Just curious of the general opinion & consensus of followers here on the Hamb of the many show cars with the wheels tucked up in the body it renders the vehicle inoperable on anything other than a pool table level surface, & yes, realizing many entries are equipped with the latest air bags/hydraulics & tech systems & these units are in rest mode when parked, it would seem with all that engineering a limit at rest would give the car a more proportioned presentation. I know the low-down/low-slung attitude typlifies customs & an occasional hot rod, & even the Detroit new car shows through the years were often temporarily ratcheted down to provide a space age, sleekness for a more dramatic unveiling to the general public. but looking over the roadster show entries, to me at least a sleek 40's-50's custom within reason could be expected to reveal only a bit of tire peeking out below a fender skirt & certainly it could be expected of a Nash Rambler stock or in custom format, or even the body or flowing fender design of a hand-crafted entry. But.......to me it's those with untold hours of work spoiled with an out of proportion unrealistic stance.
Show cars are a breed alone and don't have to drive rough streets, so this is not valid. Rods started the trend when swapping from tall skinny wheels to more modern shorter wheels in the 30s, then dropped the car ride height to tighten up the gap. Then there were low riders and slammed mini trucks that continued the style choice. It is an opinion, which as the saying goes, everyone has... I prefer lower, but within reason. I'd imagine most here would agree, but each have a different value. I have seen some 'traditional' rides where they have gone 'too far' for me. It's like asking which Red is the right Red.
It really came from the california region where the roads were flatter (low riders) and it was a badge of honor to scrape the frame. That has grown to lower "looks" faster and more aggressive. It's not everyone's cup of tea, just like a lifted truck isn't.
Because it looks good and they can. In the case of a showcar, you have to push the envelope to be competitive. Eventually you can't go any lower. California roads are Horrible, so my short experiment with lowered springs resulted in a return to stock height
Have you ever ridden in a big wheel - rubber band tire set up ? Bags or otherwise , there's no tire sidewall at all so it...... Rides like a brick. My opinion.
All this "in the weeds" stance stuff brings to mind Ogden Nash's quip: "Progress was OK once, but it went on for too long" or from Mae West: "If a little is great, and a lot is better, then way too much is just about right!"
In my area of Taxifornia the roads are still pretty good but they are going to the pot hole way life faster than we all want. Coming from the 60's when there were very very few ways of changing a car while driving or being parked we put them where we could drive them 99% of the time. I've stayed with that theory and will never change. I like a lower front than rear and have lowered the fronts of my cars about 2 to 2-1/2" and have for 50 years. I like 15" wheels slightly wider than stock and 75 series tires today. In my opinion Conastoga wheels and forklift tires have ruined the look of too many 50-70's cars, especially muscle cars. Low riders still use 13" spokes and it is their way.
To quote one of the HAMBer by-lines......."I want to be different...just like everybody else." My "M-word" car is lowered to the point that it's EZ'er for old fat men to just roll out on the ground... instead of climbing out of it ! Guess I'm just a slave-to-style,man ! 6sally6
Let's see if I have my list around here somewhere.... 1. If it's too low, you're too old 2. If it's too fast, you're too old 3. If it's too loud, you're too old What am I forgetting?
Both sitting still. Can you tell which one looks tougher? Nothing wrong with either truck. The lower the better for me here but not for every hotrod I've owned. I'm getting close to 60 years old, but I'm not old enough yet to drive that top truck. LOL.
I think a lot of newer guys on this forum are really ratrodders and minitruckers. the black truck in #19 is not drivable sitting that low
Still working it and it's built and thought out very well. Its not either of what you say. But it is custom and has been super fun to build.
The book "Watson's Custom Car Confessions (With Cool Chicks and John Law) by Thom Taylor and Larry Watson, is a great read. His '50 Chevy didn't have enough clearance to make it into his high school parking lot so he had to park it on the street. In one instance, the Chevy got hung up going into a show and members of the host club had to lift the back end of the car so it would clear the driveway. A few years later Watson admitted pulling the coil springs out of his '59 Caddy and driving it to a show riding on the snubbers. Watson himself referred to the tickets he got on a weekly basis for driving cars that were too low. At one point it even cost him his driver's license. So yeah, low cars are in our genes, man!
Don’t worry no one drives the one in the bottom photo either. They may in a parking lot of a gathering or their drive way but not going anywhere.
Umm, don't know. Last time I was at the local car gathering, I watched a a set of pipe tips get removed as one of the guys drug his way out of the parking lot...
Yeah, NOT a fan here. Along with cars "resting" on the ground, also NOT a fan of air bags, which goes with cars sitting ...on the ground. The whole things seems counterproductive to me. Mike
Seems like we just had this conversation: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/the-unbroken.1309034/
I don't like adjustable suspension because I like to set something up with a stance that always looks good. A lot of adjustable suspensions have a compromise of how the vehicle looks at ride height or while dropped. I also grew up going to the races with my family in the 90's, and really dug pro mods with their ground-scraping stance and big and little tires and wheels. To this day that influences what I think looks cool.
I know more than one person with a static dropped car with 2.5 or so clearance and have driven them a shit ton and not just on and off trailers as some of you assume. Plenty of nose down 32’s aren’t that far off, or even the nose on a 40. one put over 10k in just last year. do you have to pay attention? Sure. What old car do you not. you want practical go buy a Honda
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