Retrofuture Volkswagen prototype was designed by Mikhail Smolyanov / Solifuge Design, and he’s got a similar VW Bugsled in black. Since there are no images of modications in progress, I assume that the version above was never built.
HOWEVER, there is this:
Similar design, yet not the same. Image searches for this work in progress produced no matches.
[Top & bottom images found here. Not quite Rat Rods, but I stuck them in The Archive anyway.]
Mostly impulsive stuff previously posted elsewhere. The owl’s face (top left) is a from a linoleum cut by Gorehound Smithers.
On My Own, The Muffs, (2019) The Muffs were a successful punk band from SoCal, formed by bassist, guitarist and lead singer Kim “Kimba” Shattock in 1991. Shattock suffered from ALS (aka Lou Gehrig’s Disease) for several years, and soon after recording the band’s final album No Holiday, she passed away in 2019 at the age of 56.
HO Spiral 1
HO Spiral 2
HO Dilemma
Sound up for the SkaFire.
A big test is coming October 4.
Those terrifying little upticks…
Theft-proof suitcase [via Bunkerville].
Pasta la vista, baby [via Mme. Jujujive].
“We have never seen anything like this.”
Doodling on a glow-in-the dark LP with a laser pointer.
[via Memo Of The Air]
[Top image found here, unknown origin.]
From the Archives: 1 year ago. 5 years ago. 10 years ago. 15 years ago.
[All images found at Rat Rods Rule! More rat rods here.]
Boombada, Les Baxter (1960) From the great 1988 compilation album Swing For A Crime, this recording includes an intro clip from The Big Heat (1953), featuring Lee Marvin being firm but gentle, and then just firm.
Do the Electric Clam.
Lab-grown meat looks real.
Humane Resources & Failed Interviews.
250 photo I.D. badges [via Mme. Jujujive].
A phenakistiscope of rats [via Memo Of The Air].
The first flower grown in space [via Bunkerville].
[Top image: Background story on that 2012 Ratrod unknown, found here via Tineye.]
From the Archives: 1 year ago. 5 years ago. 10 years ago. 15 years ago.
Update: Twitter now requires you to have an account and log in before you can see linked tweets. What a shame.
My Girl Sloopy, The Vibrations (1964) The Jayhawks recorded the hit Stranded In The Jungle in 1956, changed their name to The Marathons, and eventually became The Vibrations. The McCoys’ 1965 cover (retitled Hang On Sloopy) is the better known, and The Yardbirds’ version is just awful. Now about Dottie Sloop…
Dance hard [sound up].
Bdellotomic is not a typo.
Pure awesome from 1980.
It’s in the hole [h/t Gord S.].
The Dancer [via Mme. Jujujive].
THE Ringtone [via Bunkerville].
Drifting plates [via Memo Of The Air].
Hard on the eyes yet cool at the same time.
NA Intermodal Units Rail Traffic has a pulse, and 2023 is down for some reason. [h/t GuardDuck]
[Top image: Best guess is that’s a late 1940s Chevrolet 5700 COE truck, courtesy Chuck C. Now chop that top.]
From the Archives: 1 year ago. 5 years ago. 10 years ago. 15 years ago.
I want one.
Pop Strutts (my grampa) created this bit of vehicular awesome from a lawnmower engine, some stray bicycle parts and wood scraps. There was no steering wheel, only a tiller.
The engine was a Briggs & Stratton 1/2 hp rope-starter. It had three gears, but to change gears you had to stop, move the drive belt a pulley over, and hope it didn’t sever your fingers while you moved it. There was an accelerator pedal that attached to the throttle, and a brake that consisted of a lever that forced a piece of metal into the rubber of one of the rear wheels.
To shut down the engine, there was a piece of spring metal with a wooden switch to short out the spark plug. It’d give you a nice zap if your finger missed the wood.
What’s not shown here is The Peckerwood. On the rear of the vehicle, Pop mounted a wooden image of a boy who mechanically rocked back and forth as the Go Cart moved, poking his steel wire “pecker” back and forth through a steel eye screw. Papa Strutts probably removed it so as not to give a 10 year-old Bunk any nasty ideas, but I remember it. I had nasty ideas anyway, but not because of The Peckerwood.
[Update: November 2014 – this sold at a recent estate sale for $75.]
This ^^^ could look like this vvv only lower.
1953 Short Ford Bus offered for only $6,500:
I put Flat Head V-8 In service 10 years Carb, Ignition, Two new water pumps, all heater hose and service ran strong and just needed a clutch fork, a few glasses and I have access to glass, pulled drive line and did not work on any more, would make a great ride [via]
Go for it.
P.S. The interior is flawless.
[Yep, now we’ve got an archive category for Rat Rods and it’s entirely awesome.]
Tacky Raccoons 