A body Rat rod

my understanding of a rat rod is that you took whatever old car you had, enhanced the performance on the cheap, steel wheels with cheap dog dish or trim rings and chrome nuts, unify the look with primer while waiting for paint, "rigged" any thing needed like junk parts to use for mirrors, bumpers, or grills, that started to build up to an " I did it with what I could find" look.
This became a way to fix up a beater that grew into a stylized look that is driven by now overdoing and stereotyping.
Each type of resto has diverged with its look such as lead sleds, t-buckets, street rods, etc.