The problem is that someone with little skills sees a car like the one from Yakima that G&R's57GMC posted in post six that is actually a fairly well built car hiding under a bunch of scrap metal that has been driven all over the western United states and gets driven daily and they think that they can throw a bunch of used farm equipment parts together with their two days of welding experience and drive the thing down the road. Luckily most of the messes you see in the coverage of different shows aren't licensed or driven on the street. They are the anti "pro fairgrounds" $100,000.00 alcohol burning blown Willys that thumps and rattles around the grounds of almost every Goodguys show so we will be impressed that the gold chain wearing owner can spend 30.00 on fuel to rump around the fairgrounds every two hours on schedule.
Here is a link to a thread on the HAMB that is about a car that pretty well shows why many of us take a dim view of rat rods and the people who build them.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...d.php?t=701156
The car was supposedly built by a "pro" shop in Phoenix over a two year period for a fairly large sum of money. The owner almost stacked it up the second night he had it and took it to Steve at Industrial Chassis to straighten it out. Almost everything that the "original builder" scabbed on the car has been removed and regulated to the scrap bin. When it's finished the car will still have a crusty look to it but will have a serious chassis under it that can be driven anywhere in safety.