COEUR d’ALENE — For as long as he can remember, Brent Lundquist has lived and breathed cars.

The North Idaho resident built his first race car when he was just 8 years old.

“I wasn’t old enough to race it, but I won the youngest car owner award,” he said with a laugh.

He didn’t stop there.

Lundquist later took over the family business, Mufflers Plus, and has become a major player in North Idaho’s car community. He’s a past president of the North Idaho Classics Car Club. Last year, he was the first inductee into the Idaho State Hot Rod Hall of Fame.

“I’ve been everywhere in the car world,” he said. “I’ve done everything from bringing back full restorations to putting them in the crusher.”

Now Lundquist is chasing another dream, this time by building a rat rod for competition.

A rat rod is a custom car with a deliberately weathered, unfinished look, often showing rust and lacking paint. These cars are a stark and deliberate contrast to polished hot rods, meant to show the builder’s unique vision.

“I saw a picture of one in Rat Rod Magazine in 2003 and fell in love with the idea of it,” Lundquist said. “I wanted to build one forever and never had the opportunity.”

A rad rod isn’t the most practical kind of car, he said, but that’s part of the appeal.

“You can see everybody’s own imagination and design,” he said. “There’s no such thing as a cookie cutter.”

Lundquist is building a car for the 2024 rat rod build-off contest hosted by Rat Rod Magazine. Judging will occur at “Ratstock,” billed as a celebration of blue-collar rat rod and hot rod culture Sept. 21 in Langley, Ill. Each builder has a strict $5,000 budget and there are more than 300 entries this year.

For the competition, Lundquist is building a 1925 Studebaker coattail speedster. He used three different hoods, each from the ‘30s or ‘40s, to craft the shape of the rat rod.

“It’s the car of my dreams,” he said.

As he puts the finishing touches on his rat rod, Lundquist said he’s excited to bring it to the competition.

He said North Idaho’s car community has been supportive of his project — a pleasant surprise in a world where rat rods are sometimes derided by other car enthusiasts.

“It’s been incredible,” he said. “The amount of support from the community has really opened my eyes to how everybody feels about them.”