BOZO, OAP+, Tramp, Drift, Rice and Nu-rat... Prepare to forget everything you thought you knew about modifying cars. The flawless glass-like paint, the big smoothed-in bodykits, the chromed Ferris wheel-sized rims, the stereo capable of out-blasting Spinal Tap, an engine build that cost more than your granny’s house. Everything polished to within an inch of its chrome-plated life.

    Nope, you may as well sling it all onto a bonfire and get out the marshmallows, because this – ladies and gentlemen – is the world of rat look.

    Stumbling into the chaps and chapesses from rat-look.com at the Retro Show, was one of those memorable moments when you are totally and utterly gob-smacked. Goodbye jaded ‘seen it all before’ cynicism, the world of modded cars has just been totally inverted by a revolutionary breath of fresh air.

    Of course rat rods have been around for many years, after first coming to the fore in the US via hot-rods, survival bikes and VW ‘hood rides’.

    This though is something different, there is a very British twist to Recycled Automotive Transport, a dose of dry humour missing from the original flavoured American scene. Due to invention being the mother of necessity, whereas our US brethren can run around with Fred Flintstone floors and flapping sills, our cars have to contend with the MoT.

    So don’t judge these books by their covers, because underneath they are in fine fettle – with some packing tuned engines – but not all, because that would be a dictate and that’s really rather unrat-look. You see, rat-look.com is about enjoying cars and doing what you want with as few rules as possible – save for one: no bitching or slagging off other people’s cars.

    We asked Adam Hibbert from rat-look.com, where it all began. “The guy who owns the forum kept seeing a few different rat cars popping up all over the place and decided to start up a website for it, because he’d not seen anything. We’ve been running now since January 2009, and have slowly and steadily built up a few thousand members. Basically, we’re here for anyone who wants to stand out from the crowd.”