I can see where you are coming from with some of the pics as all of the cars you posted are mint body work wise ( bar the odd rusty bonnet ) and the two with the grafitied/plaid bonnet ain't ratty at all but some of the touches used on those cars have clearly been inspired by the air cooled rat 'scene' ( hate that frickin word ! )

The thing is , most styles change and evolve over the years and this will never change ...

Hot rods started off when young pilots came back from WW2 and pulled as much off they're 32 roadsters as they could to lose weight and go faster , after a while they decided to make them try and look better too with fancy paint jobs , bigger engines , crazier mods and then they went totally nuts when the show rods of Ed Roth and the like started to appear and so on .

The same thing happened with the California look bugs which evolved from dechromed single colour cars into the wild graphic/targa top thump thump style cars which are now under the 'B289' banner . At the time they were called cal lookers even though they were something clearly different .

Things shouldn't have to conform to a rule book for style , they should be open to some interpretation and if people like different parts from different styles then what is so wrong with mixing it up a little .

Here's a few more pics which could be classed as rat look by some including touches like matt black paint , roof racks , tat , yellow fog lights , rust ( real patina and forced ) ....

The '37 ford coupe in the last pic is a fibreglass replica that's been painted to look rat including air brushed rust ( similar to the hungarian RS tuning s class merc and passat wagon ) so is it a rat look car or is it a car inspired by rat look cars ??? Who cares anyway , lifes too short to conform to rules

at last!

i agree in part with what your saying but if some thing is inspired by some thing else it doesn't mean it becomes it, if i get drunk and dress up as Marilyn Monroe for walshy, no matter how much make up ect i ware i'm still just going to be a hairy drunk bloke in a dress.

We appear to be missing the difference between 'rat' and 'rat-look' in this thread.

are we? whether its rat look or just a rat it still has to have shafted body work, take the rat away from either and what are you left with? and what are you left with?

We appear to be missing the difference between 'rat' and 'rat-look' in this thread.

are we? whether its rat look or just a rat it still has to have shafted body work, take the rat away from either and what are you left with? and what are you left with?

The original beetles, rat-rods etc weren't rat 'look', they were/are rat. They weren't made to look like that, they just did because the owners couldn't / didn't bother to change it.

The rat 'look' scene is about trying to make your car look rat. <--- edit: about taking styling cues from rat cars.

Pointing out that something with a rusty bonnet isn't rat is like pointing out that a Golf lowered on white walls with chrome caps and a lot of camber isn't air-cooled. Of course it isn't, its just taking styling cues from that scene and therefore is 'aircooled look'.

It make perfect sense :-)

P.S. i'm not starting an argument with anyone, it's just something that a lot of people on this thread are missing / forgetting. And i'm firmly on the 'anything goes' fence.

Edited 19 May, 200917 yr by AdamP

We appear to be missing the difference between 'rat' and 'rat-look' in this thread.

are we? whether its rat look or just a rat it still has to have shafted body work, take the rat away from either and what are you left with? and what are you left with?

There is no real answer to this question as one mans meat is another mans poison so to speak ! There are many 'rat' split screen vans which have been restored and then aged to give fake patina by rubbing areas through to the primer/bare meatl in places where they would've worn if over polished etc .

(there's a green one in this months Ultra VW mag for instance )

What 'label ' would you like to give them ? Essence of rat ? Eau de rat ? Who gives a damn any way ?

Pointing out that something with a rusty bonnet isn't rat is like pointing out that a Golf lowered on white walls with chrome caps and a lot of camber isn't air-cooled. Of course it isn't, its just taking styling cues from that scene and therefore is 'aircooled look'.

yeah but how many beetles ect do you see with just a rusty bonnet?

but i'd still like to know how you (not you personally btw) can label a car as rat/rat look if its got mint body work, this has been my argument all along, the rusty bonnet and trinkets hanging off it ain't rat or rat look (you know this is true because a rat/rat look car is still a rat/rat look car without them). the rat part of the name refers to the condition of the body work of the car, not the bits hanging off it, and if the body work of the car is mint or even good, then how can the term rat apply to it?

btw i'm not attacking any ones choice of style or what scene they are in, it's just for some reason people calling non rat cars rat really boils my piss (there are other silly little things that do this too me as well, guess its old age getting ready to ass rape me ).

