Midnight Mass

No, we haven't converted to Catholicism, but some might call it idolatry. On Saturday night we attended Midnight Mass, a rat rod car show held at Cal Expo. Seth's Dad had his car in there and Seth hopes to one day have a rat rod he can enter too.

What exactly is a rat rod you ask? A rat rod is a style of hot rod or custom car that, in most cases, imitates (or exaggerates) the early hot rods of the 40s, 50s, and 60s. It is not to be confused with the somewhat closely related "traditional" hot rod, which is an accurate re-creation or period-correct restoration of a hot rod from the same era. Most rat rods appear "unfinished" (whether they actually are or are not), with just the bare essentials to be driven. The rat rod is the visualization of the idea of function over form. Rat rods are meant to be driven, not shown off. Sometimes the customization will include using spare parts, or parts from another car altogether. (Thanks Wikipedia!)

Now back to the car show. It was awesome. It is such a different environment then the typical car shows that we go to. I think Scarlett put it best when she said, "Mom, this car show is different than all the other ones we go to. Everyone has colorful hair, people are smoking and they all have tattoos." She was absolutely correct in her assessment. A vast majority of the people were covered in tats. The girls wore 40's style clothing, which I loved. The boys looked like greasers. The bands all blasted Rockabilly and Swing. They even had a pin up girl contest, we didn't stick around for that though, much to Seth's demise.
I don't think I will ever take my kids again, but Seth and I will definitely be attending. We are actually going to be going to BilletProof in September, dressed like the 40's minus the tattoos. We are either going to take his motorcycle or his 59 Chevy pickup, if he gets it done. We had a blast and really like the whole counterculture.