THE OWNER

Barry Rutledge has been into hot rods for 30 years.

His interest really revved up while working as an apprentice butcher in Fairfield, Sydney.

‘‘A chap who owned a spare parts place would come into the shop and park his hot rod out the front,’’ Barry said.

‘‘I would go past it and said ‘I’m going to get one of those’.

‘‘It just took a long time to get one.

‘‘It even had the painted flames on it so I wanted that, too.’’

Barry admits to having been a ‘car kid’ since he left school.

‘‘I spent four years racing speedway in production sedans at the Sydney Showgrounds and I was building hot rods after that,’’ he said.

His first car was an FC Holden which he rebuilt, followed by a Prince Skyline GTA.

‘‘It was a six-cylinder, triple Webers, it was a pretty quick car,’’ Barry said.

He has since owned a HQ Monaro GTS and a Ford Falcon.

THE CAR

Barry’s 1934 Ford three-window coupe hot rod is affectionately known as the Black Rat.

In the early days he signed the car with his initials BR, which then led to the new moniker.

The hot rod has been rebuilt from the ground up over a five-year period.

‘‘It was pretty sad when I got it,’’ Barry said.

‘‘It has a 455 Pontiac engine bored out to 460.

‘‘I’ve had it up to to 125 mph but then I ran out of steam. The car didn’t, though. It still wanted to go.’’

The Black Rat has a 350 turbo transmission with a stage two shift kit and competition clutches into a nine-inch diff and 4:11 gearing.

Barry sourced the motor from Summit Racing in the United States.

‘‘Shane Rowe from Southern Rod and Custom did the body and me and a mate rebuilt the chassis,’’ Barry said.

New windscreens and other bits and pieces were collected from around the traps.

The car has been lowered (or ‘channelled’) seven inches.

‘‘It’s a small person’s car,’’ Barry said.

‘‘It used to railroad a bit, but it’s settled down a lot with the new tyres.’’

WHERE DID YOUR CAR COME FROM?

Barry has owned the hot rod for 28 years, having bought it off a hot rod club member in Sydney.

‘‘I heard about it through word of mouth,’’ Barry said.

‘‘He had two hot rods and I bought this one.

‘‘It was originally from New Zealand.

‘‘It was actually built in the mid 1960s as a copy of an Amercian hot rod so it’s a fair dinkum hot rod.

‘‘It was first registrered in Australia in 1982.’’

WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT THE CAR?

‘‘People looking at it and taking photos of it,’’ Barry said.

‘‘The flames really stand out.

‘‘It appeals to people because it is a real old-school hot rod. It’s ridgy didge. It looks like a bloody hot rod.’’

But while it looks like a hot rod and sounds like a hot rod — it’s not a racing car.

‘‘It’s a show pony,’’ Barry said.

‘‘It’s only won a couple of trophies but I’m not a trophy hunter.

‘‘My trophy is seeing smiling kids in it, having their photos taken.’’

SO WHAT’S YOUR PERFECT CAR?

‘‘A Mustang Shelby Cobra,’’ Barry said.

‘‘It’s a very nice looking car and it’s got balls.’’

AND WHAT’S NEXT?

The Black Rat usually pops up at a number of car events and in September will head to Alice Springs for the Red Centre Nationals.

Before then, Barry and the Black Rat will make their usual appearance at the Rich River Rod Run being held from March 13 to 15.

A member of the Rich River Rod and Custom Club, Barry’s hot rod will be among more than 200 vehicles at the biennial event.

The 2018 rod run attracted a record crowd of about 2000 people at Jack Eddy Oval in Moama and a similar number is expected again this year to admire the hot rods and custom cars and enjoy the family carnival atmosphere.