I'm sure the admin of this forum will appreciate how much effort goes into creating and maintaining a forum dedicated to something, as a home for other enthusiasts to roam to whenever they like, and will also appreciate how disheartening it can be to see any number of individuals coming down on it with a hammerblow such as "I can't stop 'lol'ing" and "The world's stupidest forum".

I'm saying this partly because I'm an enthusiast and a member of Rat-Look.com,

But mostly to highlight that you have publicly demonstrated how little decency you have or respect for other people's enjoyment.

Sorry for having a fucking opinion!!!!!!

And I actually couldn't stop laughing, sorry but some of the rides on that forum are an epic fail. IN MY OPINION!

Just wasted about 40 minutes of my life reading this thread, Each to their own leave it at that.

SOMEONE PLEASE LOCK THIS??????

toby, i love you

I have now been put off Monroe thanks mclovin

AdamP, AFAIK, a rat/ratty car is a car that is totally fucked, through out, and normally found in a "junkyard" (American lingo). What "makes perfect sense" is the original rat rodders letting their cars 'look' like them junkyard rats on the outside, but without them being totally fucked underneath aswell - hence 'rat LOOK'

What these 'new ratters' (i cant bring myself to deliberatly spell 'new' wrong again) have, is 'rat look look'

I have now been put off Monroe thanks mclovin

AdamP, AFAIK, a rat/ratty car is a car that is totally fucked, through out, and normally found in a "junkyard" (American lingo). What "makes perfect sense" is the original rat rodders letting their cars 'look' like them junkyard rats on the outside, but without them being totally fucked underneath aswell - hence 'rat LOOK'

What these 'new ratters' (i cant bring myself to deliberatly spell 'new' wrong again) have, is 'rat look look'

Okay then, replace 'rat' with 'rat look' and 'rat look' with 'rat look look' in my posts

My head hurts.....

so in conclusion... matt black, rusty bonnets, stupid orange headlights = gay, patina'd air cooled and old yanktanks with mahoosive engines = win

so in conclusion... matt black, rusty bonnets, stupid orange headlights = gay, patina'd air cooled and old yanktanks with mahoosive engines = win

So where do real rats fit in?

The fail bit, its a bolt on accessory

The fail bit, its a bolt on accessory

x2 cars just dont sprout dead rats do they?!

thats more like it! less bitching and more larfs

so in conclusion... matt black, rusty bonnets, stupid orange headlights = gay, patina'd air cooled and old yanktanks with mahoosive engines = win

Noooooo cars with those things and the owners calling them 'rat look' = "gay" :-D

I have now been put off Monroe thanks mclovin

AdamP, AFAIK, a rat/ratty car is a car that is totally fucked, through out, and normally found in a "junkyard" (American lingo). What "makes perfect sense" is the original rat rodders letting their cars 'look' like them junkyard rats on the outside, but without them being totally fucked underneath aswell - hence 'rat LOOK'

What these 'new ratters' (i cant bring myself to deliberatly spell 'new' wrong again) have, is 'rat look look'

Okay then, replace 'rat' with 'rat look' and 'rat look' with 'rat look look' in my posts

could we say the same for a prick? as in prick prick!

^^lol and who is cornflakes?

Wow, never seen a site full of so many protencious people....even more than edtion!

'Rat Look' should be natural IMO, i.e - a nice 69 bug thats been sitting in a bush for 30 years. You just cant replicate it!

brap.

could we say the same for a prick? as in prick prick!

mate you fail harder than cancer.