Tag Archives: Rat Rods

Our World -Daryl Starbird Car Show, 2020

_DSC0654

I paid the big bucks and went to the 2020 Daryl Starbirds National Rod and Custom Show at the Tulsa Fairgrounds. I say big bucks because it is $25 to get in and many people grumble and gripe about it on facebook every year.

_DSC0650

I have the perfect antidote. If it is too expensive for you, then don’t go!! Hey problem solved. From the bustling crowds I would say that it is not overpriced yet. Kind of reminds me when the the CEO of the company I work for asked me if our customers were happy. Hell no! I replied, a happy customer is one who is not paying enough. I am not sure he liked that answer but here I am. Not in commercial any longer.

_DSC0649

Anyhow, I am way off topic. The reason I like the Starbid show is that it features custom cars. Not like the regular car show in March where all the manufacturers drag in their Honda clones. It’s a lot cheaper, but the cars are boring.

_DSC0647

Here is the Red Baron. Complete with machine guns. I don’t think they work but it is not boring either.

_DSC0645

Here’s a custom car on a budget. A rat rod, which means hot rods going back to basics. The rust and patina is done on purpose.

_DSC0640

Here is a tough minded overlander VW bug.

_DSC0633

Ah, now we are back to sleek and colorful

_DSC0629

Another rat rod. My advice to you if you have a daughter and her beau shows up to take her out in this? Tell her, it’s family game night, Monopoly, Farkle, Chinese Checkers.

_DSC0624

I think rat rods are cool though. I also think that the fact I don’t have a daughter who is dating a guy with a rat rod is even cooler.

_DSC0621

What do you think?

I am linking with Our World Tuesday, come join us!

Our World Tuesday – Darryl Starbird’s National Rod and Custom Car Show – 2017

The Darryl Starbird Car Show is a must see for me. I like car shows of all kinds but the Starbird Show is special because it is for custom built and modified cars and people can get best car dealerships from Scrap Car Pickup for Cash Ottawa. In this day and age where the cheapest and most expensive cars all pretty much look like Toyotas it is nice to see custom built cars. Apparently there used to be twenty-one Starbird shows a year but they have dwindled down to just this one in Tulsa. People don’t work on cars like they used to do. When I was a kid there were lots of car guys out there, modifying engines, transmissions, and suspensions and the bodies. Cars are too computerized these days and emissions regulations strict (which is a good thing). People can also check The Car Finder Used Vehicle Dealership, if they need the best car dealership.

_DSC0278

1970 Plymouth

These cars are like works of art to me. The ideas are born in somebody’s mind and carried out, sometimes they take years of  trial and error to reach final form. Sometimes they don’t ever get to final form.

_DSC0269

1964 Thunderbird

_DSC0273

1981 Cadillac- I am thinking this may be a low rider or a derivative. It has machinery to jack the car way up and down.  They were big in New Mexico when I lived there. Years ago, our family went back and in old town Albuquerque a bunch of cars showed up and drove around slowly honking their horns and rocking the cars up and down and making them tilt side to side. It was quite a show.

_DSC0275

_DSC0282

Ultra sleek and streamlined. I love the wheels and the clean lines. I also loved how they went with a different finish with the engine than the expected chrome.

_DSC0283

_DSC0293

1932 Ford Coupe – I love the modified old cars also.

_DSC0299

1932 Ford Coupe – I love the paint job on this creation.

_DSC0303

1960 Corvette – You just can’t beat a corvette, they have stayed ahead of the curve for years.

_DSC0304

Alright car guys what is this. Is this eight carburetors, or a supercharged engine. I’m so ignorant. It is a very manly looking engine is what I think.

_DSC0314

1970 Chevy – How about this? I love the low ride, and the boat.

_DSC0332

How about this hippie lovemobile??

_DSC0333

Here is a VW Camper. My wife’s family had one when she was a child.

_DSC0334

Cool interior.

_DSC0391

How about another hippiemobile.

_DSC0335

Another VW hippie surfmobile.

_DSC0355

1949 Ford – Another manly engine.

_DSC0356

1925 Model T

_DSC0359

_DSC0398

And I’ll finish up with this rat rod. I love the saw being used as a headliner over the front window, the backwards doors, and the most obviously phallic hood ornament. Not that it has a hood.

So another year down for the Starbird Car Show.

I’m linking with Our World Tuesday

Rat Rods! at the Starbird Car Show

_DSC0089

I went to the Daryl Starbird Car Show here in Tulsa a couple weeks ago and I learned something new. I’ve learned the term “Rat Rod.”

_DSC0067

Rat Rods are like hot rods only with no chrome, rough or nor paint, and just generally look kind of homemade.

_DSC0063

Wikipedia talks about Rat Rods being a reaction to the pretty show hot rod show cars of today that are meant to be shown and not driven.

_DSC0077

Rat Rods are often associated with Rockabilly or Greaser culture. They are supposed to be a throwback to the hot rods of the 1930’s to 1960’s. I love them. They have that Mad Max home built slopped together look about them. The safety people among us are going nuts I’m sure. Exposed exhaust pipes, drive belts, and fans. Whoops there goes your fingers, please don’t bleed on the cars sir.

_DSC0058

Apparently conventional hot rodders loathe the rat rods. I just love controversy like this. Reaction and counter reaction, yin and yang. I’ll be looking into this more.

What about you? Have you ever heard of rat rods before?