Its doors are made of discarded stop signs, its air cleaner's an old pressure cooker. It has the heart of a Corvette and the front end's from a '39 Dodge Truck. It's the VetteRod-Amino. This is its story.
This fascinating frankencar started life as a 1977 Corvette before morphing into the work of outsider automotive art seen here. It's the work of a rural Alabama farmer, a mad tinkerer who who fabricates what he fancies without regard to modern restomod standards of perfection and quality.
Is this man a genius? Only in the necessity-as-Madonna sense, according to the car's current owner, Dan Arthur of Talladega, Alabama.
"He dropped the bottom, didn't have no insurance, just had the frontend laying around the farm and just stuck it on there. He just likes to weld and make stuff," Arthur said.
And what a wild choice it was. The hood-less '39 Dodge Truck nose, with its wide fenders, gives the car an almost menacing presence not diminished by the rusted red patina, the envy of any modern ratrodder who has spent a week attempting the same rustic look. After adding the rear of a '50s Chevy truck, a matching Chevy emblem was added — mostly because someone gave him crap for driving a Corvette with a Chevy rear and a Dodge front.
This mysterious farmer then bored the engine 30-over and removed the exhaust, giving it the power and sound to match its appearance (the new owner added exhausts and flipped the headers so they poke out like evil whiskers). The carb's fed by a pressure cooker stuck on the top and studded with holes. The transmission is from a dirt-track racer.
"It's a rocket, it rides and drives better than my '79, and it probably weighs 1500 more pounds," said Arthur, who also owns a '79 Corvette.
The custom VetteRod-Amino's interior was fabricated out of what we'll generously call "discarded" road signs. The door handles, as mentioned, are deer antlers. It's the kind of creation you can only drive in a state that doesn't have safety inspections.
Arthur acquired the VetteRod-Amino from the farmer in a trade for an F-150 on airbags and is selling it because he doesn't have any space. When the glorious frankencar popped up on the Atlanta Craigslist it caused a mixed reaction.
"I've had a few offers on it and i've had a few hate mails on it... I've got a guy in Florida — I sent his emails to my lawyer, because he sent me some crude emails, and he's not just staying stuff about me he's saying stuff about Alabama and the school system."
