Ask ten people to define or describe a rat rod and you’ll likely get ten different answers. It’s difficult to define the rat movement, which is part of what makes it so cool. Many would argue that these rods take their roots from the early days of rodding, offering a counter culture to the polished and poised show winners that are so often associated with the hobby. Whatever you define rat rodding as, it’s made a large impact on the hobby in general and is obviously here to stay.

A recent YouTube browse turned up this cool video titled, Rat Rods From Hell. It’s packed full of cool rat rods from around the world. There are rat trucks, rat roadsters and rat sedans sprinkled throughout. The video uses creative editing and is set to the song Hot Rod From Hell, performed by Astrolites, giving it the appropriate feel for a rat rod tribute.

The video focuses on the details of several of the cars it shows off. There is everything from low dollar rides to the higher end rat builds such as Mike Partyka’s Heckler, Model A Truck. There’s lots of cruising, flame throwing, tire smoking and burnouts to boot. There’s even a little flag-drop drag racing going on, with some cool car mounted cameras to show it off.

While we’re not sure of the locations of all of the clips and stills used in the video, the video does claim to show off rats from around the world. We’re pretty sure that one of the photos shown highlights a rat from the NSRA Street Rod Nationals in Louisville, KY – go figure!

Just like any rod, all of these rats are different. There are various levels of patina or paint schemes involved on each of them. Engines range from flatheads to big-blocks and blown Hemis. We spotted several that were cruising with bug catchers placed well above the roof line.

There are also stills throughout the video, some of these featuring very clever photography. We especially liked the rat parked next to a rundown house at the three minute mark. No rat roddding video would be complete without Rat Fink, who gives a thumbs up at 2:20.  

Love or hate them rat rods have become part of the rod and custom scene and are likely here to stay. This video gets our gears turning about cool rat build ideas. Maybe a cool rat roadster truck for running around town? If you’re into rats, rods or just want to take a quick mental sanity break at the office today, this video is definitely worth checking out.