No vehicle starts out as a shitbox. Okay, maybe you could make a case for some of the usual suspects: Chevy Vega, Yugo, things like that. But for the most part, making a shitbox requires time, mileage, and neglect. And sometimes, it requires welding together two or more old neglected vehicles to create something new. Whether you think the rat rod phenomenon is a breath of fresh air in the hot-rodding universe, or a scary way to use up parts that belong in a junkyard, one thing we can all agree on is that rat rods are definitely shitboxes.
We started out our week of weird choices with a couple of pre-war cars yesterday, and it was another case of the comments not matching the vote tally. I thought for sure the Model T was going to walk away with it. Lots of commenters wanted to try driving it, for the same reason I want to drive one someday: out of respect for its place in history. But in the end, the little Bantam roadster beat it in the poll by more than two to one.
I would jump at the chance to drive either one of these, actually, even if it was just around a parking lot. But I can roughly guess how the Bantam drives; I’ve driven other small cars with non-synchro gearboxes before. I have no frame of reference for the Model T, and that makes it more intriguing.
The term “rat rod” is pretty poorly defined; it can really refer to any modified car that doesn’t have a shiny finish. Body work is much harder than mechanical work, so some hot rodders skip the shiny paint, and just fix up mechanical stuff. The result is a rusty, patinated mess that hauls ass. But sometimes, a rat rod is just a jumble of crap welded together. And it can be hard to tell which is which if you don’t know what you’re looking at. These two are rusty, patinated messes for sure. Is either of them worth it underneath? Let’s take a look and find out.
1946 Studebaker truck, more or less – $31,900
Engine/drivetrain: 14-liter two-stroke diesel V12, automatic of some sort, RWD
Location: Sardis, OH
Odometer reading: unknown
Operational status: Runs and drives well
Take an old truck body, drop it onto a more modern frame, and cram the biggest engine you can find into it, and what do you get? This. It’s a ’46 Studebaker cab, on some sort of much heavier-duty truck frame, which obviously required some width to be added to the fenders. It looks like something straight out of a Mad Max movie, but it was actually built for a burnout competition, of all things.
What does it take to spin those big rear dualies into a cloud of tire smoke? Power and torque, as much of it as you can get. In this case, that means a Detroit Diesel 12V71. Twelve cylinders, each one with more displacement than an entire Geo Metro, making 450 horsepower and 1,200 pound-feet of torque. It has an automatic transmission, but that’s all the seller says. I’m guessing it’s not just your basic Turbo 400. It runs and drives great, according to the seller, but personally I can’t imagine keeping something that wide between the lines on the road.
The thing about hot rods, rat or otherwise, is that safety is rarely a concern. A car only has to meet the safety standards of the model year on the title, no matter what else has been done to it. This is a 1946 Studebaker in the eyes of the law, and the entirety of automotive safety features in 1946 was “don’t crash.” Someone has added seat belts to this one, at least, but it also has absolutely bizarre seats. It also appears to come with noise-cancelling headphones, which tells you all you need to know about how comfortable it is inside.
I really want to know how wide this silly thing actually is. The original Studebaker M-series was about 80 inches wide, about the same as most full-size pickups, but this one has had about eight inches added to each side. That would put it at about eight feet wide, which makes me guess that it has semi-truck axles of some type under there. It just looks extra-wide because the cabs of old trucks were so narrow.
1948 White truck, and then some – $3,500
Engine/drivetrain: OHV V8 of unknown displacement, automatic of some sort, RWD
Location: Leechburg, PA
Odometer reading: unknown
Operational status: Runs and drives, needs a new battery
There are absolutely no rules when it comes to putting together a rat rod. If you can make it fit, you’re golden. Cut, bend, grind, and/or hammer a part until it goes where you want it to go, weld it in place, and suddenly it “belongs.” This truck is made up of at least three different vehicles that we know of, and possibly more. The cab (and presumably the title) is from a 1948 White medium-duty truck, the frame and suspension are from a 1952 Studebaker, and the back half of the body is from a 1960 Buick Invicta, narrowed to match the width of the cab. Work with what you have, I guess.
I assumed, when I first looked at this truck, that the engine and transmission were from the ’60 Buick as well, but that is not a Buick nailhead V8. I don’t know what it is, actually. I don’t recognize it. If someone in the comments knows, please enlighten us. I do know that the seller says it runs and drives, but the battery is shot. It also may or may not need a new steering box, which I presume is from Studebaker, but you could probably get something else to work.
Figuring out when a car like this was built is sometimes a challenge, but I think we can probably narrow this one down to the 1970s, based on the interior parts. The GM truck steering column, tiny thick-rimmed Grant steering wheel, and fancy embroidery on the seat all scream ’70s. For some reason, the aftermarket shifter is installed upside-down; if you zoom way in on the photo, you can see that it’s in Park. Not sure why you would do that.
What’s funny is that, from the cab back, the body style almost kinda-sorta works. The hood and too-tall grille being at the wrong angle look weird, though. And I sincerely hope that rusty cylinder behind the back window isn’t the fuel tank like I fear it is.
I did warn you that we were going to be looking at some weird stuff this week. And once again, I don’t expect you to want to buy either of these. My question for the day is: which one would your character in a George Miller movie drive?
do I have to vote? for the first time you have presented “cars” that have zero reedeaming value, I just can’t today..
Since you brought George Miller into the equation, the wide track Studie is the winner for me. It already looks like it has claimed a few victims.
