lets see what people believe is true? where did this type of design come from. was it for handling or style or what. most of them are on fenderless roadsters but not all. what i am talking about is where the tire is above the rear of the body.
I will say it has a solid history in the postwar Dry Lakes Hotrod... I suspect it was related to indy and other types of racing...lowering the body to improve handling and streamline the brick... The practise just was applied by crafty Hotrodders at the speed runs and drag strips... ...While not extreme it was the beginning... So as much as people hate it, call it ratrod...it is just part of what was done back then... I still believe it was cross-referenced from racing but thats just my opinion...and it looks pretty cool applied with period Hotrod in mind... Credit to Photographer's, Owner's
Definitely to win. Don't forget doing so also eliminates the need of door latches and hinges. Saving weight. As well, if upholstery is chosen it needs less. no need to design a trunk, there is none. Some where there exists a foto shoot that is one of my favs. The roadster is an A I believe. Large V8, rubber taller than the shortened trunk. Done maybe sixty some years ago
...this is one of the images but there's another that similarly highlights what I call trendsetters...3rd Hotrod forward...and we must remember a lot of these were plated and driven to and from the events... Credit to Photographer, Owner
It came about so short guys could see over the dash I imagine a group of guys looking at an old hot rod and saying "how can we make this thing uncomfortable to drive...." lol
As Stogy said, definitely a combination of Dry Lakes and Indy influence. Although most of the Indy cars were custom built tube chassis, the look can be achieved with a heavy channel. Going back even further, Pre-War Formula cars got in on the look and often had tires higher than the body work.
exactly! All in the name of less frontal area. The same goes for top chopping. Make it push through the wind easier. Street driven hot rods copied their racing brethren to get "The Look"!
I'd say that they pretty well did, Less wind resistance and often with less weight you go faster with the same horsepower. In that time frame before or after WWII you could probably get T or early 30's body for what won't count as beer money now. Maybe for dragging it out of someone's yard because it had issues they didn't want to deal with.
...The T's and their 20's cousin's were more pronouced in the Tire over department once they got low...but these images eveyone shared truly are a great example of how this go fast culture fed off one another...the low slung look certainly wasn’t as plentiful but it was a force in the big picture without a doubt and certainly has never really gone away... Credit to Photographer's, Owner's
Just to go back a bit into the earlier Hamb Era...this getting down low predated WW11 by quite a large margin... While tires aren't over the chassis the ride height is way down...and I don't think for a minute others weren't noticing... I find this stuff wickedly fascinating... http://www.steamcar.net/whistlingbillyhistory.html
https://ahrf.com/ ...I really like shots like this...In the line behind 871B the 2nd and 4th roadsters are notably lower...I'd almost say extremely lower and it's just the way the participants were moving forward with innovation and pushing boundaries to get the numbers that matter...it is also worth mentioning there were a huge number of classes also effecting the mods to these Racers/Hotrods...
Easy way to make a car look lower. Way easier for a kid to channel the body (especially if the floor was rotted out) over the frame, than to modify the frame/suspension to get it lower...and especially true for the many kids with limited budgets, skills and equipment. It happened to roadsters a lot, because of the rotted out floors. As more and more received this treatment, it became a very popular/trendy procedure. Like with a lot of things as the hot rod movement progressed, more sophisticated ways of lowering suspensions evolved. The major drawback with channeling is the lack of room/leg room in the interior of what already is a rather cramped interior, but channeled hot rods will always a popular style to many.
We channeled the body of my son's '48 Anglia seven inches, because 6" of the body was completely rusted away.
I provided some...as his description and title really painted the picture without one and some have challenges posting content... I could also see one drawing a sketch of what they wanted to achieve albeit many have that drawing/design in their head... It's a subject I've often been curious of myself...and like many it's far older than one would imagine...
I channeled my hot rod a lot To slip right under the breeze But I can't see or hear Cuz my eyes and my ear Are wedged between my knees
The Jalopy Journal
