A MASTER mechanic has become the unofficial king of rat rods in New Zealand, after building a series of incredible rat rod ...

Our supersized Rat (with extra cheese) tipped the scales at 595 pounds. It's not exactly a lightweight, but who cares when you can make 1,000 horsepower and live to tell about it. The Recipe for Power ...

There are a few other Islanders building rat rods. "There's a guy up in Borden, he builds beautiful rat rods and there's a guy down east that does a terrific job on his in Morell," he said.

It's what's known as a "rat rod," a custom-made car that is supposed to look like something dug up from a field somewhere. As it turns out, that's exactly how Murray got the vehicle.

It’s all in the imagination of the builder. So I asked Tim Titsworth, of Concord, who owns this issue’s featured car, what motivated him to build a rat rod. “I’m a contractor,” he said.

“We go around the United States, building rat rods in one week, to try and get kids to learn new paths in life. They would normally never be able to experience something like this,” he said.

It doesn't look like much to people who haven't done all the work required to put it together. But for Ryan Murray, revitalizing the rusted-out body of a 1953 Fargo power wagon is his latest passion ...