Car of the Week: 1935 International rat rod

dodgechargerfan

dodgechargerfan

In a 55 gallon drum, floating down river, and
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When it comes to rat rodding, Don Duchene and some of his car buddies are all about reaching new lows.

The lower, the better.

If it’s loud, crazy, cheap and can sneak in the garage when the garage door is only halfway up, chances are Duchene digs it. The Franken-rod he built a couple years back and dubbed “Slim” fits the bill on all counts.

“It was 42½ inches [high] when I originally built it. With spring sag it might be 42 now,” laughs Duchene, a resident of Harris, Minn. “It has a 150-inch wheelbase … so it’s long and lean.”

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Sorry, that's just plain ridiculous.

Boggles my mind why someone would spend money and time to try and build something that looks like neither money nor time were spent on it... ?
 
He's got $9,000 into a 350, TH700R-4, and a 9" Ford? How is that even possible unless the car runs 9s?!

This is a fad that can't die quickly enough, much like the "Pro Touring" (I hate even typing that phrase) bullshit. The first few were kind of cute, but it got old fast. :dgt:
 
Dr.Jass said:
He's got $9,000 into a 350, TH700R-4, and a 9" Ford? How is that even possible unless the car runs 9s?!
Click to expand...

I dunno - mebbe in the USA it's different, but around here, it's not hard to imagine $9K in a stroker V8, built automatic, and a 9" with new parts if you paid someone else to do all the building for you. Even before you account for the terrible shape our dollar is in right now.

Biggest crime in my opinion is the "car" he put it into. HUGE waste of money. I like beaters and "run 'em as you found 'em" hotrods.... But to intentionally build something like this..... Not so much.
 
Well, the 383 stroker is just a cut-down 400 crank, so it's not like the engine's got a billet stroker piece in it. Plus, he used cheap factory perimeter-bolt heads, a cheap dual-plane, etc. I realize labor's much more expensive north of the border but down here that engine could be built carb to pan for under $2,500 including machine work. A stout street 700R4 is maybe $1,200-$1,500 including converter, and 9" Ford parts? I have to pull them twice a summer from my lawn along with the weeds. This putz got totally stroked unless he used absolutely top-shelf everything, which judging by the heads and intake, he did not. :doh:
 
Fair enough. And those BluePrint engines are a total stroke job price-wise. Cast crank?! Hypereutectic pistons?! Where does the other $4,100 get spent? Chinese no-name heads with chintzy aluminum 1.6:1 rockers? There goes another $900, since they likely get the heads assembled. I can get an all-new GM 350 crate motor delivered to work for $1,300 that will likely last 10 times as long. Why spend more on a rolling tetanus farm?

If that's indeed the engine he's got, and it may well be, it just further demonstrates the abject retardation of the rat rod crowd. There's one running around here with a straight-piped 500 Caddy that would likely hand this one its ass, is better looking, and the building whole damned thing cost the kid less than half the price of that Summit crate engine.

If you're buyin' instead of buildin' on a rat rod, you're painfully unclear on the concept.
 
I won't even waste my time mentioning all the things I hate, and are wrong with that car.....horrible rolling abortion so far as I'm concerned!
 
i like ratrods plenty...onces well thought out and ran with..that means NO shine on an OLD engine...no aluminum wheels......EVERYTHING on a rat..short of the tires should look like it rolled out a wrecking yard from before the 60s and still sat in a field for another 40 years rusting...anything else is just a hack job of shit
 
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