Air bags, resting it on the ground: ultimate posing?

i get what yer sayin brad, and i drive bagged cars. IMHO the lowest that looks right, aired out or not, is about 2 inches off the deck. that ain't much really. you build it for that height, and no matter what happens, blow a bag, tire, whatever, you're still gonna get around without wiping out sheetmetal. i've also had cars that laid out, but those were cars laid frame, and it would have taken a shitload of work to lay rockers, a 63 riviera for instance, i'd of had to channel it to get any lower.

here's what it boils down to: laying rockers, people see your ride and say, wow, it's airbagged. they know it's a contemporary interpretation of an old car. leave a bit of air under the rocker, and it leaves them guessin as to whether its bagged or not, you can pull off a period look. check out the ol books and even the most badassed customs of the 50's and 60's had closer to half a foot of ground clearance.

what's really funny, is how many people with airbags, drive with them filled to maximum pressure, so their car looks more like a 4x4 than a custom

 

yea you're right, its retarded...I'd much rather have mine on cut springs and lowering blocks because it rides more traditional.....like crap

 

Bags all the way! My '65 Rivi would look like a grocery getter jacked up (STOCK). I'm always adjusting the ride height. Low on the highway a bit higher for the rough city streets, oh no, big dip(air up)!!!

My '58 Chevy pickup is static low, and scraping sucks!!! I have to map a plan of attack when going through the grocery store parking lot, that sucks!I'd love to bag it, but I'd rather spend that money elsewhere.

If you can afford it, bag it. If you complain about bags, its more than likely you've never drove anything with them. They are the Rolls Royce of suspensions if done right. Sounds pretty good over 50+ year old cut or heated coils, huh?

No Kidney Belt, what???????????

 

ray, i've got plenty of 50's mags with customs almost 2.5" off the ground....The purpose of lakepipes on customs was to give the "lower" effect

 

Aint that the truth! My '65 looks good on the frame, but I hate that 1.5" gap. Channeling is the only option. I may do it, but I'll save that for a year or two down the road. Nice thing is Rivis look like shit with their tops chopped so that is a NoNo mod that isn't on the list for this car. So I know when I move the floor up my tall ass will still fit. LOL

 

Look, So what if it's not 100% like they did it in the fifties, i'm sure if barris knew about air bags he would have been bagging all his kustoms! and as proof look at any of his extra low cars, they put casters on the back bumper because he was sick of scraping on every little dip!

 

you're right...and i also said that 2" was the lowest that looked right for the period look.

Brad ain't baggin on ALL bagged cars(pun intended), only the stupid low ones. nowhere does he suggest that customs should be kept at stock height, we're talking about the difference between 2" of clearance and laying the rockers right on the pavement. but then i'm kind of old fashioned. i think the right height is just enough to slip your toe under the rocker panel to discretely hit the hidden pushbutton under the rocker to open the door.

really, i don't give a damn of a guy wants to drag the body till there's no rocker panel left, but that's more for mini trucks and contemporary customs, but when we're talking about wide whites etc. there's a limit to what looks right. i'm on the hamb cause i like period looking cars, you know, "traditional". i could use Ryan's 38 as a good example, though not EXACTLY a traditional ride, it has a bad assed stance, thanks to airbags, but it still has a few inches of clearance, the same car, laying the grille ON the ground would look stupid. the traditional custom look is as low as you can go and still drive it without tearing off parts.

 

not to mention lost oil pans ,tranny pans,and the best of the best fly down the free way at about 70 hit a bump in the road and hit your head so hard on the top youll never forget it! lowered cars with out bags suck period!

 

I would agree with Brad. I have had the best of both worlds, air and hydros. The convenience is nice to adjust your height to protect your car from speed bumps and driveways. But to use it to deliberately destroy your ride and the already rare parts on it is fricken stupid IMHO. What is funnier too about it is when a car is stuck on the ground because it scraped its own air or juice line, and it can't go anywhere. Believe me, I have been there too, how embarasing for one, and then what?

Some of the most baddest cars to float the HAMB never had them, but continued the tradition as it was.
Customs are just that, custom. But its not justification to put others in harms way either. Flicking road dots on the freeway, or of the like isn't defense as others may call it, is stupid and there is nothing cool about that.

There's my 2 cents...now give me my change back!

 

Awesome. You described it perfectly, DrJ!

