THE STORY
This 1936 Dodge Rat Rod was built by Vince Chandler, of Palmer Massachusetts. For most young people in Palmer, opportunity is buried under a pile of rubble and a laver of rust. A generation ago a guy like Vince could get a good job at the local mill like his father did, but that all ended in 1995 when a big conglomerate bought the company and moved all the jobs to China. Vince couldn’t afford college so he did what so many other working class American kids did, he joined the military. He became a mechanic and maintained Hummers (the ones that didn’t get blown up by roadside bombs) during his two tours of duty in Iraq.
When he returned to the states there were no job prospects to be had, so Vice did what he was good at. He improvised. He didn’t need a set of instructions to solve problems. He needed a truck, but only had a thousand dollars to his name. So he bought a used engine and rounded up parts at the local junk yard and built the Black Lightning. Within a few weeks of completing it a guy named Brady, who said he played for the New England Patriots, noticed the Rat Rod gassing up at the Mobile station on the plaza, and he offered Vince ten thousand dollars for it. That was the beginning of the East Coast Chop Shop. Vince took half of the ten grand and bought a used truck to get around in, and he used the other half to buy enough part to build two more vehicles. Now he and his brother build a truck every month and employ two other veterans.
Vince is part of the next “Greatest Generation” of young Americans. He took what others discarded and made something great out of it. At the same time this kid with no prospects made something great out of himself.

THE TOOLS
Camera: Canon 5D Mark 2, EF 24-105mm 1:4 lens
Software: Photoshop CS5

THE PROCESS
The truck was cut from it’s background and stretched by pulling the handles on the transformation box. This creates more perspective from front to back and makes a more dynamic view. On a duplicate layer behind the truck I added a zoom blur to get a slight sense of motion on the front and back ends.
The wheels were treated with a radial blur to create motion, and a zoom blur to create vibration.
The road was treated with a zoom blur.
The windshield was created by masking in a section of sky and making it transparent. The driver was placed inside the cab and a door window was added and made transparent.
A flame was added to the exhaust by taking a solid color dot and stretching it with a zoom blur.
The hood ornament was added from another vehicle.

Drive Safely.