A different kind of car restoration
Most people use their voice, or perhaps a pen, to tell their story. Not Rob Honeycutt.
Instead, Honeycutt tells his life story through his car a vintage 1951 Chevrolet Styleline 2-door that he has named the BR-51.
Jonesboroughs known for storytelling and this is my storyboard, Honeycutt said, pointing to the vehicle. I just pieced it together into a collage.
Considered a Rat Rod, which is a car that is generally stripped down to the bare bones and then suited up to match the owners attitude on life, Honeycutts low-riding BR-51 boasts a rust color that makes an in your face statement right up front.
Rat Rods can be built out of all kinds of things and they dont have to be shiny. There can be rust, and its definitely a cheaper form of the traditional Hot Rod, and maybe a little more original, said Honeycutt, a Johnson City native and graduate of Science Hill High School. Rat Rods are the opposite of Hot Rods. They go against the grain.
Honeycutts car has no siblings its a one-of-a-kind, wacky work of art that you cant look at without taking a second glance.
Powered by a 350 Chevy engine, it is carefully distressed and rusted clean through in some places, but thats not from neglect. Virtually no surface on the BR-51 has been left untouched, adding a certain patina to what appears to be rust.
Two surfboards, one with a big bite taken out of it (Honeycutt tells people a catfish did it) adorn the roof of the car, and there are cane fishing poles with lures attached to the sides.
I like to tell folks its a Hillbilly Surfer because my wife is from Florida and Im from Tennessee, he said. I brought her up here and turned her into a hillbilly.
A surfer doll riding a wooden wave that looks for all the world like the tail of a dragon, serves as the hood ornament, and a metal cluster of wheat taken from a defunct coffee table found in a dump is planted where the radios antenna used to be.
All of the lettering and artwork on the cars exterior was done by hand with a spray can, right down to its Hillbilly Surfer Shop logo, which is an extremely stylized adaptation of a Mountain Dew soda label.
Meanwhile, the interior is classic tacky with hibiscus floral print side panels, and burlap feed sacks, purchased on EBay, for seat covers. Hawaiian hula dolls dance in the rear window and a comic painted piece of bamboo sits on a venerable wooden glider in the back.
It didnt have a back seat and I thought a glider would be fun, Honeycutt said. That was (a friends) grandmothers porch glider. I used all of it I like to recycle.
Just like all the flavor hes added to his Chevy 51, Honeycutt named his unique car after much thought and research.
I was going through some old Science Hill annuals from 49, 50 and 51, and found out there was a Sievers Bakery here with a BR telephone number, and then the 51 is for the year of the car, he explained. Of course, theres Jr. Samples BR-549 number from the old Hee Haw TV show, and then theres Bad Rat, or Big Rob or Bad Rob . . .
Honeycutt said he enjoys doing the opposite of what most folks would do when it comes to restoring old cars.
You cant be stuck-up drivin a car like this, he said. I think the most fun Ive had with it was at Daytona Beach when I got to drive it on the beach. Theres five thousand cars down there. I can park it next to a mint condition Corvette and the crowds will be around the BR-51 because theres only one of these. My wife says its almost embarrassing the crowds that gather around it.