Ratpalooza at Lake Las Vegas

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What is a Rat Rod?  It’s a type of “poor man’s” hot rod put together using parts of cars salvaged from junkyards that are ingeniously joined together to create hybrid cars that are best described as hot rods meet Mad Max: the Road Warrior. A true rat-rod builder takes pride in leaving a rusted exterior as is. Dents, a few bullet holes and a stripped interior are also desirable. Coming from California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado and as far as Tennessee and Canada, more than 100 rat rods converge on Lake Las Vegas for its inaugural Ratpalooza sponsored by Rat Rod Magazine. To give you an idea, the vehicle in (Figs. 01, 02  & 03) emerged from the salvage yard with the main body of a 1931 DeSoto joined to the rear half of a 1960 Chrysler Imperial Station Wagon. It also has a powerful small block 350 Chevy engine nestled neatly behind an old classic Hudson Terreaplane grill.

(Fig. 01)

(Fig. 02)

(Fig. 03)

Over the years I have been taking pictures at more than a half dozen car shows that appear in and around the Henderson area, but have to admit that this was the most fun I’ve had at any of them. The creativity of some of these concoctions provided an infectious mood of fun and amazement. Even though my enthusiasm to take pictures was somewhat hampered by the 100 plus degree temperatures, I was still able to capture nearly 100 pictures. In an effort to condense space in this post, I created a two collages highlighting some of my ‘favorite’ captures - “Interiors” (Fig. 04) and “It’s All In The Details” (Fig. 05). Be sure to check out the 60+ picture slide show at the end.

(Fig. 04) Title - Interiors

(Fig. 05) Title - It's All In The Details

The slideshow below is designed to run automatically in place. Clicking anywhere in the black background area that surrounds the picture being shown will PAUSE the show and bring up the Pause, Forward and Back menu at the bottom of the slideshow window, allowing you to start, stop or manually forward pictures one at a time. To view the slideshow full-screen, click in the middle of the running show. When the new browser window appears, click on the left side of the menu where it says "slideshow".

Slideshow Description: The slideshow above contains 60 pictures that were taken on 09/08/2012 at the first annual Rapalooza Rat Car Show at Lake Las Vegas.