A Rat in Name Only: Keith Northrup’s Trophy Rat

Hand-built and ready for the worst roads mother nature can lay down.

When most people think about rat rods of any sort, they think about clapped out, rusted, and unsafe but cool looking vehicles with huge engines. At first blush, Keith Northrup’s “Trophy Rat” looks just like that but under skin is a whole different story. We take a closer look at this King Rat and see it in action in video as well.

Keith isn’t your ordinary fabricator and everything he makes with his business, Northrup Fabricators, is a work of art. The Trophy Rat is no exception but the LS6 powering it had a different original plan until a fateful call with his friend, Tyler Anthony. Tyler was selling some projects and had this 1937 International Pickup that would eventually become what you see today. The chassis is fully tubed from mostly 1.75-inch DOM tubing that he uses in his Ultra4 builds. This also makes the Trophy Rat his first ever A-Arm IFS build as most of the Ultra4 stuff he does is solid front axle.

The LS6 was rebuilt by C&D Machine in Kirkland, Washington and uses a Comp cam, Moroso oil pan, Moroso oil pump, and a custom PSI wiring harness. The headers are hand built by Northrup out of 1-7/8″ stainless steel that are followed up by three-inch pipes and custom mufflers hidden within the piping. The TH400 was built by Gearworks and sends torque to a Spidertrax axle that also fits a Yukon Gear Grizzly Locker with a set of 4.56:1 gears and 35-spline chromoly axleshafts. Getting him to a stop is a set of Wilwood calipers fitted behind a set of Trail Ready HD Beadlocks in 17×9 with Nitto Trail Grapplers in 35×12.50 R17. To control the truck over the whoops and jumps it sees, a set of King Off-Road Racing Shocks are fitted to the suspension.

Check out the gallery and see the Trophy Rat in it’s element at the King of Hammers race.