Rat Rod

This is what happens when you cross a 1947 Chevrolet pickup with a 1995 Mercury Cougar.

Cool comes in multiple flavors. One one hand, we have the sophisticated attraction of svelte design and the efficient use of power. Of course, on the other hand there is the allure of being the bad boy and going against the grain. That is part of the appeal of rat rods. Ideally, they are built without rules to an owner's specific tastes, and this widened and heavily modified 1947 Chevrolet pickup rod is a perfect example of that spirit.

Of all the shops turning out cool hardware these days, few get us as excited as Icon. And while their off-road beasts are heart-stopping in their execution and attention to detail, it's the company's Derelict line that really gets us grinning. Icon founder Jonathon Ward swung by Jay Leno's Garage to show off his latest creation: a 1952 Chrysler/DeSoto wagon with modern bones underneath. Ward start

If you are a classic car purist who cringes at the thought of a '57 Chevrolet Bel Air that is not "numbers matching," you may want to look away. If you are intrigued by what strange oddities the interwebs can turn up, carry on.

This Craigslist abomination is certainly a sign that something very, very evil has gone down in the Appalachian hills of eastern Kentucky.

Impracticality comes in many shapes and sizes, and that's as true in automotive terms as it is anywhere else. Consider this: Depending on a series of lifestyle choices, a Honda Civic could prove just as useless for one man as a Ford F450 Super Duty would for another.

The enthusiast world typically falls into two camps: those who love rat rods and those that loathe them. As with every corner of automotive world, not all rats are created equally, but we tend to find ourselves firmly rooted in the former camp more often than not. That's especially true when we catch a glimpse of something as perfectly blasphemous as this BMW 2002. Crafted by the twisted min

The event is called Rust and Dust, but this year that dust was replaced with rain and mud. Still, the attendees of this automotive festival in Teterow, Germany arrived in large numbers to share their passion for rockabilly, rat rods and racing. The rain attempted to dampen spirits, but it was powerless against these German fans of American old school.

Harris Steam Car - Click above for high-res image gallery

Hariss Steam Car prototype - Click above for high-res image gallery