One thing I have to ask about bags... above, lots of people are talking about adjusting the ride height while going down the road... doesn't that wreak havoc with the handling/steering? I've not driven a bagged car, but I see them all the time slammed, with the camber all hosed... I would think that you'd go pointing all over the road if you drop the car while going down the road?

Ben

 

Nothing wrong with bags, man. Getting over potholes without destroying your frame is what it's about. But if I bagged a car, I'd set it so it didn't have the frame on the ground when it was all the way down. Just a nod to tradition I guess. I like the low look, I just don't like the "broken" look.

 

Good replies. Lots of interesting insight here.
I really dig lowered cars. I lowered my '54 Buick a mere 3 inches...enough to tuck about half the wide white on the front tire (and it's got a short fender opening on the back, like a '55 Chevy). When I get back at that car, I'll add a set of skirts in the back to make it look lower. And if, at some point, I learn how to weld in a way that wouldn't warp battle-ship steel, I'd like to section the back half of the car and bring the quarters down, and angle-chop (front stock height) the roof to make the car look lower.
But I gotta tell you--with the lowered springs at all corners, that '54 Buick rode very, very comfortably. And though it wasn't on the ground, I only dragged an exhaust tip once in over 12,000 miles.
To my way of thinking, it was perfect--it rode well, handled well with the factory sway bar, and was practical. As comfortable and practical as a '50s car can be.

To put my view in perspective, we've got someone's '64 Chevy truck here in the show room. It's Pro Street, which really epitomizes the whole "Going for a look" thing, and negatively for most people here.
What I can't get past is that the guy has two 6:71 blower cases stacked on top of each other, sitting on a small block. The engine runs, he can drive it, so the truck is functional...but with that second blower case, he's screaming "HEY FELLAS, LOOK AT ME! LOOK WHAT I DID!"
And I look at it and think "Damn dude, what the hell were you thinking?"
I think the same thing when I see a car sitting on it's frame or the rockers.
I can see adding bags to get over speed bumps, driveway inclines, etc.
But putting them on a car just so you can set it on the rockers at a show is like stacking blower cases on a small block Chevy.

The "torched springs" argument is a bad one; torched springs are ruined, and you're driving on ruined springs. Cutting springs until they've got no springs is also not cool, becaue then the car rides and handles like a cinder block.
Well engineered springs, spring pockets or relocated leaf spring mounts would lower a car, and still let it ride well.

And in all seriousness, doesn't constantly playing with the ride height really mess up front end geometry? Bump steer, caster/camber, tire wear, handling in general? How do you get the front end aligned, and then how do you set it at that dialed-in height to drive down the road?
I have a very hard time believing that if the front end was aligned at 3.5 inches off the ground, that the car is going to handle like a new Caddy goingdown the highway at 2 inches, or 6 inches.

I'd like to hear about that from you guys--not being a punk or trying to sound sarcastic--I've often wondered about that.
-Brad

 

I'm thinking cars with hydros in the 60's didn't lay frame because they weren't able to - I'd bet good money that if the could have, they would have. So is it a matter of not being traditional, or a matter of just taking traditional low riding/cruising further?

 

Brad to answer your question on front end geometry, you set your car at ride height and you have it aligned. Not too many people fly on the freeway 2" off the ground. Usually we're CRUISING at that level and when we leave, we put it to our desired ride height. Mine is about 3-3.5" off the ground. I raise it when I need to go up a driveway or dip in the road. As far as traditional, customs had to put on lakepipes to get the lower look....so its fair to say they wanted to go lower but couldn't because of the ride.

 

I drove my car with cut coils and blocks for a long time before switching to airbags.

I put in airbags after I hit a major pothole and broke my shock tower, sending the shock into the hood and bending the strut arm. Nothing cool about limping home with a damaged front end.

I didn't want my car to lay on the ground -- UNTIL I finished putting in the airbags. Now I wish I could drive it underground with a periscope. I'll have to go back and cut more to get the rear down lower eventually. Lower is better when it comes to customs. Low cars look like the hovercars were we promised by the visionaries.

Low hot rods, however, are queer.

 

no, you're not alone on this, it IS retarded.

 

yep...

I had a bagged car and just loved the way it looked when it was layed out. but I have just seen way too many shit boxes laying frame lately.

