I've done a bit of looking around on this board and it appears that front coil-overs are ***ociated with gold-chainers and bling-rods. Granted, many '80's billet rods had coil-overs up front and undoubtedly that's why they are frowned upon by traditionalists. Guilt by ***ociation. Yet, I've seen more tolerance for rear coil-overs. Is it because they are out-of-sight, out-of-mind? If not, why are they tolerated on the rear but not on the front? What is the earliest some of you seasoned rodders have seen coil overs on the street? Many altereds had them (Pure Heaven/Hell come to mind). You can't get much cooler then that, so what gives? School a FNG.
I have coil overs on the front of my '27 Ford Roadster. It is a Cal-Customs T-bucket kit built in the early 60's.
Yep, the reason they aren't(or shouldn't be)seen on the front of a traditional car is because, well they're not. Kind of right up there with an independant front end on a fenderless car. And they are honestly not a traditional choice for the the rear either, but like you thought, they are tolerated cuz you usually can't see them on a low channeled car. And on the rear they provide an easy installation, acting to provide ride height as well as shock in one package. Hope this helps a little, I'm sure others will have some info to add as well dan
I do like the look of the real short coil overs on the front of a straight axle car, with the car a total drag race feel, I think alot drag cars in the mid to late 60's did that, like the funny cars, please don't quote me on that time period........Littleman
My '34 Plymouth has coils on all 4 corners - gold chainer?? I don't think so - these are the SAME ONES one there since it was built in '69 as a G***ER. They are vintage Mr. Gasket coil overs and LOOK old too. Matter of fact - they apparently are thought so little of that I bought a NEW SET (NOS) dated 1969 off Ebay this summer - price ?? I paid 25 bucks!!! Not for sale - they're already mounted. Hot Rodders and Racers (of the day) will commonly tell you they ran the best stuff they could get their hands on. ANYTHING for an advantage. Sure there's modern limits today, but our hands aren't tied either!
I agree 100%, who the hell am I to say, my model a sedan is fenderless and bagged front and back I know I didn't ever see that in the little books hehe
Anyone have any pictures of some tasteful rods with front coil-overs? I've seen plenty of billet-laden stuff, but I'm looking for something build with traditional sensibilities. I'm buiding a channeled '29 and I'm working with what I have.
I've seen installations that look just fine if not quite "traditional". If you keep away from polished shock bodies and chromed springs then it should be okay but for pete's sake don't make the mistake that I've seen a few times where somebody used conventional pre-existing frame and spring perch shock mounts that are way the hell too weak to do the job of holding a car up. I've even seen the perch bolts used without having the top spring mount ground off. Looks really dumb. Someone may make a perch bolt shock mount strong enough to do the job but I've never seen one advertised that way and I"m not sure I'd trust it if I did.
I don't know an answer to that. I suppose if you were building a 40s or 50s era car you wouldn't want to run coilovers because of the era. I wouldn't think that front coilovers on a 60s era car would be that big a deal, but i would think that it would want to be more of a race oriented car than a streeter type. i don't recall seeing too many streeters running coilovers in the early '60s. or the late '60s for that matter. Here's the deal the way I see it. Anyone that I ever knew that was a rodder from as far back as I can remember put the very best that they could afford on their rides. A lot of it was new and improved way back when. I guess what we are building for the most part is what would have been considered High Zoot back in the day. That is all but the rust in piece(sic) cars. Personally I prefer beaters so the rust in piece cars are cool in my book. We're building traditional hot rods for the most part. Most of us are shooting at a specific time period, so if coilovers fit into your time period than they should be accepted just fine. or you could be like me and don't worry about it. Build it the way you think it should be built and let the chips fall where they may.
I thought of doing that on a light car project T or modified using harley rear shocks SOMEBODY must have tried that before
Ok, some will say it isn't traditional...Whatever.. I built this car with what I had.. Custom independent front with coil overs...Here is a couple pics.. This car rides nice, handles good and is a HP monster.. Build what you can with what you got....EVILT
It is an old argument that has been hashed and rehashed on this board for some time: Tradition as run what you have or run what they had. I have seen coil overs now and then, they work well and look fine to me. And if you don't like the look of em on the Pallbearer (EvilT's car) best of luck catching him to tell him to his face...that car is whicked fast and corners like mad. True
Thanks for taking the time to post the pics, EvilT. Those are some big *** rear tires. Sounds like you need them. I have a dropped tube axle with coil-overs on my '29 roadster and I'm not about to change it unless I find out it rides like ****.
No problem on the pics.. coil overs ride nice... I have had 3 motors,3 rear ends, and 2 ******s (5 speeds) in it.. the coil overs and tires front and rear have always stayed. I drive this car hard. It launches straight and handles great. Don't know how coil overs will do with the dropped tube but good luck.. EVILT.
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