3D gfx design program
 

What is a good free starters program for basic gfx design stuff. I have these ideas for a rat rod that I can't really draw out on paper and would just love to make a 3D model of it. I also have a few speaker box designs that I would like to 3d'ify.

the only free one that will do enough to compete with the big buys is blender- it has a horrendous interface, but you can do a lot with it. Give it a go!

That would be my suggestion. Blenders interface is hideous though...

Other than that I suggest 3DS Max, my personal favorite, or Maya, close second for me, if you serious about "3D modeling". Both are outstanding for games and high end models for that matter with varying strengths. Of course, these run a couple of thousand dollars unless you can get an educational version. Houdini, Lightwave (used in tons of Japanese Anime), etc. are good for others things.

lightwave is actually a fantastic suite, not only because it does a ton on its own without plugins (especially modelling!! very well), but it is pretty cheap as an academic and non-academic purchase. Getting 3dsmax or maya legitimately is, come on, unrealistic.

hmmm, for the kind of modelling you are after i'd say something along the lines of a CAD program would be better suited. 3Dmax and the like centre more on sub division modelling or NURBS (which i never got the hang of) and i always found it hard to make something realistic with that.

In school we used a program called Pro Desktop which is kind of like a very cut down version of Pro Engineer but the same modelling principle applies, for actual design for a real thing you want to make i'd say that would be much more suitable and everything can be done very accurately using accurate figures etc.

The last time i checked it was free for non commercial use so you might want to look into that.