Hot Rods "Drag Plaques ( Lets see them; past and present )

one old fart in our club tried this "draggin'' thing,
some of the boys pulled his plaque, he rearranged it.

 

From the 1960's. Chargers Car Club in St. Albans, WV.

 

drag plates is that like poggying? Drag Plaques?

 

Yes -the pic of the shoebox ford with the "club drag plate/ plaque --- hanging is what I was seeking to see.
From what I read the "Drag " Plate/Plaque was a back in the day thing ; people hung out a food burger joint ( for example) and guys wanted to announce -show off they were arriving in their hot rods , the slow moving hot rod with the cool sound of the plaque-plate dragging on the road got attention of people hanging at the food joints.

 

Ak Miller gave me this one when I joined the Road Runners in 1960. It has made a lot of p***es down a 1/4 mile, but it is not a "drag plaque". When I arrive at a "burger joint", or anywhere else, the engine usually announces my arrival.

 

So unique no one wants to know about them.

Maybe they had a different name.
Maybe a regional thing.
Maybe only certain kinds of people had them.
As Dean says, the engine does all the talking.

 

The Lead Sled, Tail Dragger, Custom guys used to hang them low enough that they would drag the road at low speed, but the wind would keep them up as speed increased. When you pulled into the cruise spot they would drag and s****e. Some clubs are reviving this old tradition and some are casting their own plates. Beer parties provide plenty of aluminum cans to cast with. Air bags have probably helped revive plate dragging. I remember as a kid outside of Wash, DC cops were busting guys for "swinging plates". Guys who didn't have a club or a club plate would mount their tags to a thick plate and make a drag plate using their licence plate. There was a big gap in Hot Rod history caused by Vietnam. The up-in-front-down-in-back thing was interrupted by the war and the muscle car era came in with up-in-the-rear-down-in-front thing.

 

When I first moved to the Midwest in 1980, I drove a low 56 Pontiac and joined a custom car club. It was cool to hang your club plaque from small chains and when you'd pull into the local burger joint, the plaque would drag a little on entry with a "jingle" noise...did it on leaving too.
I admit I did it.

 

Some may think it's dumb but it's part of Hot Rod history and deserves preservation on that alone.

 

Right now I don't have a car that would be correct for draggin' a plate. My Olds is raked, my Impala is raked, my Henry J is going g***er and my Dodge panel truck sits fairly high. But...if I had a low custom I'd set up a drag plate just to be able to explain the history to those who said "Hey! You know your plate is draggin'"?

 

Personally, I agree.

 

In Southern California in the 50's, we called them plaques. They were usually mounted on the rear gravel pan or on the package tray. I think the term "drag plate" was more of an East Coast thing.

I do have over 8,000 car club plaque photos on my website, as Buddy Palumbo mentioned.

The URL is ..... Car Club Plaques
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Here is my Vampires plaque on my 41 Chevy coupe .....

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Diasagree - IKEA has better Swedish meetballs than a supermarket!

And yet ........

Oh Damn, now I did it too

There was nothing "COOL" sounding about the club plaque dragging on the ground. Although it did make people look, they usually laughed as well. Even a Custom worth it's salt still had a cool enough sounding exhaust without having to resort to dragging metal on the ground to say "Look at me, I want to be one of the cool kids".

 

I just want to go on record that my Shoebox (pic above) does not drag the plate like that picture (front was jacked up) , and it sounds damn cool

 

If you drag your plate too often, you won't have a plate left.
Here's my idea of a drag plate; Kiwi Kev took care of it in one fell wheelie!

 

Yeah? Well, when he pulled that wheelie he had it on upside down!

When we used to go to Lodi (NSRA run in late '70s) seemed like everybody was tryin' ta 'Make a Statement'. There was a local club (local to Lodi and parts) where most of the members dragged plaques. One I remember (on a '50s car, a Plymouth, I think) had a plaque he had ground off about 2". I looked at it, it was wheel-ground, not 'ground' ground.
Just another 'grind'...

 

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...s-from-lead-sled-bumper.876706/#post-10532413

The old timers in our club said I have to do it this way or the'll kick my ***!
lol

Always a big hit on cruse night when I come rolling into the parking lot clanking away

 

Good for them. Preserve the history.

 

Ha Ha, me either!!

 

Is this also a dash plaque? .....

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And what the heck is this? .....

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Could it be a Five Year pin?

 

I have this famous plaque that Larry Watson painted off of
Bob Schremp 54 Chevy



And no I won't be draggin this on the street

 

This is a one off I had casted...one for me and my son...the Canadian guys should definitely get this

 

Cl***ic Nights Car Club
Monroe CT

Established 1984

http://www.Cl***icNights.com

 

Go Kings, Go!

 

I started a club Based out San Diego CA with an emphasis on building tradional hot rods and kustoms