Back in high school my 71 coupe probabaly would have been called a Rat Rod had that term been around back then. It had no paint just primer, and was cobbled together with parts from about a dozen junkyard Mustangs and various other Fords...some of which to this day I still think were in better condition than my 71 .

She was not pretty, but man that car was loads of fun! Drive it to school during the week, run it hard Friday and Saturday at the track...then spend Sunday trying to piece it back together so I can drive it to school again.

Body working tools that I used mostly back then was a large can of Bondo from Pep Boys, a small 5 pound sledge, and a pop rivet gun! The engine received most of the attention, pieces scavenged from junk yard finds, and the occasional gravel pit mystery derelict (the kind of car someone dumped in the old gravel pits or side trails because they were too lazy or cheap to go to the junkyard with it)...we had what I think was a old Country Squire station wagon someone left there. Got myself a nice 4300 off of it for my 351W I was running...if I recall right, got a radiator, rear end and a few other goodies before the state finally found it and towed it away.

Of course the real fun began after getting the parts in trying to get them to fit and run properly..or at least as close as we could at the time .

So to me, if I had to "define" a Rat Rod I would keep it simple like I said before...done with your own two hands...and done with cheapies, freebies and a lot of inginuity...or as my Dad would have said...rigging.

Mike

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