Steam Trunk Industries Ratrod!

Author: | Posted in Steampunk 3 Comments

I love Ratrods, but many of the ones that you see at shows have become so formulaic that I now find them dull.  Stream Trunk Industries has done a brilliant job taking the best of the mainstream Ratrod scene and blending in some Steampunk to build a car that I am seriously lusting after!

Steampunk RatRod

It is a truism that the people out there doing the most interesting things and having the most fun often don't have the time or inclination to post what they're up to on the internet. Fortunately, they often have friends that recognize how impossibly cool the things that they're doing are and egg them on!

Fortunately for us, my new friend Annie (follow her on twitter and read her column at Gamer Melodico) is also friends with Tien Linton and Guiness Oathout of Stream Trunk Industries, the builders of this amazing car.

Annie writes:

The fellows of Steam Trunk Industries originally acquired the car from an older gentleman in Southern Indiana, "Way out in the middle of nowhere". They had also recently seen the insides of a jet engine and were fascinated with all the various pipes and tubes. "It looked very mysterious", says Guiness, a lifelong auto enthusiast. "You can't really tell what's inside, or where it's going, and we wanted to try to build the car around that concept". Tien says that they opted for copper instead of rubber or plastic hoses, and the car's design evolved from there.


Steampunk RatRod

Everything about this car is gorgeous! I love the prize-fighter-missing-teeth front grill and the copper alternator shield looks like something from the lab of the man who actually invented the 3-phase alternator, Nikola Tesla!

Steampunk RatRod

The copper plumbing is SO much prettier that the tired look of braided stainless with anodized fittings!

Steampunk RatRod

I also love the improvised found-object air cleaner which I believe, and I may be mistaken here, originally bore the name 'Electrolux' or perhaps 'Kitchenaide.'

Steampunk RatRod

Everything about this car is gorgeous. I am particularly impressed with the perfection of the chop/channel job on the cab, the proportions are perfect and that's not always easy to achieve.

Steampunk RatRod

I'm not sure where Steam Trunk Industries is located, but I sincerely hope that sometime in the future I'm able to drop by and get a closer look at this beauty!

Comments
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