Rat Rod Rukkus 20th Anniversary Year

Well, another car season has ended, but I gotta say 2025–26 has been SUPERB! One of the jewels in the crown was the 20th anniversary year for Rat Rod Rukkus, a car event that focuses on and celebrates the engineering and artistry that goes into hot rods by showing and exhibiting the actual work and not hiding it. Sure, there is nothing at all wrong with a nice finished and painted car, but to a lot of us there is a whole other side to hot rods. A side that becomes much more relational, much more of an attachment.

When you build and create something, it has a much more profound meaning and bond. The folks at Rat Rod Rukkus understand this well; the cars (machines) at this event are almost part of the family. It’s hard to put into words, but there is a massive difference in emotions that occur when you’re driving a hot rod that has your blood and sweat on the floor from building it. The history and story of the build is fresh in your mind every time you walk up to it. The flashbacks to welding the A-pillars in place after the chop, or the eight times you had to lift the body off the frame as you were channeling it, or the shock as to how well the steering came together. Oh, and the feeling when you crank it over for the first time and shoot it down the road. These are artistic accomplishments that ring deep in your soul.
The Rat Rod Rukkus event is all about that mindset. It is a must on your 2027 to-do list.

This year’s event started at the Welder Up Ranch outside Vegas and continued Friday night and Saturday at the Hotel Strat. All the meetups and scheduled events were a blast and, folks, the whole weekend is very affordable. The room rates and event tickets are super affordable. It makes it nice so you can bring the whole family and not be worried about that month’s mortgage payment.

Don’t put it off, folks, buy a hot rod because prices are good right now and start enjoying it today. But I highly encourage you to also buy that project that you can build. So what if it takes two years? Build it… and take it to Rat Rod Rukkus in 2029.
(Life is too short to drive boring cars).