I think I did a thorough read on this thread, but..............................was the rake called a "dago" in anyone elses area?? In my home area the dumped front end was either raked or dagoed---I dunno.
When I was a 'little kid' in Santa Clara, (lower Bay Area) it was 1954. The older hot rod guys were mostly Portuguese, and Johnny Perreira was a real character. His '32 Tudor was suddenly raised in the rear, to make crossmember room for the Quick Change, and the Dago axle up front made me say, "Wow, Johnny...That's a 'California Rake!" Johnny fired right back: "No, Michael...It's a 'Portagee Dip'!" Hilarious, but...only 'regional'...I've used it, and gotten much laughter.
The "rake" pertains to stance, and a raked stance can be achieved with a "dago'ed" front axle, on earlier stuff. From Hot Rod Magazine ... "San Diegan Abe Kobeck is generally credited with the idea of reshaping the ends of a stock Ford I-beam and raising the kingpin bosses, which in turn lowers the car. Stock Ford axles, modified in such a way, could be seen on many hot rods right up to the end of the 1950s, with two of the most famous companies offering an axle-dropping service being Ed "Axle" Stewart's Dago concern in San Diego (Dago is a slang term, mainly used by Navy personnel, for San Diego)... "
LOL I wasn't a little kid until about '60. In the Mission District at that time everyone was a Mexican didn't matter where they were from. They definitely had their own style and it didn't matter if it was a hot rod or a bombita you could tell what part of town it was from. It funny how language changes. By the time I was old enough to know, or pay any attention, the squids were calling Dego [dago] Diego. When I was little they were still running Dago Dropped axles, but the part of town we lived in way north of San Diego, Dago [Daygo] was a derogatory term for the people who lived on and pretty much owned my block. They used to call a floating (frenched?) grill Daygoed. Everyone still knew what a dago drop was though. None of this was an affront to the post just an observation.
The stance on that merc is nice. Hey wasn't or isn't that Blue Five Five you posted your car? That is a nice car, I like the idea of taking a tri five and making it something other then a stump jumper.
Dont show so well by the picture but my old 54 i ran some rake on looks real cool on the right car i think.
Wheels, tires and stance can make a car/truck. I've always love the nose down look. My old 62 had air ride but this is how it was 99% of the time. The truck just sits like this all the time. And a 57 that im pretty sure i stole from here. Project X when it was project X Dont matter to me where the stance originated, i just like it. Tony
It is a little known fact that in the late sixtys, pilots flying for UAL, for whom I was working, proved that they got better mileage in DC-8 aircraft if they were trimmed to fly slightly nose down. This is in level flight, but a slight rake was more areo. True story.
The Jalopy Journal