I guess I am just getting old and want my car to scrape the old fashoined way

 

actually the PC term is Mentally challenged

 

im all about rolling as low as humanly possible. a 4 wheeled machine gliding over the pavement is beautiful sight to me. air bags just allow e to navigate the 10 ft high driveway embankments we have out here. my car is set at a 3" ride height. ha;f the vehicles ive owned have been bagged. they ride amazing, i cna adjust per road condiotions and i can have fun with them. did i mention the ladies love playin with my switches?

 

A few years back, when laying rail first hit the hot rod / custom / street rod / whatever scene, I was at a car show... parked right next to a car that was one of the few around that could lay rocker. I had just gotten out of my car, and this little dude, about 4 years old +/-, walked past, turned to his dad and, pointing to the radically lowered car, said "Daddy, dat cah bwoke!". Wisdom from the mouths of babes.

I think I agree with Brad more than most of yall do. (Not that there's a right or wrong here, just a bunch of opinions.) It's not about whether airbags are cool or not, but is there such a thing as TOO LOW?

Case in point, I got the opportunity to see speedaddict's car rollin' down I-35 the morning of the Roundup. Dang it looked cool... and here I'm gonna say it... I think it looked cooler at ride height (which was still pretty low) than at parking height. There. I said it out loud.

 

That's because You couldn't fit bags between the sweet-meat McCrearys.

 

Don't know about playing with my switches but my ex loved pushing my buttons

 

Thanks Slide. When you saw the car I think I had it just under 2" off the ground...what's another 1.5"

 

I would have to agree that there is a large disagreement among the ranks here....... But when its all said and done Im not looking to please anyone. The only person's opinion Im concerned with is my own....... I have had bags on my truck for 6 years without any problems what-so-ever...... A shitty poorly thought out instal will obviously result in disaster..... I often find myself looking past the car, and at the overall set up and the fabrication, I will get down on a knee and check out whats going on underneath before I even think of giving a ride my approval.....

 

let's face it- cars can't be driven at all times. Right now I'm typing this looking out the window at my roadster, thinking how wicked it would look on the ground. I see absolutely nothing wrong with airbags and dropping it when parked. You don't have to be driving or seeing one driving to appreciate the looks, and let's admit if you're into lowered cars you drop them as much as practical, nothing wrong with dropping them more when possible, like cruising a smooth street, parking, salt lakes, whatever

 

On occasion, when backing in or out of my driveway, I manage to smack the tailpipe of my currently stock height 58 chebby. When I get around to lowering it, you can bet I will not be able to keep tips on it. I will never end up with something that will lay rockers, but I would like to put it low as possible without frame modifications.

 

No one's said it, but I bet they thought it, so I'll say it:
Airbags or lifts under a traditional 50's style custom is like air conditioning, power steering and power windows in a traditional hotrod.
They are sort of like "cheating". Like disc brakes hidden inside fake "Buick" drums.
"We" call that kind of hotrod a street rod, and not kindly,
so I'm sure there's some who think the same about customs with stuff that isn't era correct.
But the tradition of customs wasn't to keep repeating the same old same old. Customs are about new innovation and "futuristic" design.
That crazy George Barris even put telephones and TV's in cars..
How impossible is that?
Why, TV's and phones in cars could be down right dangerous!

I still stand by the whatever floats your boat, as long as you're having fun idea, and I sure wish I had air conditioning in my truck from July to the middle of October.
And I still will hold with higher "got balls" esteem, the hard core dude who maps out his route thru parking lots avoiding the speed bumps and dips becasue he drives it on the rockers all the time.

 

I feel a chill rising from the ground...I for once agree 100% with DrJ. Wow.

Wow.

 

Well said.

Customs are customs. I said that before. Nothing wrong w/ bags, for practicality reasons, but not for means of destruction to your own car.

I will chime in with one opinion; something that been rubbing ME the wrong way for a long time, and that's a Model A; straight axle, banjo rear with bags. I think that is stupid as hell. But again, that's my opinion.

 

Great thread Brad!
I agree with you that the draggin' on the ground throwin' sparks thing makes me think MINI TRUCK. I can apreciate work/effort/engineering in any vehicle, some are just not my taste. I like Bobby Alloway's cars (not talking about the Speedstars here). He gets the tip of that 33/34 grill inches off the pavement without bags, through engineering.
If I have 1)a couple inches of suspension travel 2) The tires filling the wheelwell 3) a slight front to rear rake I am happy to drive carefully and slow enough to avoid disaster. If it looks good to me its cool .
To throw another one out there...arent hardtails cool while soft-tails are for bitches?