BangShift reader Lon tipped us off to this amazing find on the Huntsville, Alabama Craigslist site. The basic foundation of what you’re looking at here is a Ford Ranger truck. The cab has been chopped six inches and the frame has been bobbed. A fire breathing inline six and corresponding transmission from a Ford Falcon has been installed up front, and to handle all that power massive Mickey Thompson slicks are out back. Oh, there is also a 1932 Ford grill shell up front which is what we think is supposed to make this a “rat rod”. Without the 1932 Ford grill, what do we really have other than one absolutely mangled Ford Ranger truck. Of course, advertising this…uhhhh….truck(?) as a “mangled Ford Ranger” would probably not attract potential buyers like the current title of BADA$$ Rat Rod.
The seller claims that the cab has a “custom etched paint job” which seems to be a fancy way of saying, “fake patina”. The “custom headers” are works of fabrication artistry that you’re not going to find on many similar vehicles. Thankfully, there are very few similar vehicles. That’s better for all of us. The gas tank is mounted directly behind the cab on top of the custom red oak “bed”. It seems to be in the perfect position to explode and incinerate the occupants in a rear end collision.
This isn’t as bad as the International cab on the Pontaic Grand Am….or is it?
The seller is accepting serious cash offers as well as any number of trades ranging from a boat to a Jeep rock crawler or “railbuggy”. We’re going to pass….maybe you want in!
Thanks to Lon for the tip!
Check out the photos and then hit the link below –
I’m sure it looked really cool in his “Minds Eye”…….
Love the air filter.
Thanks for preserving the pictures, the rest of the ad got yanked. No accounting for taste, apparently.
Why Not!!
They must have moved to Alabama from Tennessee. 🙂
“Beauty is in the eye of…..the guy that drinks waaaaay toooo much”
No way this is as awful as the GrandAm/International mash-up.
Although it could stand a tad more heat in the engine room (at least an Offy triple-carb intake, if not forced induction), the paint work is kind of sketchy, and the cowl area needs some better transitional work, this sort of stripped-to-the-essense “short “embodies many great traditional hot rodding techniques.
Sadly, late model rodders are too conservative. They’re too prone to imitate “silhouette” “stock” racers or glom on mass-produced body kits, instead of tapping into the wellspring of time-tested rod and custom techniques. Too many late model builds are nothing more than ridiculous paint work on a mostly stock envelope body.
I, for one, hope that future Bangshifters rediscover some of these traditions working with the dwendling numbers of rod-able RWD vehicles in today’s salvage yards. Our future shouldn’t just be aging muscle cars, pony cars, FWD tuners, and hyper-expensive pre-’48 street rods.
At least this guy didn’t build the same old, same old small-block-in-a-pro-street-pickup-with-a-cowl-hood that we commonly see at most cruise nights.
Our wonderful nation’s public education at work here.
Happy 4th everyone.
Apologies in advance to all of you rat-rod enthusiasts out there, but this guy’s machine does not strike me as materially all that much different in aesthetics or execution from a large number of rat-rods out there. Just the age of the raw materials.
Maybe I’m getting too old for this stuff (?)
for the love of god make it stop
I’m trying to identify some redeeming quality, I’m trying……
Better than a ford ranger…, I agree, I don’t see much difference between this and some of the other “ratted” studd that’s out there..
Looks like the pointy end of a turd .
….for once the word “bad” really means bad!!
You kinda wanna give him a pat on the back for dare to be different but…I know the engine choice isn’t cookie cutter small block but I’d kind of prefer it….that `firebreathing 6 ‘looks pretty bog stock to me….1 bbl carby on horrible log manifold, open exhausts on a coarse, non – revving ford 6…..it’d be a fairly uninspiring drive…..
It looks like he did what he could with what he had. Suppose he’d done the same thing with the same techniques on a 48 Ford truck?
Needed to narrow the cab to model A width and make a turtle deck for the back like a model T car. Z the frame on both ends. Or well start with something else. but really with what he has already done he has the skills to get there. At least its not front wheel drive and has an air bag steering wheel.
Just to let the idiot know that started this post and all the others that went along with him I’ve won several shows with this car and enjoy very much building and the history of cars. Your prolly just a piece of shit stay at home dad that surfs the web all day to bitch and complain about something. I sold the Ratrod for $9500 on the way home from a car show. Thanks to Hoosier and some of the other enthusiast that had m back in this one. Some “city slicker” dumbasses just don’t understand the meaning of the word rat rod. Also they probably wouldn’t know how to check air pressure. The type of guys that stay in there office all day and bitch on the internet while there kid is wanting to throw football or something besides watch his dad stare at a screen and then your son turns out quier as shit like yourself and starts complaining online about his shit not falling out of his ass right. Also the slicks were for looks I had another set of tires and wheels for rear and a extra 306 fuel injected motor but the straight 6 200 wasl more ratty and also different from your normal everyday rod. Lots of older guys liked it cause they could reminence about there old falcon they used to fly down rock roads in when they were 8 years old. Ive heard several stories at shows. So to all you people downing me on this, choke on my nuts!
The paint was red underneath with gloss satin black over it then I took 800 grit sand paper and sanded back through it to give it a etched look. Then it was cleared. On the corners it was sanded down to baremetal. I got more compliments on that paint job than anything and actually painted some more enthusiasts rods for them. And if someone would have hit me in the rear while i owned it and blowed there self up then that would have been great.. Texting and driving is for the birds anyway. Maybe they couldve been the next person on the texting and driving commercial burnt to crisp.