Rolls Royce Gets Incredible Rat-Rod Makeover

Ridiculous Rides

A TEAM of maverick mechanics have completed an incredible transformation of a classic Rolls Royce once owned by eccentric British aristocrat, Lord Tredegar. Dubbed the Rolls Royce rat rod, the car takes its inspiration and design from traditional rat rods, which typically involve customising cars from the early 20th century. Mechanic Sam Hard, from Farnham, Hampshire, headed up the team responsible for the audacious build, which proved a big hit at the recent SEMA car show in Las Vegas.

Transcript

00:00In the end what it boils down to is enjoying yourself and making people smile and I'm pretty

00:07sure at SEMA 2016 we did that one of the most craziest cars that anyone would dare to build.

00:12The conventional ratrod to the man that loves his Ferrari and Lamborghini they're just another

00:23rusty car on the road. We try to put our own interpretation on what a ratrod should be,

00:27you know maybe a royal ratrod or a ratrod Rolls-Royce. You know if you're going to

00:32ratrod a Rolls-Royce these bodies are aluminium and you can't make them rust anyway so what can

00:36we do? We can put our own interpretation on it. Big engine, exposed welds, cut the roof down,

00:41original seats, original steering box, original grille, original body panels. We didn't put any

00:46paint on it. You know same with the ratrod style but we're just here to have fun.

00:49This incredible ratrod began as a 1936 Rolls-Royce. It was created by an

00:57international team including Sam Hard. Where we got the inspiration from building

01:02the Rolls-Royce ratrod was actually at SEMA in 2015. I was there helping a friend of mine build a car

01:08for SEMA and at the time I had a few 2,111s and I was talking to a few celebrities and I pretty much

01:16put my foot in it. Sam had entered himself and his team into a competition to build a ratrod to show

01:22at the following year's SEMA event. While the end design was a team effort, American Michael Lightbourne

01:29had the idea of using a Rolls-Royce. He sourced the car and convinced the owner to part with it.

01:36Sam and his dad Derek helped raise sponsorship and sourced parts and the customizing work

01:42was carried out at Street Toys in Mexico by Jesse Gonzalez and his team.

01:47It's got LS6. I mean that engine's a freaking powerhouse. Big block Chevy. It's got hillboard

01:53fuel injection again. That kicks up another 80 to 100 brake horsepower. How fast can it go 0-60? I mean

01:59it's kind of how big your cojones are is how to answer that question. I mean it's just quite scary to

02:05actually put your foot down on a car that's number one got an aluminium frame. You don't want to twist it

02:09even though it has to be strengthened unbelievably well. I mean this car probably weighs under you know a

02:15ton and the power to weight ratio is probably like a Ferrari. I mean it's unbelievable. You put the foot

02:20down and it's actually quite scary to think that are you actually going to stop because this thing is

02:24a freaking powerhouse. When the car's paperwork was sent to motoring writer Glyn Williams he discovered

02:33that the Rolls-Royce had an interesting history. Through the chassis number I found out this was the first

02:38Rolls-Royce that Lord Tredegar ever owned and for it to be the most eccentric crazy guy you know known

02:45in the UK history near royalty friends of Hitler you know Winston Churchill all these famous people

02:51and now we just cut it up and having some fun with it. I kind of feel that if Lord Tredegar was here

02:55today he'd be smiling too. With the build finished it was time to take the car from Mexico to Las Vegas.

03:03When we took it to SEMA some of the best car builders in the world, Gene Winfield, you know the guys

03:09from the Diesel Brothers, the guys from Street Outlaws, all these crazy amazing people with

03:15unbelievable reputations not only just for the uh the building side of things but even in the TV

03:20world you know Welder Up Garage, a massive massive rat rob builder garage in Las Vegas. These guys came

03:25over to the shop and they couldn't believe what we'd done to the car. It was groundbreaking, it was

03:30unbelievable. After the success of this collaboration the team is already looking ahead to SEMA 2017.

03:38The car has already been bought, we're just trying to make it as crazy as we can and trying to make

03:41some people scared and maybe a little bit upset and try and make the majority of the car builders

03:46in the custom car world smile. 2017 SEMA, here we come.

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