1928 Dodge Bros. Rat Rod
Allan Garonzik, Argyle, Texas

This was fun…starting with a pretty good barn find for $350 from Blue Ridge, Texas, and ending up with a pretty cheap, and very tacky Rat Rod.  The purchase price included a basket case small block Chevy motor.  The completed car drove out at less than $700.  To be fair, I did make use of some old stuff lying around for nearly 50 years. The running gear came from my original dune buggy, a fuel injected Corvette powered Crosley rail that I built in 1962. The Rochester fuel injection went back on my 1956 Corvette.
The goal on the project was to do 100% of the work myself, and did I mention that I also wanted fun, cheap, and tacky.  The engine got some fresh bearings and rings. I figured that about 195 horse power was enough to push her down the street considering the original suspension.  I fabricated the parts necessary to use Chevy backing plates and brakes and hook up to the original straight axle.  I already had a radiator from something like a ’78 Chevy, but no chance it would fit the Model A grill shell that I bought for $5 at a swap meet.  It did, however, fit nicely over the back axle.  A $2 swap meet fan provided the circulation needed.
Running the copper plumbing inside the frame rails was a bit of a challenge, and I did have some concerns about boxing the frame with the copper inside.  Some small holes were provided to allow for the frame to be foam-filled to prevent electrolysis and rattles.  A pressure tester was kept on the system throughout the process.
The seats did not exist, so no pattern.   More scrap and fabrication, and some days later a couple of seats appeared.  The original gas tank was a gonner—completely rusted through.  Laying around the shop was a fiberglass saddle tank (abandoned at some swap meet), so a couple of brackets were fabricated. While 1120 miles on a fill up might be considered overkill the price was right.  
The bumpers, no clue what car they came off, cost $5, and a bit more fabrication got the “look” I was after. The running boards didn’t exist, so these were made from some pieces of C perlins left over from my steel house that I built.
The exhaust was a problem.  I was fresh out of pipe benders.  I went by a local muffler shop and picked up a hand full of pieces from his junk trailer.  I made sure I got some bends and short pieces.  In the corner of my shop was a set of “Cherry Bombs” from the ‘60’s.  The exhaust exits from the back of the running boards to avoid the radiator, and the bend over the axle. There will be no trophy for the best looking exhaust system.
Body-work?  I know my limitations.  The big dents were knocked out, I fixed the rusted out door bottoms, left the bullet holes, and the wrinkles on the front fenders.  Paint? About as good as the body-work.  I filled the extra holes on the firewall, and did, as funky as possible, a flame job using, of course, the paint that I already had laying around the shop. The spare tire is a ‘Space Saver’, with a pretty rough larger tire wrapped around it.
And, as a bonus, a good breathing small block with a two barrel, 3:08 gears, large diameter tires, and a light car, will get you some decent gas mileage.  So, the old Dodge gets a new life---at about the same cost as John and Horace rolled the car rolled off the assembly line 81 years ago.