Lloyd Pierson and crew impress with ‘rat rod’ at Las Vegas SEMA car show

By Kelly Terpstra, kterpstra@charlescitypress.com

With an old, yellow Iowa license plate on the back end and an ear of corn on the dashboard, Lloyd Pierson’s 1957 Ford 300 Custom didn’t look anything like it did when it cruised the city streets 60 years ago.

Once Pierson put the key in the ignition, turned the switch and fired up the engine, onlookers could hear just by the thrust of the exhaust that the Ford’s days as a traveling sedan were all but over.

That was the whole point of Pierson and his crew from Charles City’s hard work to transform the Ford two-door “post” into a “rat rod” dragstrip “gasser.”

That nine-month effort paid off and earned Pierson and those who helped him rebuild the Ford considerable attention in Las Vegas during SEMA’s Battle of the Builders earlier this month.

“The main thing is to go and get recognized as a builder and show off your skills,” said Pierson.

“We got pulled off for a live interview right in front of the stage at the SEMA Ignited party,” he said.

Pierson’s “rat rod” received plenty of attention once it was finished with the 2019 International RATical Rod Drive-off, which took a 1,400-mile trip to the SEMA Battle of the Builders. Hot Rod TV also broadcasts the SEMA show every year.

Pierson said he will be one of the cars that will be featured in Car Craft magazine.

“Our car is one of five that they said is “car crafty” and that the blue-collar, average person can relate to instead of these half-a-million dollar cars and everything,” he said.

Local mechanic Jeff Follmuth, who helped Pierson shape the sedan into a “gasser,” said 170,000 people attend the SEMA show every day when it’s held the first week of November.

Cars competed in four different categories – Hot Rod, Truck/Off Road, Sport Compact and Young Guns. More than 300 entrants competed in last year’s SEMA show. The top 40 entrants in each division are announced at the beginning of the week. Then the race to become Battle of the Builder is whittled down to just 12 cars in each category.

For awhile, Pierson’s car was in the running for a top 40 spot in the Hot Rod division and was featured on one of the many boards that allow race enthusiasts to track progress of the competition. His crew said they finished in the top 200 overall. More than 2,400 exhibiting companies and people with industry connections come from all over the world to attend SEMA.

“When we were walking through the building there at SEMA and there’s a picture of the car on the board,” said Follmuth, who was thrilled to see the car he helped work on gain praise from judges.

“We were hoping to get noticed and we did,” Pierson said. “I figure we were just going to blend in and it was just an honor and privilege just to be there. We made the board.”

Pierson said he may just end up at SEMA again next year with another one of his car creations.

“We’re seriously thinking about doing another one and we already have the car,” he said.

Pierson, along with his wife, Linda, Follmuth and mechanic Craig Ritter, all traveled to attend SEMA. Pierson and his wife own Classic Cars by Lloyd in Charles City.