“Standing out in an automobile community where being unique and creative is the norm and having a car that stands out from those that stand out was the driving force behind my build and I truly feel that I achieved that vision.”
This was Kevon Condon’s response when asked why he built the rat rod he brought to the 2017 Hot August Nights in Reno, Nev.
Kevon’s rat rod is like none other you’ll see anywhere else. Inspired by the days when WWII soldiers were returning home from war and using whatever parts they could find and afford to build a vehicle they could race on the weekends, his rat rod is customized with all kinds of upgrades and gadgets you normally don’t expect to find on a car.
There are two features, however, that stand out above all the rest — a five-inch window and two side-mounted machine guns. Let that sink in for a little bit.
Where does someone come up with the idea to mount two machine guns, albeit replicas, to a car, or for that matter a five-inch windshield, which has to be dangerous?
To understand why Kevon’s rat rod is packing some serious heat, you must first understand who Kevon is. Then and only then may you understand his choice of theme.
In a way, Kevon took two huge parts of his life and blended them into this masterpiece he nicknamed “Unexpected Surprise.” (His wife has another nickname for it — “The Other Woman.”)
He grew up the son of an Advertising Art Director for a casino in Reno and an art college graduate. It’s safe to say that art was in his blood and something he was good at, especially since both of his parents encouraged him and his brother to take art classes in and outside of school. His love for creating works of art, such as his rat rod, from nothing was nurtured during those adolescent years.
Today, Kevon is a Tank Commander Course Instructor at the U.S. Army Maneuver Center of Excellence in Fort Benning, Ga. Next year, he plans to retire from the military and is looking forward to having more time to show off his creation at future Hot August Nights and other rat rod events in Nevada and California.
It’s no doubt that his military career and artistic upbringing played an integral role in designing and developing a theme for the “Unexpected Surprise,” which is the only car he has built from the ground up.
“The idea to add machine guns to the car came as the car evolved into a fighter/bomber-themed rat rod,” Kevon told My Classic Garage. “I decided to use .30-caliber machine guns simply due to the size of the guns as I need to be able to tilt them forward to enter/exit the car. The removable ammo cans/gun mounts are fabricated out of metal tubing and are pinned-secured directly to the roll cage.”
Although the rat rod is not street legal, this hasn’t stopped Kevon from taking it out for a spin or two. Who could blame him?
While one may assume that police officers would stop Kevon citing either the five-inch tall windshield as a safety concern or the two machine guns, however, local police usually just look on and smile as he drives by.
Despite the vehicle’s guns and windshield, Kevon claims his rat rod is extremely safe: “I’ve prided myself on building a reliable and safe car from the start. So, I’ve fitted the car with a fully welded to frame 6-point roll cage, 5-point frame attached driver and passenger harnesses, external battery kill switch and a manually operated HALON fire suppression system with discharge ports in the engine area, cab and trunk area that can be activated either inside the car or out.”
When Kevon built the rat rod — a process that took around two-and-a-half years — he started with a 1930 Chevrolet he found rusting in the desert near Las Vegas. Unfortunately, the cowl was the only salvageable part. The back half of the car was built from a wrecked 1960 Chevrolet Impala that was located in a junkyard in Southern Nevada. When Kevon rescued the Impala, it was about to be crushed into a cube and sold to China as scrap metal.
Many of the parts he used to complete the build came from a hodgepodge of different vehicle donors he found on eBay. They included a grille from a 1936 International pickup, a pair of headlight buckets from a 1936 Cadillac, the straight front axle off an early Ford pickup truck, the rear end of an 1980 Impala and a 350 cid small block Chevy with the old style fuelie heads out of an early 1960s Corvette.
The car also included the following features: a vintage Offenhauser cross-ram intake, dual side-by-side Holly 350 CFM double pumper carburetors, a single-stage 100-horsepower nitrous oxide system, a fully boxed hand-built frame with yoke and driveshaft safety/shatter shields, single (frame-connected) drag chute and a custom-stitched OD removable canvas top.
As if this wasn’t enough to blow anyone away, Kevon’s rat rod had even more customizations — a skull nitrous purge head located in front of the windshield on the cowl, a skull and vertebrae gear shift, vintage piano chair ball and claw feet used as the right and left front axle king pins, “V8” emblems depicting a woman on her back adorn both sides of the grille, a water-jet-cut spider web frame gussets behind the front axle and a hand-fabricated aluminum wing spoiler is mounted on the rear.
To top it all off, the car was hand-pinstriped inside and out and features bomber girl nose art on both sides.
The 2017 Hot August Nights wasn’t the first time Kevon showed off his rat rod, and it won’t be the last. In addition to this year’s event, “Unexpected Surprise” has also appeared in the 2010 and 2014 Hot August Nights. It was also shown at the 2009 and 2010 Boulder City Rod Run Show-n-Shines. Additionally, it has also made appearances at various other car shows around the Las Vegas area.
At the 2010 Boulder City Rod Run Show-n-Shine, Kevon’s rat rod won the “Most Unique” award. Four years later, it won the Hot August Nights Grand Marshal “Most Unique” award, presented to him on the Grand Sierra Hotel and Resort outdoor stage.
All the awards in the world, however, can’t prevent all the awkward stares and looks of astonishment when people spot Kevon’s “Unexpected Surprise” for the first time.
“As I watch people approach, I see their faces as they look around at the other cars that are shiny and colorful and pristine and then my machine catches their eye and they either smile or their jaw drops and they have to come closer to get a better look,” said Kevon, who has owned and heavily modified several vehicles, including a 1941 Indian 741 Military motorcycle. “It’s then that they see all the detail that’s been put into the car.”
The reactions, the thousands of photographs, the nods of approvals and all the praise his rat rod receives at events such as the 2017 Hot August Nights make all the time, money, cuts, bruises, burns and sleepless nights trying to figure out something on the car worth it for Kevon.
It truly is an “Unexpected Surprise.”
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