Here she is is posing with Steven Sise’s 1954 Chevy pickup Rat Rod. The pickup had a 4.3 liter GM v6 with a 5sp transmission on Air Ride suspension. I love Rat Rods. If there’s a Rat Rod at a show I’ll probably be there.

What a combo: Sam and a Rat Rod. It just doesn’t get much better!

I was literally heading out of the show on Saturday afternoon, maybe 100 yard from the exit gate, and I spotted Teri. She wasn’t a hard to spot. How can you miss a beautiful, sexy ? I guess it would have been easy if I would have been 30 seconds earlier or later. She was at the the show with her husband who was a super nice guy. They listed as Fairview, Tn. as their home town. Her husband did not own a Rat Rod, but he really wanted one.

The Rat Rod belonged to Craig Hammack also from Fairview Tn.. Teri&husband literally lived down the street from Craig but they had never met until now. Craig was a little older and talked about his bad health. Maybe it was another AmericanCarsAmericanGirls.com divine intervention moment. The Rat Rod was a 1942 GMC pickup with a 403 Olds engine accented with metal lawn chairs.

Teri has two more posts with Craig Hammack’s Rat Rod.

For those who may not know Corbeau is a premium line of after market seats. Craig, the owner of the Rat Rod, was quite proud of the vintage, metal lawn chairs.

6th Bridgestone Nashville Nationals ,  2011 Nashville GoodGuys

Usually it’s not a big deal to pick out the six best pictures to go with each post. Not so with the 2011 Rumble. It seems that every girl had about twenty great pictures. I spent hours trying to get things sorted out. I think I did okay. The 7th annual Rumble was the last weekend in April and was once again at the 411 Raceway in Seymour, Tn. For all Rat Rod posts over past several years click on Rat Rods on the top bar of the home page.

 I’ve chosen Amber to lead things off. She was once again the official Flag Girl of the Rumble and star of the show. At the 2010 Rumble she seemed flattered when I asked her to pose. In 2011 she seemed pissed. I don’t know if was just me or something else was going on. But when it came time to take the pictures she lit up the stage. It was like she was a professional. Amber is posing with Matt Grover’s 1945 Chevy Army Cab. It’s powered by a blown 500ci Cadillac engine. I have another post with Amber doing her Flag Girl duties. It even includes a video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxM4NWXpSC4

The morning of the Rumble was just a little cool. I ran across a group of four cute girls all huddled together with coats and jackets on. I asked if anyone would like to pose with one of the Rods. Three of the girls looked at me like I was crazy but Christina lit up like a Christmas tree, dropped her coat and said “I love to have my picture taken.” She proceeded to go to what I learned later was her boyfriend’s Rat Rod. I also learned later that her boyfriends’ nick name is Cornbread. The two were meant to be together. As bubbly as Christina was Cornbread was reserved. Cornbread, real name Shane Rutherford , works at Precision Rod and Customs in Sevierville, Tn. Christina was so proud of Cornbread’s abilities as an automotive mechanic and fabricator. It was sweet.

Cornbread’s story was fascinating to me. He had decided the night before that he wanted to get the Rat Rod ready for the Rumble so he dropped in a  Cummins 5.9 liter, turbo diesel engine into his 1938 Ford. The starter of the engine for the diesel ended up where the steering box is located. Cornbread decided to address the problem by making the car a right hand drive. That is what Rat Rodding is all about. The video is of Cornbread’s drag racing his Cummins turbo diesel,  right hand drive 1938 Ford down the 411 Drag Strip at the 2011 Rat Rod Rumble.

I’m happy to report there was at least one suicide at the 2011 Rat Rod Rumble. In the Rat Rod world a SUICIDE front end is a Rat Rod with no front brakes. In the lead pictures we have Billy Shelton working working 1926 Dodge. Note the lack of any front brakes. Billy’s Dodge has a small block Chevy, 350 transmission,1951 Olds dash and rear end. We also have a picture of Billy with his girlfriend Kandi as they fill in the details about the Dodge. They had camped out at the Rumble.

Picture 1: Billy and girlfriend, Kandi writing info about the Suicide

Picture 2: Kandi with the Suicide

Picture 3: Jeremiah Horsley cooking pork chops for breakfast

Picture 4: Jeremiah and Kate having fun

Picture 5: Jeremiah cleaning his truck. Note three, single barrel carbs

Just to change things up, I thought we’d try this post in B&W. Jade first is posing with Kevin Norton’s 1935 Ford truck and then Daniel Hipton’s 1953 Buick. The 1935 Ford truck has ’35 cab, ’38 grill and ’48 bed,  302ci engine and  5sp transmission.  The 1953 Buick has a 350ci, 4sp auto transmission and air bags suspension. I had Daniel’s car in the 2010 Rat Rod Rumble article and he told me the Buick was his daily driver.