A few weeks ago, we talked about the insanity behind custom trucks. It's really an age-old argument and one that went down in the offices of Rod and Custom Magazine back in 1955. See, the fellas were ... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.
heh heh so in other words any fool can get a truck stuck dig those buggies, balloon tires, oversized radiators and huge gas tanks and short enough to pull a U turn on a nickle looks like fun
it's very interesting how things change. lowering trucks seemed pointless back then and raising cars up to put on 24" wheels seems pointless now.
Heh....my dad doesnt understand why I lower stuff either. Also kinda funny he was into the VW Baja scene in the 70s. My world is concrete, asphalt, and steel....Ill risk it and go low.
They weren't thinking very clearly. Instead of trying to prove that their trucks were still capable of being used like any other truck, they should have just admited up front that they were re-purposing their trucks to be vehicles designed to look cool and handle better on the road. They retain some cargo-carrying capability but that was no longer their only purpose and some of their "truckness" had been willingly sacrificed for "coolness." End of discussion.
The irony with my pops is pretty funny... He used to rag on me for taking cheap late model trucks and dropping them with spindles and flip kits. Of course, he takes German super cars worth more than my house and completely voids any warranty by hot rodding the shit out of them. Old fart.
Nice Ryan. I am really interested in the history in the Yuma, San Luis, Sonora Desert part of the country both in and out of hot rodding. It is good to get a good visual. An 'Old Timer' friend of mine always tells me of the "dune buggies" they used to make around here on the Oregon Coast out of T and A's. I am sure he will get a kick out of this. Thanks Ryan!
i agree. and even though i will fetch parts and make the occasional trip to home depot with my lowered shop truck, you won't catch me bajaing in some sand dunes 40 miles from home!
So how long will it be before someone posts a thread about how just they found a vintage T-bucket/dune buggy in a barn?
I'm sort of on the fence on this one. If you want a cool low rod at a reasonable price trucks are the way to go. You do sacrifice payload weight and area. Some lowered trucks are not functional as a truck at all almost. My most recent truck is not lowered much. It's still cool.Most lowered trucks don't handle better on the road either, unless you spend a ton of money or time, and that sort of takes away the reason most people customize trucks in the first place. So it's up to you, but I'm not going to lower my truck so someone else can think it's cool. It handles the same as an axle under and better than removing springs. I don't think the center of gravity matters much going in a straight line, and I don't plan any road races for it. Do what you want. There are benefits and drawbacks to almost everything.
Sure, I remember those guys, I think their club was the Baja Buggy Boys and their motto was Sand in your crack and in your crank.
How similar are they to modifieds, they look pretty sweet but you can't tell much from the pics. Were there any differances to the modifieds we see today like: suspension, ride height, steering? Does anyone have any pics? editamn, I missed what Paul said about the radiators and gas tanks
If I would have known I was going to move to a house off a dirt road, I wouldnt have lowered my truck as much as I did. But other than taking it kinda easy through the dry wash ( no different than slowing down for a speedbump ), there have been no problems. And my truck hauled a lot of stuff for the move itself. Infact, the only drawback of having a lowered vehicle out here is that the packrats dont have to climb as much to make a mess of your enginebay...
I remember these kinds of dune buggies back in the 1950s, well before the VW craze took over. We used to see them in SoCal and I was fascinated when the owners told me that they put water in the rear tyres for added traction - thought they were putting me on! Anyone who was an MST3K fan might remember the duner that featured in that early '60s Arch Hall Jr. epic, Eegah! (sp?) "Watch out for snakes!"
A fun exercise for sure, but in reality how many "shop trucks" (custom or not) ever need to go in sand dunes. Mucho cool dune buggies!
Nice article, I've always thought lowered trucks were cool. My first truck was a 1977 GMC Indy crew truck and I wanted to lower it and my dad thought I was nuts. The only way he knew how was to heat the springs but I didn't want to do it that way and nobody I knew in the midwest was doing it. I'll attach a picture of the 77 GMC, and a picture of my current work truck, a 04 lowered with 20's ]. I use it every day in my window cleaning business and carry my tools in it. my avatar is my 56 GMC and it lowered too.
I remember my old man, now 87, asking me to haul a load of sand in my lowered 69 chevy pickup. Talk about slammed! But I didn`t get stuck.
This thread reminded me of a song (and at least there is one kinda cool old car in the video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDY6bWT5oTM (warning: Canadian country music content)
I've never had the urge to lower a truck or a car. Any suspension work that is done is to beef up the springs and get me more ground clearance. When your local roads look like this you don't want a lowered rig. This is very mild. Some of the roads are much worse, some get so bad in the spring that one has to keep their speed up or get stuck. I haven't gotten stuck in the middle of the road yet but I have came across other folks who haven't been so lucky.
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