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Rat Rod Racer: 1933 Chevrolet Coupe

How do you feel about rat rods?  When the issue is discussed amongst car people, it’s usually a love it or hate it topic.  I tend to fall into the “love it” camp.  I appreciate the originality and rawness of a well executed rat rod or original-bodied hot rod.  This specific car is a 1933 Chevrolet that has been chopped heavily.  For sale here on eBay in New Orleans, Louisiana with a current bid of $7,200.  There’s something great about a car that you can just hop in and scream down the road with no worries about polishing the wheels or waxing the body.

You can see the originality in the quarter panel of this car.  Rusty and jagged, the car is unapologetic.  There aren’t many details in the ad, but the car certainly speaks for itself.  Spray painted numbers are usually not a great choice, but seem to work well for some reason on this car.  The louvers on the trunk lid and leather hood straps round out the theme well.

The interior will probably be one of the love it or hate it parts of this car.  To me the gauges and dash look okay, but the black steering column and steering wheel don’t really fit in with the theme.  The connecting rod mount is okay, but I would have liked to see a 1940’s or 50’s steering wheel with a vintage steering column.  The grenade shifter is okay, but a bit over the top on this car and it certainly doesn’t fit in the racing theme.  The push button starter certainly helps though.

The engine is a 280 cubic inch straight six.  While not making a ton of horse power, they can still be fun, especially in a car like this.  What will the new owner do with the car?  Perhaps an engine swap?  Maybe fat tires out back with some salt flat racing wheels?  There is still some potential to modify this car to your liking.  If this was your car, what would you change?

Comments

  1. Avatar jdjonesdr

    A little bit bigger tires in the rear and drop the steering wheel an inch or so. Looks like it would be a lot of fun.

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  2. Avatar Mark Hoffman

    Yeah. I like it. The hand grenade gear shift actually put a smile on my face.

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  3. Avatar Christopher Wenz

    Nice.

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  4. Avatar CanuckCarGuy

    Kudos to the builder…a rat rod, but it flows and the ‘artistry’ is balanced and consistent; too many rat rods turn out looking like a disjointed collection of after-thoughts. Rat rods are like any art piece…. adding more doesn’t make it better.

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  5. Avatar GP Member

    Well, If ya don’t have anything good to say, Don’t say nothing at all.

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  6. Avatar Dusty Stalz

    This is a hot rod, not a rat rod. Although it’s rough, the build is good. I don’t like rat rods and wish they’d go away, but I like this. It’s not garish and looks like a hoot to drive.

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  7. Avatar Joe Haska

    I do like Rat Rods ,but not too excited about this one, maybe ,if it was a little more refined, specifically the body panels and grill shell. It says it is a 33 Chevy Coupe and some of the body panels are, but there are just about as many that are 34 Ford, the grill shell, the top of the dash, the A pillars, and the hood top, along with the wish bones and front axel, which are all Ford.
    The over all concept and proportions are interesting, but I would have more respect for it, if the detail was taken up a notch or two. There are no rules for Rat Rods, so one opinion is as good as the next, but I have seen many Rat Rods that have had exceptional metal work and detailed construction, but are still considered by the owners or builder, to be a Rat Rod. The thing is it is hard to define a Rat Rod, it is– if you say it is, and then you can argue with everyone, who says it isn’t!

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  8. Avatar KEN TILLY Member

    I personally hate rat-rods, however, each to his own. What I would like to know is how does a POS like this ever manage to obtain a Roadworthy Certificate? With jagged rust edges like that I’m surprised that it doesn’t get towed to the scrapyard within 5 minutes of it hitting the streets.

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    • Avatar Brakeservo

      I”m going to guess you’re from Oz, that’s the only place where I’ve heard the term Roadworthy Certificate.

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  9. HoA Rube Goldberg Member

    Dusty hit it right on the head, this is NOT a rat-rod. It’s a hot-rod, big difference. To call this a rat rod, again, people just don’t get it. And I tire of explaining it. The truck from the other day, the one I got all bent out of shape on, is the best example of a rat rod you can get. This is a modified regular car, aka, hot rod, and still has the general look of the original. This is far more representative of a backyard build, way before the term rat rod even existed. Perhaps, the reason one might think it’s a rat rod, is because of the poor job that was done chopping it, or just not finished. This could look really cool, but tis’ no rat rod.

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  10. Avatar Rick

    Bring a Tetanus shot…

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  11. Avatar rbtempe

    Love it. Interested to see where the price goes on this one. I’d rock it.

    Hood straps too new, door numbers need to be aged.

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  12. Avatar Joe Haska

    I will say it again “There really is no definition, specifically” of what a Rat Rod is? Gray Baskerville coined the term from the term bikers had, called Rat Bikes. Gray is long gone , but I think he is probably sorry he said it, but if not him, someone else would have. However, when you think about most of the terms, us car guys throw around, they don’t have a specific definition, and that is probably a good thing. It gives us allot to talk about and argue about. The one thing that bothers me is why people say they hate this or that, they even say you shouldn’t be allowed to build CRAP like that! Really, am I missing something, I thought we still lived in the greatest country in the world, and free to express our opinions, and celebrate our life.

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  13. Avatar Nick

    Not much for words in his description. Most of the parts on this car look Ford derived, I wonder if its a case of he had a “33 Chevy” title and so that’s what this became.

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  14. Avatar Kevin Tapply

    I never realized GM made a 280cui straight six… hmm?

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  15. Avatar Bob

    Bonneville, here I come!

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  16. Avatar Tort Member

    Not much on Rat Rods but I do respect all the creativity that’s goes into building one. I agree with the others that I would consider this more of a hot rod and I do like it.

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  17. Avatar Rick McKee

    Normally I don’t give a rats a#@ about rat rods but I kind of like this one.

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  18. Avatar Cris Carver

    Very, very cool!

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  19. Avatar Brakeservo

    What is the rear end or at least the rear hubs & wheels set up? Looks sort of like an older mobilehome hub and wheel assembly to me.

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    • Avatar Kevin Tapply

      I was wondering the same thing. Hmm? What are those rear wheels from? Anyone here can say?

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  20. Avatar Wayne

    I a not really sure that. I like the looks of rat rods. But I love some of the innovative things that they come up.

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  21. Avatar Larry

    Joe Haska got it correct, the part of the body that is Chevy is 34-35, not 33, the 33’s didn’t have suicide doors, angled cowls and the dash had center instruments. The windshield must be 34 Ford too, 33 Chevy’s didn’t have wind out windshields, the rear window appears to be Ford also. I think it falls into the Rat Rod category being as ROUGH as it is, very few if any of the old Hot Rods were ever this ruff.

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  22. Avatar Fozbuzz Member

    Chevy had 3 inline 6’s–194 ci, 250 ci and 292–this one’s a 250–the 292 had taller side plates–had a ’53 Chevy coupe w/ 250–4bbl, headers, Isky cam–300+ HP, 4 spd–a blast to drive! And you’re right, this is a “hot rod”, would love to drive !!

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  23. Avatar viejo

    dont know about rear end wheels 36 ford

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