Kay Krantz 
No owner of the car was to be seen on the sight so the frames were shot in the dark.
– We had to wing it.

Let’s roll:
A chopped Ford truck, lowered in the frame with tender, loving care.
Under the hood you will find a Chevrolet big block and a bed from a Ford pickup.
The frame?
-Eehh.. well, it consists of a handmade square iron with a transverse leaf spring neatly placed in the front. In the deep woods of Florida they stumbled across the body and the project could have taken them everything between five weeks to five years.
– Hey, don’t bother with that, look at the details man!

 
That dude or dudette sure had magic fingers and a big sense of the feeling of the rod. Even the position of the rear view mirror was divine. It had been moved from the front fender of some car on to the ceiling of this car. And don’t even get me started on the expansion tank to the cooler. Oh, heavens. It was filled to the rim with hulk green glycol liquid and the optic illusion reached climax.

 The smallest detail blows the mind of the viewer. The bracket for the rear view mirror from the inside was precious. With the combo of the Hurst gear shift knob and the faded steering by Grant you can imagine the renovator strolling around the workshop looking for suitable parts. Maybe he paid a visit to his fathers old shed rummaging through old boxes of since long forgotten parts. In the middle of this fiesta of vintage thingies and nick-nacks there are some parts that doesn’t look a week old. The generator and the brake servo for example. The goal was most likely for this cruising event to create something ying-yangie with a compilation, a mishmash of old meets new, created to mislead the public.
– And it sure was successfully executed judging by all the ones that passed by with a snort. But Worldkustom noticed..
-Congrats from worldkustom.com in Sweden, wherever you are.

Wouldn’t bet a penny on this thing being older than 14 days. Neither is this thing older than 14 days when the welding is shining brighter than the rock on a Dallas housewife. This divine piece of art that has one function: Closing the hood. Darn it, just looking at it makes me happy.  The hood has got itself a reinforcing bar. Simple, yes. But brilliantly executed in its simplicity. Beautiful. The bar to support the lamp is perfectly bent. The attachment has a dual purpose for the hood and check out that latch closest to the camera. Oh my, that worker sure knows a thing or two about mechanics.

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A fender with spots where the welding suddenly transforms into sun reflecting drops of heaven. A piece of art for the grill.  Low tech, high class. Local hero!  Big block with a stick on this kind of project = All thumbs up! And tubing straight to the heater!! The guy surely made sure to put a defroster in there somewhere.
– Once again, well thought out.
The older guys that spent a lot of time under the hood themselves had a hard time moving on. Including, me, obviously. It’s not a first-time-project, no. Not at all. But many was not appealed by the rough exterior and passed by in search of something with more bling.
-Ratrod. You made my day.