http://www.barris.com/gallery_alakart.html Wow, way ahead of it's time. "Suspension system is all made up of 4 coil springs with adjustable air bags."
Ala-Kart was such a trendsetter, it's gotta be one of my favorite (if not my all-time favorite) hot rod. My friend's '55 Roadmaster had air bags in the rear when he got it, old ones from the 50's. And my neighbor used to have a '58 Imp with factory bags. Cool ****, bags are trad. But do me a favor. If you come across any old 50's-60's show rod pictures that show 20" billet wheels and digital dashes, keep them to yourself.
I think it just shows that sometimes you have to break away from the norm and be a TRENDSETTER........hmmmm....
Thats kinda why I wanted to build a bagged fenderless sedan. Alot of people I talked to when I was in the planning stages said it couldn't be done and keep a traditional look on a fenderless car. Thats all I needed to hear to make me wanna built it. And I figured while I'm at it I might as well use a fordor body, since many people also told me they make a terrible looking hot rod. Now that I'm making progress and its coming together some(not all)of the sh*t-talkers admitted they are suprised at the results. I love stuff like that
hey there is tastefull installations and tastless ones, the barris ones were installed with looks in mind. There was a fenderless "ratrod" at Paso a few years bad with some god awfull shockwaves up front. The whole ride was more hillbilly than anything, but to each their one.
Yeah its like anything else I guess. I've seen a few fenderless rods with shockwaves up front too. Nasty looking. Those Shockwaves prolly cost more then the rest of his entire car haha
as others have said, airbags were common of a few luxury cars of the 50's, and were even quite common as helper springs and for putting some weight bias on drag cars right rear in lieu of exotic positraction. thing is, you don't see the few custom cars of the time that had airbags, or hydraulics(X-sonic) posing in goofy ***ed monkey motion pictures. the point was to have a low car yet negotiate the oc***ional bump..i say oc***ional cause none of the show cars that had this stuff at the time were really meant to be driven. i'd bet the Ala Kart got them as a bandaid because the leaded bodywork was too heavy for the tiny chromed coil springs. the factory systems of the time ****ed hind ***, most manufacturers ended up retrofitting coil springs in place of the airbags.
Those were made by Air-Lift...which is still in biz. They were mostly used to prop up sagging springs...they made adapters to clamp them onto your leafs or inside your coils. NASCAR racers used 'em to adjust spring rates by adjusting the air pressure...
Alot of people dont realize that bags have been around for a looong time....They were often used in drag cars to help with weight transfer...I know it was a rare option on 58 Impalas...Different set ups but same method! I wanna say Grumpy Jenkins (could be wrong...) raced a white x-11 63 Impala that was equiped w/bags....I know the car was sponsored by AirLift/Ride... Maybe someone has the pic i'm thinking of?? DDR
I was leafing through the latest Rodder's Journal (I think) and there was a full feature article on it. From what I could see there hasn't been any progress in the last ten years.
my 54 buick special has bags in the rear, shoot to ****,been trying to change them out or replace them anyone done that..
The Jalopy Journal
