Southern California is a mecca for personalization. Residents personalize everything from themselves, to their homes and sometimes even their prized possessions, which many times are their cars. In a nutshell, "Make It Your Own" is almost like an unstated motto for Los Angeles and its surrounding areas...

With that idea in mind, it almost seems "normal" that we found this "Rat Rodded" '08 Shelby GT 500 (yes, it's a real one) during a recent visit with the cats at Galpin Auto Sports in Van Nuys, California. According to Wikipedia, "Rat Rod" is a style of Hot Rod or Custom car that, in most cases, imitates (or exaggerates) the early hot rods of the 40s, 50s, and 60s."

Not that we were around back then, but, flat-black seems to be one of the popular colors of the early hot-rod era. The owner of this Shelby obviously wants to keep the spirit of that era alive!