NORWICH – For those who don’t know any better it may not look like much, but for one group of BOCES students, the Rat Rod – as it’s fondly known – is a thing of automotive beauty.

Built over the course of the last year, the Frankenstein’s monster-like creation was constructed by students from various parts taken from approximately half a dozen different vehicles. According to BOCES Automotive Technology Program instructor James Foster, the car was truly built from the ground up.

“This started out as a project last year for both junior and senior students, from all school districts,” said Foster of the Rat Rod. “We wanted to start a project we could finish in one year so that the students could see the end result ... so we came up with the idea for a Rat Rod.”

Defined by streetrods-online.com as a name for the “original hot rod style of the early 1950s,” a Rat Rod is “usually a vehicle that has had many of its non-critical parts removed,” one that’s typically finished in “primer or paints that are often period correct” and often a “conglomeration of parts and pieces of different makes, models and after market parts.”

Said Foster, “nothing taught these kids the basics better than the Rat Rod.”

From brake systems to engine work, mechanical to wiring, welding, transmission and suspension, the project “touched on everything in the curriculum,” added Foster, as well as instructing students on the skills and equipment required when constructing a car from scratch.