Customs Lake pipes or not

Touchdown!

 

Never know when you need a good heifer!

 

I mean...I do love a good burger lol

 

I’m gonna put some shorty kickstand Lakes on my 38 Chevy coupe soon. Like the ones I had on my 40 Ford Sedan

 

Yes, and use the finned aluminum block off plates.

 

If I ever get a 39 40 sedan it's definitely getting those kickstand pipes

 

Very nice! Going to look great on there! Perfect length.

 

I like pipes, I like chrome, hard to go wrong. I wanted my truck low, too low to add pipes under the running boards so I frenched mine into the running boards. I have never regretted hacking up nice original running boards. Ripple "kick stand" pipes courtesy of @Moriarity Museum and Gift Shop.

 

Yes the lake pipes look great.

 

Not to high jack thread but do those of you that run dummy lake pipes still leave your chrome exhaust sticking out the rear or do you hide it?

 

I hope the answer to that is hide it.

 

This seems like a good place to ask how well lake pipes really flow. If the headers go through the fender wells and have cutouts to the lake pipes will they be sufficient to let a BBC breath? Not sure if I can rig the cutouts to flow through both the mufflers and the lake pipes. But, that might help to clear out the back pressure. The lake pipes do look cool on the early 50s Chevy's.

 

Well, seems I am wrong on what is correct on dummy lake pipes. I learn something every day. I also just spent last night pulling accessories that weren’t functional off my Harley, so I guess the hot rod side of me is somewhat equal to the custom side…

 

I mean....there was a brief period everyone seems to ignore where hot rod and custom overlapped.

 

Must be where I am stuck. Oh, and the spotlight on my car is functional for the record. Lol

 

Don't feel bad. The few years of hopped up customs is what I'm obsessed with

 

took the liberty of lowering it just a touch more

 

I see no reason to hide it. None of the cars I pictured in post 24 hid their full length exhaust. In fact, the 56 Chevy pictured at top not only did not hide its full length exhaust, it had bellflower pipes. If the A Bros, Larry Watson, and Barris felt no need to hide the full length exhaust, who am I to say otherwise?

Besides, there is also the rationale that, even if functional, the lake pipes could be used as a performance supplement to uncap the exhaust and run straight pipes. This way the car could have a quieter exhaust under normal driving and then could be uncapped for performance on the weekend.

But even if they're not functional, I don't see any reason to hide the full exhaust

 

Not to knock the lakes pipes, but I have always felt that a properly positioned and sized dual exhaust exiting the rear of a vehicle is normally the best looking system . Compliment it with a mellow sounding set of mufflers and maybe even some of those radiused reliefs in the rear pan and it just looks good as well as efficient. No problems with bumps or potholes and you can drive them in any weather without worrying about how the weather may affect them.

 

I vote yes, but only if they are functional!

 

From an aesthetic perspective, you have to consider what's going on with the customization process. The first thing you do to a car to customize it is to remove all of the excessive scripts, emblems, non essential trim and so on. This cleans up the lines of the car. However, the pendulum can swing too far in the opposite direction, where a car can become totally devoid of brightwork. A well customized car has both clean lines, and trim and/or accessories in the right places to add accent to enhance the lines, or to emphasize a styling point. Lake pipes can add some chrome brightwork which adds to the visual interest of the car, but also doesn't detract from the lines of the car.

Interestingly, the factory has done similar things on certain models. Consider the 57 chevy.

Notice the polished stainless rocker trim.


Now look at the 57 chevy without the stainless rocker trim.



Now look at the 57 Chevy with no trim and lake pipes.



It gives a similar effect. Additionally, this car, painted by Larry Watson, is another that has untraditional non-functional lake pipes.

 

It definitely looks better lowered a little bit more but I did have the rear about that low and it bottomed out on everything. So I'm gonna leave the rear where it's at. I've got new aerostar Springs for the front that I believe I'm going to put in today and if I have time the lake pipes.

 

a little lower on front only

 

By taking
some measurements the aerostar Springs wont-work as they are too short to begin with. So I guess I'll just put the pipes on today.

 

I agree with the point you are making, adding some chrome down low can add to the appearance. In the case of the lakes pipes, they are below the body line and used to also make a car appear lower......but they often suffer damage in actual use and ultimately end up getting removed after a while on the street. Seldom does anyone actually uncap them, and any actual performance improvement is questionable. Perhaps some chrome trim on the Plymouth would accomplish a similar appearance enhancement to the 57 Chevy. I actually think a thinner (1"-1 1/2") chrome strip/spear would accent well. Properly placed chrome can add a lot to a cars appearance. I've seen cars that look excellent as is, but properly placed highlights can make them even better. Look what a little chrome and no lakes did for the Hirohita Merc. Many of the premier custom builders actually raise the lakes pipes up parallel with the rocker panels, which (IMHO) protects them and looks very similar to having a chrome trim piece on the rocker panel.

 

Agreed on all points.

I too have seen many examples of the lake pipes being mounted next to the rocker rather than under it. Bo Huff and Larry Grobe are guys who I quickly recall doing that. Even the Alexander Bros. did it with the Dave Jenkins' 57 Chevy, where the lake pipes were mounted in a pod. It's a nice look and I think a matter of preference of the builder. Other examples I pointed to here mount the lake pipe under the rocker, which is also proper. As with many custom tricks, there is no one correct way to do it. The builder/owner has creative freedom in that regard.

My 57 Ford had them mounted under the rocker, and as you said, they used to get beat up pretty badly due to how low the car was dropped. I always considered them to be consumable items, and I must have put 4 sets on the car in the 22 years I owned it. Inevitably, I'd hit a huge dip in the road, smash the pipe and blow it off the car, and just replace it. The cost of looking cool.

The main thrust of what I was getting at with my participation in this thread is, 1) Lake pipes are a proper accessory to customize a full size car and, 2) they do not need to be functional to be proper(especially within the context of the HAMB) or to be utilized at all. Dummy lake pipes weren't some gimmick used by DIY dorks raiding the JC Whitney catalog. It was a customization practice utilized often by the giants of the industry then and now. Sometimes folks who are less educated on traditional customs on the HAMB wade into these threads and need an education on it.

 

Got the job done today. Had to do the first one in a couple different positions to where I liked it. Second side was easier of course. I really like how it turned out. Plus, it added 10 horsepower