Farm 'Cat Rat' Rat Rod Draws Attention at Car Show
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| Image courtesy of the News Tribune |
Mike Sauter’s “Cat Rat” — a conglomeration of farm vehicles, parts and even items from the pantry — stood out as the most unusual vehicle at the show.
“I started this the week before I started school at ISU and I drove it to school the week of graduation,” said Sauter, a young farmer who earned his agriculture degree at Illinois State and previously attended Illinois Valley Community College.
He named his Transformers-like vehicle Cat Rat because it has a 636-cubic-inch Caterpillar engine from a fertilizer spreader and it’s cobbled together like the cars hot-rodders made from spare parts called rat rods. The cab is from a 1950 Dodge 1½-ton grain truck, the rear box is from another truck, the front grille is from an Oliver tractor (something he and his family collect) and the chassis is from a 1986 F350 truck. He made the rear fenders from 15-weight and 30-weight oil drums. He accented the engine compartment with chains from a corn harvesting head, and his gas pedal is from a sickle second from a bean head.
Oh, and he used Progresso soup cans as cup holders.
It’s not a traditional vehicle, but the young farmer certainly is following the American farming tradition of welding whatever you might find together to keep ’em running.
Source: News Tribune