What are owners saying about the Rodster^® Street Rod?

Well, most people just love the looks. In fact, it's almost a constant "smile-mobile." Everybody wants to pull up and honk at you, and thumbs up you constantly...

"You have a good product and it is everything your website says it is. Keep up the good work."

"It's the best kit available in my opinion. Everything is just perfect. It's not a flimsy kit at all. I have to compliment Henry on the design. I know he's spent a lot of time engineering and designing that before he went into production with it. Did a heck of a job. I'm real pleased with it."

"I've built three Rodsters and I'm ready to build my fourth one. They draw a lot of attention -- I sold my car at the Fall Carlisle and I could have sold three more if I had them. People were falling all over it."

"Henry Caroselli has been most helpful with my questions and I believe he and his company will go a long way, providing a kit car at a reasonable price, and if I can build it, anyone can. With a little knowledge of tools and mechanics, you're on your way to a lot of driving fun and your Rodster will be all the rage at the car cruises."

Jeff Rankin:  "Henry is one of the nicest guys you can meet anywhere... Henry took the time to bring (the kit) himself to Ventura and to meet the guys at Scott's who would be building the Rodster for me."

"When I went through his book and noticed that it was just some cutting here, some fastening there, that's what gave me the confidence that even though I had almost zero automotive experience, I could do it."Check out what happened!!!

"(The assembly manual) is the bible that makes it easy to build this car... I was sold on what (Henry) had down there and what I knew I could do. Even a person who's never built anything, I'm sure, could go into that manual and follow step-by-step and not have a problem."

"It's not that difficult at all. If you have a little common sense and follow the pictures, and the instructions are so simple. I've only had to call Henry a few times and say to him, 'What did you mean by this?' 'Tell me how to do this.' And he explained it to me and I went, 'Oh yeah, that makes sense.'"

"I had been looking for a hotrod for about a year. I looked at a number of them, both in person throughout the state of Texas and the internet. I talked to a number of people selling their '38 Pontiacs or '40 Fords. The problem with all these cars is they came with a 25-page part list because hotrods have Mustang II front ends, Chevrolet drive trains, Dodge interiors, or Jaguar rear ends, so if you don't have a part list for all these parts, you can't maintain it... I wanted a daily driver, something I could drive for the next ten years and it would be maintainable."

Bob Brown had Jim Crabtree build his Rodster for him.

"Every time I stop at a light, you see out of the corner of your eye people rolling down their windows, you know, yelling. They want to ask you what it is and tell you it's beautiful. Truck drivers hit the air horns and wave. You go by schools and the kids all start yelling, "Cool car! Wow!" And even driving on the road, people will pull up next to you and honk, roll down the window and ask you about it. People love it. Absolutely just love it."

"I liked the idea that it wasn't trying to be anything, even though the one model resembles the Ford. It wasn't trying to be a Lamborghini or a Cobra. It was its own little unique thing and it was very -- I guess the word would be -- doable. It was a project you could do within a reasonable cost."

Owner/builder Grant Fetters has created his own website showing off his car and depicting the buildup process in many steps. This link will take you off the Rodster website, so please come back and finish your visit.

Owner/builder Ralph Shapiro has also created his own website showing off his car and he discusses the buildup process in great detail. This link will take you off the Rodster website, so please come back and finish your visit.

Harold uses his Rodster Street Rod as his daily driver utility vehicle. He even pulls an 18’ pontoon boat with it. He says: “It’s my second car. I use it for hauling stuff. I know it looks silly with a big pontoon boat on the back of it. And when I take the big boat up to the river, I can carry extra people in the back and I still have room for gear.”

Owner/builder Joe is also building a website while he builds his Rodster. His detailed pictorial will be instructive to anyone who's thinking about a Rodster project. This link will take you off the Rodster website, so please come back and finish your visit.

"Compared to what I've seen, [the fiberglass is] very outstanding. The nosecone is laminated with Kevlar/carbon fiber, that's the stuff they use on bulletproof vests. It's very strong, you can stand on it. Most of the fiberglass kit cars are flimsy... It's a very interesting car. People follow me into restaurants asking me, 'What is it?' Of course, you just can't put your finger on it. Is it a Packard? Kaiser? They say, 'It's a what?' They don't know what it is... A lot of people think it's an actual old car."

Ginny bought Rod Decker's Rodster and is having a ball. She's had cool 'ghost flames' added to the nose, and has already won some trophies. Go Ginny go!

"As much as I thought it would just be nice to look at and it would drive poorly, the thing drives excellent. It drives excellent! I've owned Corvettes my whole life. I've had all kinds of cars. I drive a lot of cars, everything from Jaguars, Porsches, you name it, I've driven them. This car goes around a corner real nice. With the stick, and once you lower the suspension, it goes around the corner really good."

"It’s a good cross-country driver, we’ve found... very comfortable. Lots of room to take all of our stuff. We’ve gone to St. Louis and Oklahoma and Topeka and California. We load up all of our gear and our luggage and our ice chest and food, and all sorts of stuff. Even our computer. We plug in and we continue doing our work using our laptop computer and cell phones. So we just have our traveling office. You couldn’t even fit much more than a picnic lunch in a Cobra... Of course, it gets all the looks, too, so it’s fun from that standpoint."

Ed bought Ryan Edwards' Rodster Street Rod, and is enjoying it even more than he thought he would. His comment: "I have to tell ya, I've had '67 to '69 Camaros, vintage Corvettes, Chevelles, but this little Rodster tops them all!" pretty much sums it up.

I originally wanted to build a ‘32 Ford coupe kit car. One night while I was looking on the internet I found the Rodster website. Ever since I was a kid I have liked the look of the ’40 Ford and this really got my attention. I went through the website numerous times looking at the Sedan Delivery.

"I've messed with carbon fiber and fiberglass in the aerospace industry, and as a whole, for a consumer-level product that the Rodster is, it's an extremely good quality product, as far as the fiberglass goes."

"It's a great car for the time and money you've got in it. It's fun. It's a great little car. Since I ran up on it on the internet, I fell in love with it the first time I laid eyes on it."

“I gotta tell ya Henry, I’m impressed. The quality of everything put any apprehensions that we had to rest. The glass is even better than Steph’s ‘62 vette! . . . he couldn’t believe it.”

This link tests the sanity of Rodster builders. Can a dedicated handful of people come together and build three Rodsters in one week? This is the premise of an epic project featured in an upcoming issue of KIT CAR Magazine. The climax waswhen all three crossed the country as part of the Hot Rod Power Tour 2001.

What is the Rodster^®?
What's different about the Super Deluxe version?
What is the Sedan Delivery Street Rod?
The automotive press writes about the Rodster^®.
Rodster® Owners speak.
View the Rodster^® buildup process.
About the Rodster^® donor vehicle.
Cruise the Rodster^® price list.
The Rodster^® goes on the Hot Rod Power Tours.
Awards for the Rodster^®
What is a Hot Rod anyway?
Why a Rodster^®?
Who designed the Rodster^®?
Turn-key Rodsters^®  for sale!
Can you use a V8?
And there's a 4x4 Rodster®.
Frequently Asked Questions: the Rodster® FAQ.
Tell us what you think: e-mail.