Hot Rod Blog

After years of visiting the MSRA Back to the Fifties show in St. Paul, MN I decided I should start organizing some of my favorite pictures out of the nearly 1000 I take each year. With nearly 12,000 autos there each year, there is always something new to see, and some cars I have seen nearly every year I have visited the show.

There seemed to be a lot les custom cars at this years show than other years. The same with rat rods. I don't think the fad is over or there were less, it is just with so many cars I wasn't able to see every one of them.

This show has nearly 12,000 cars and trucks at it every year, including many rat rods. However I didn't see as many this year as I have previous years, and the ones I did see weren't as cool as previous years also. I didn't see the double decker or VW bus that I see every year, which I love.

You can see some of the best rat rods I have seen in the past at my Rat Rod History page.

The definition of a rat rod is a newer built hot rod designed to resemble early hot rods from the 1930's through 1950's. Function overrides looks with rat rods, as they are built to look unfinished, usually painted with primer only, or just left rusted. Although looks are not a priority, they can be considered art in itself and many designers do take time and effort into making their rat rod look unique. Often the look is exaggerated for fun, with brand new wheels on a rusty ride or using a beer bottle for the radiator overflow container.

Hot rods have had a large impact on the history of the American automobile, starting as a racing fad through the "rebel' generation, and later on through today, the hobby and collecting generations. Here is the story.

I visited the 56th annual Rod & Custom Spectacular in St Paul, MN last weekend. It is one of the oldest independent car shows in the country. This was my first time there, even though I have been visiting auto shows in my area for the last 10+ years. I'm usually not into the auto show scene this early into the season, but considering our weather and how it already feels like summer, I think many people had the same idea.