A rolling parade of roughly 125 rusted, unpainted, hand-built cars rumbled across Oklahoma’s stretch of Route 66 this week, drawing crowds who lined up just to snap photos of the rattling caravan. Locals have taken to calling it an invasion, and for good reason — the vehicles look like something scavenged from a junkyard and welded back to life, which is more or less exactly what they are.
The caravan, part of what organizers call the 2026 Official Rat Rod Tour, started in Las Vegas, Nevada, and is now working its way through Oklahoma before continuing along the rest of the Mother Road, according to KOCO. A rat rod, by definition, is a custom vehicle assembled from various parts — often left deliberately unfinished or rusted and built in an improvised patchwork, according to Ratstock. That DIY, blue-collar aesthetic is the whole point: these aren’t polished show cars, they’re rolling proof of what a welder, a trailer and some spare parts can accomplish.
Patricia Miller, who was watching the cars pass through Oklahoma, put it simply, calling the event an invasion, per the station’s report. Graham Adams, who traveled from South Carolina to join the tour, brought his own rat rod into Oklahoma and described the trip as a one-time adventure tied to Route 66’s 100th anniversary, the same report notes.
When the Cars Break Down, the Towns Step In
Part of what makes the caravan work is the community it leaves in its wake. When vehicles break down — and with roughly 125 homemade cars logging long highway miles, they do — locals pitch in to help. Miller said the group takes disabled vehicles to the next stop for repairs, according to the same account, with drivers and builders relying on trailers, welding, replacement parts and plain mechanical work to keep the caravan moving…