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Home > Articles > Mercury Muse > Sludgebuckets Scandinavian Style
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Sludgebuckets Scandinavian Style
Reddoxhamn, Sweden -- Local rodders here were surprised to find they’ve been on the cutting edge of the latest U.S. hot rodding fad, even before the Americans supposedly created it
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| We’re talking "Rust Rods" here. A national resurgence of track roadsters and T-buckets that use only the most basic methods of modification to achieve a bare-bones look for a low-buck effort, just like the pioneers of the hot rod genre did back in the 1930’s and 1940’s. Often, those early cut-down speedsters were built with a minimum of mechanical accessories, except for the engine, which was loaded to the hilt with speed-enhancing goodies. They would sometimes be finished in primer, as the idea of painting the car seemed illogical to those owners who were always altering and further modifying their cars anyway. However, "backyard engineering" and the practice of driving an unfinished vehicle led to a lot of surface rust and gave the car kind of a "ratty" appearance. Then, in the very early ninties, a group of young American hot rodders began to construct vehicles that tried to recapture the look and feel of those cars that were considered the pioneers of hot rodding. The name "Rat Rod" was coined either by them, or those who looked upon what they had built. |
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| As some may know, the Swedish youth have always had a thing for hot rods. But because of national laws, and the scarcity of proper "rodder fodder", the Swedes have usually kept their hot rods clean, neat and legal. However, there’s this one place in an almost hidden bay area that harbors a brand of hot rodding unlike that in greater Scandinavia, and it’s apparently been going on for several decades. According to local law, the rodders who live in this secluded cove can drive older cars with very little restrictions. Given that legal leeway, the "Rat Rod" style of automobile proliferates, especially with the younger people in the area. According to townspeople, it’s simply an "evolutionary thing". Instead of junking their old cars, they just kept repairing them and modifying them until they took on the appearance of hot rods. The regional salt air has "finished the job" by making these fifty-year-old fenderless cars only appear as if they intended to capture "that Yankee rat rod look". "It’s like a gloggen race track around here", gripes one of the older residents. When asked why he didn’t complain to the police, he replied, "Because those blueboys are running around in their own ratty rods when they’re off duty". Raggedy roadsters flash down the roadway with names painted on them that roughly translate into "Brown Bomber", "Rustic Rave" and "Oxide Express". As unbelievable as it sounds, no one has gotten hurt by these "screaming sludgebuckets". And only time will tell if they are to survive when the national governmental authorities hear about it. Of course, if they never log onto our website, they may leave those swashbuckling Swedes alone. All we can do is just cross our fingers. |
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