In my humble opinion, I always remebered that TRUE rat rods were cars that were not yet finished and not "pretty" enough for shows. The new term or trend in the rat rods I think is poor thinking. Why spend money just to ugly something up? The real rat rods of the 50's-60's were showing bodywork and primer spots and the main focus was either body custimization or just going fast and not worrying about the appearance. Our culture now calls a grungy or flat black car with red wheels and pinstripes a rat rod. I think this is so much easier achieved when we go back to the original type of rat rod and jsut drive while we restore.
