Maybe I worded it wrong. If you go to Bonneville or El Mirage you will see rat rods everywhere. At Bonneville there are an awful of them that are trailered in and driven only on the salt because they aren't street legal or registered. At El Mirage 99% of the rat rods there are driven to the event and driven home. They rate a lot higher on the respect scale.
At Bonneville Speed Week a couple of years ago there was a couple of bellytankers on display at Bend in the Road. These were genuine racers from the early 50s with a history to them To most LSR guys there is a huge difference between real and replica. Building a period style using correct pieces is fine but most LSR guys would go, Why? If you are going to build a bellytank why not build a competitive one? None were ever built for show. The post by tWisted Wheelz offering a CBR 600 is the motor you want. Hell, That post even got me thinking. That would be a fantastic motor for a tank. Compact, plenty of power, reliable as a Swiss watch. That bare tank I saw at El Mirage a couple of meets ago and that motor would be a great combo. Maybe even a record breaker?
I guess I'm thiking on the lines of why build it if you aren't going to race it. But then I've been thinking that way all my life. Never had a lot of time for show cars or bikes. There was an Aussie guy over here for a few days. He took in Bonneville and El Mirage. Took a few great shots of the SoCal tank and another at El Mirage. Worth a look. http://www.dlra.org.au/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1192&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=
My point is tanks were built for a very specific purpose and that is to go very fast. Why build something that is a complete opposite of that purpose?