Nope. And hella nope.
The big engine ‘Baker is definitely not a bear’s natural habitat, but I can appreciate the builder’s mad-scientist vision… just not pay for it.
That… Whitevictabaker?… though. That makes my eyeballs bleed and my guts knot up. Unsafe at any price.
Can we have a Mystery Car today?
The price is appalling but the Studebaker is so bonkers I have to pick it.
these are both redneck wet dreams
The 5 year old in me wants that massive burnout machine.
First entry: WTH?
Second entry: Dafuq‽
Also, on the second, if the rising hood could have been set at the same angle as the lower margin of the side stripe, it would have worked well. At least that aspect of it.
Voted for the aggro Studebaker, but, yeah, I don’t want to own either of these.
That’s definitely a Studabaker V8 engine and air filter. Maybe converted to LP gas?
Oh god! Just no.
At least the wide front end will make the “Studebaker” harder to roll?
Gahhh – the Whitebakervicta is somewhere in my local area!!!
This is why it gets my vote – pure proximity
The white thing is weird enough for the money to go ok. Idk about $35k for someone else’s rat rod but I guess there is a market. White thing all the way.
The 19?? White Studebuick looks like someone with some skill and an over-inflated opinion of their own sense of humor took crappy bits of stuff and slapped them together because they thought it would look funny. The truck was made by someone who has skills, some good equipment, a barbed wire tattoo on their bicep, and a trash can with an unhealthy amount of Monster energy empties in it.
I voted for the truck, of course. Tyler or Cody or Dave or Jesse (probably) did some seemingly decent work with weird stuff for a very niche purpose. I absolutely respect that. The price tag is insane. You don’t build that monstrosity with any kind of hope of getting even a fraction of your money back. To it’s credit, it doesn’t look like it’ll fall apart going down both lanes of the road and surviving burn out competitions means that the mechanicals are going to be sorted-ish.
I’d drive that across the frozen wastes of Happy Feet 3.
I kid! I kid! George Miller would rather be shot than do yet another Happy Feet sequel.
The Stupidbaker is the only way I can think of that thing.
If George Miller is handing me a blank check, then it’s the Studebaker on some combination of steroids and acid. That’s just some seriously wack Mad Max wastelander stuff there. A 12V71 wound all the way out is all about the display of sound and fury.
On a side note, it also points out how far truck engines have come. The 12V71 was quite the engine in its day for trucking. But today, 450HP +1,200 foot-pounds of torque is small potatoes in over-the-road rigs — where a top-of-the-line Cummins X15 can hit 675HP and 2,050 foot-pounds of torque.
My recently-acquired 2005 Monaco motorhome is ridiculous enough with an older 600HP Cummins ISX that puts out the same 2,050 foot-pounds of torque. It’s just stupidly powerful. It’s hard to describe what a big diesel out on the road is like — the torque will just push you up to speed with a sort of eerie effortlessness. After picking it up, I’m driving on a smooth stretch of I-55 in Oklahoma. Car speed limits were 80, and cars were easily doing 90+, while 18-wheelers without speed limiters were creeping past 75 where they could get away with it. I’d already hit 60 before the end of the on-ramp to merge, and settled into traffic. Looking down, the speedo was creeping up to 80 and beyond, and there was plenty more power in reserve. Well, time to back off and set the cruise control to something a little more sane… It’s kind of like a train; all that power just builds up and shoves.
No turbochargers on the Detroit? That’s so under-the-top.
I’ll take the Buick. It’s not a half-stepper.
LOL, Nope, looks like just the stock gear-driven Roots blower setup. Two of them, actually, since the 12V71 was built up out of 6V71 heads and parts.
Full Disclosure: I already have an 8V92 Turbo, so the idea of more Detroit set off my fight-or-flight response. Not much fight left in me.
Neither.
I’m getting the feeling that will be the trend for the week.
I voted for the White just because I’d rather spend less money on something completely stupid and useless rather than more but if there had been a third choice that included a bucket of warm spit for $2000 I would have preferred that just because its easier to dispose of than either of these two trucks.
There is no universe in which I would pay nearly 32k for a half-baked rat rod with an engine that is near impossible to find parts for any more. I say this as a career diesel mechanic.
My HOA (and personal sense of good taste) wouldn’t allow either of these –
So I pass.
This.
Studebaker. My mind was made up when I read 14-liter two-stroke diesel V12.
I then saw the the video in the ad of this truck doing ridiculous smoky burnout. That one burnout probably increased average global temperatures by a full degree and will cause three hurricanes, one typhoon, and several record-setting droughts, but I don’t care. This might be my favorite Shitbox Showdown contestant of all time.
I don’t know what it would take for me to vote for something else after watching that, but it sure as hell isn’t a 1948 Whatever-the-hell-that-other-truck-is.
I did not realize there was a video. It does make me wonder what it would feel like, standing on the throttle with that V12 wailing away while I scream “WITNESS ME!” all shiny and chrome.
The big diesel looks right out of Mad Max. The White would probably be a background car
I understand the assignment so I pick the Monster Stude. That 12V71 most likely sounds magical redlined at what, 1500 rpm?
The other one is probably the thing I would try and *save* though. Cut that horrific front end off and start over. It wouldn’t be half bad with more conventional front end.
I’m pretty sure the engine is a Studebaker V8 based on the valve covers.
Roger that. Studebaker V8.