00:00 Building cars is just fun to create as you go.
00:03 You don't know how it's going to look until you're finished.
00:05 And it's the end product that you hope to achieve.
00:08 I don't like to copy what other people have.
00:24 I like to build cars that stand out from the others.
00:29 My name's David Jeffrey and I build Rat Rods.
00:32 Car enthusiast David has always had a love of cars.
00:35 And for the past seven years, he's taken that passion
00:38 and turned it to creating some incredible and unique vehicles.
00:42 I like Rat Rods because they're different to what you see in all the magazines.
00:55 You see the standard 32 roads do it, and they're just different colours
00:58 or it depends on how much money you put into them, how they look.
01:03 And, yeah, they're just fun to drive.
01:05 The original Rat Rod, built by David, was named Bella Rat.
01:13 My daughter's name is Isabella, and we call her Bella for short, so Bella and Rat.
01:19 Bella Rat took about four months to complete.
01:22 She's a small block Chevy. It works, so she can move when you need it to.
01:27 She runs into the zoomies, so you can make it loud or quiet at the time, depending on your mood.
01:32 Put the old shotgun shells on there as an airbag system.
01:36 So as you can see, it's sort of made up of just lots of different parts,
01:39 but together they sort of make up a car.
01:41 Even got the luxuries of a stereo system and a sunroof.
01:45 The cost of Bella Rat was probably around the $12,000 for individual parts.
01:51 We've been offered some good money for Bella Rat, but it's a personal car and I want to keep that.
01:56 David's wife, Suzanne, has been a fan of his work since the beginning,
02:00 often helping him by pitching in on projects.
02:02 I think I'm really proud of what he creates. It's amazing what he does in the garage.
02:07 It's not, you know, it's not something that he just works in the garage and then switches off and then comes inside.
02:12 We built Bella Rat first. We've built the diesel one since then.
02:18 Still trying to get that through the system.
02:20 And Rolls-Royce we've just finished in the last few days.
02:26 My favourite would be Semi Rat because it was done as a family car.
02:31 It tows beautifully. It's got a big long semi-trailer that normally goes behind it.
02:36 Cars are always finished in some aspect, but most people think they're not finished because they're not painted.
02:43 I like the bare steel because it shows its history. It might be 100 years old. Why cover that up?
02:49 Yes, he has won a few awards. He has won Beach Hop 2012.
02:55 We won Beach Hop 2016 with Semi Rat.
03:01 I'm very proud of David. I think he's achieved a lot building these cars, and he still continues to achieve a lot.
03:11 Winning the awards is a big achievement.
03:15 Demand for a rat rod, it seems to be growing against the wishes of our transport industry,
03:20 but people like something different. They like to stand out.
03:24 Most people want to stand out in some way or another.
03:29 [Music]
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