1996 Peterbilt 379 Rat Rod
A Rat Rod, as usually known today, is a custom car with a deliberately worn-down, unfinished appearance, typically lacking paint, showing rust, and made from cheap or cast-off parts. These parts can include non-automotive items that have been repurposed, such as a rifle used as a gear shifter, wrenches as door handles, or hand saws as sun visors. Whether or not so appointed, the rat rod uniquely conveys its builder’s imagination.
The term has also been applied to a style of hot rod or custom car that broadly imitates or exaggerates the early hot rods of the mid-twentieth century, unlike the “traditional” hot rod, which is one built at that time or a close re-creation of one of such.
As car transporters go, this 1996 Peterbilt 379 Rat Rod is truckin’ crazy! A Peterbilt 379 is known as a semi truck that plays Optimus Prime in Transformers but the protagonist view of such semis is bound to change once you see this insane build. It’s a 1996 Peterbilt 379 rat rod built by Welderup with design and looks sure to get anyone’s pants wet seeing it rocking up in the rear view mirror.
Mechanically, the truck now has a huge 13L turbocharged Caterpillar engine equipped with a turbo and injectors from Industrial Injection and a cone filter from K&N, an 18-speed transmission and 3:55 rears. Virtually everything on this truck has been replaced or upgraded, so it might look like a beat-up old truck, but she is solid!
It should be of no big surprise that Steve Darnell of WelderUp is behind this insanely cool custom semi-truck, or that he lovingly named it “SWAMP ASS”.
The flagship 379 model here though, is perhaps the most recognisable incarnation of the famous marque, it’s certainly the longest running Peterbilt heavy-duty hauler. It was also the first (and only) choice to play Optimus Prime in the Transformers movies, so that’s plenty good enough for us.
