I am working on a car that has been sitting I believe based on inspection/registration since the early 80's. The car has air shocks and very long shackles, 10 inches. Was this simply a hack to get around de-arched springs or did this serve some sort of traction function of some sort. Thanks in advance for any help EDIT (2/28/2009): I had these images hosted on my server. I am starting to worry about using too much bandwidth this month. I switched over to a hamb album to host the images. I went out to the car and snapped some better pics with the good camera. This has kind of taken a life of it's own. I more than got the answer to my question, thanks to everyone. n-shit.
Jacking up the rear end was kind of a fad thing for some people in the 1970s. I never got the look either. I remember lights in the fenderwells and all sorts of crap like that. Kerby
LOL, if you'd been in high school in the 70's like I was, you'd recognize a high school boys cobbled up, little effort as possible method to get the ass end of a (usually his parents hand me down old 4 door) car up in the air to clear the 60 series tires that were the epitomy of "cool"! The purpose was to look fast, the result was to make a really poor handling, driving and riding mess of a car... Brian
You needed to jack up the rear of the car to clear the wide tires. Nobody was running narrowed rear ends in the 60s-70's. The offset of most custom rims made the track wideralso. Car Craft mag now refers to this as the "stinkbug" stance.
Basically a hack job. Someone with no money wanted to have a "hot" car. The trend was to jack the rear end way up in the air and have huge tires sticking out past the bodywork. Meanwhile the nose and front bumper were almost dragging. When they hit the brakes the stupid looking things practically stood up on the front bumper. Thank god the trend is dead. They looked retarded.
damm I'm old..... Just like the 60's, if you remember it, you were not there!!!! Mags in the back, steelies in the front! Fat Chick Friendly!
one thing rodders always screw with is ride height...slammers, gassers, everything else...just a trend to get the ass end up from the late 60's
I was there in the late 60's-early 70's. It was a popular look at the time, but I wouldn't say it looked any more stupid than the nose up gasser stance or the bagged "lay'n frame" pose of other timeframes. Different look that ran it's course. You could even get those long shackles at KMart, along with 12" chrome steering wheels and itsy bitsy chrome air cleaners. Even JC Penny sold that stuff back then. Just think of this as "traditional from the 70's" Alan
I can't imagine what that guy must have been thinking. I mean, jack it up that high and not paint the rear end white? Pfffft.....
> it would be nice to know what car it is ? 1967 Nova/Chevy ||. Thanks for all the replies, I get it now and have seen it. It was never going to stay, I just was curious and I knew everyone here would know the answer.
Graduated in '73, shackles, air shocks, coil spring spacers, station wagon springs, 2 X 4's.......... yeah, 2 X 4's! Whatever it took to get the ass end as high as you could. It was bad enough on the cars that actually needed tire clearance but there were just as many with 78 series whitewall snow tires on the back jacked up so high you could see the oil pan from behind the car! Rear side windows plastered with speed equipment decals when there wasn't a single one of those items on the car and had never been anywhere near it. They were the "ricers" of our generation. Better snag that set up while you can, could be the next "big thing".
Oh the seventies, I was in my informative teenage years. You would think that I would have been smitten to that look, but I NEVER got it, even back then. Traditional hot rods are just timeless I guess, and that's the look I love.
yea saw it.... liked it and rocked it. i had my super turner hanging under the dash , a mullet on my head and a set of tsx8's on the rear deck.
What color was the dome light painted Red or Blue? I am also amazed that the Wheel Wells and Rear End aren't White with Lights in them...did it happen to have some Huge Hippo Hip Fender Flares too.
Mr. Gasket must have paid for one of his '57 Chevy fuelie cars with all of the long shackle kits he sold in the '70s. It attracted the crowd that couldn't scrape together enough money for a pair of Gabriel Hijackers (at least they were adjustable--you could let the air out and look halfway normal again). You didn't have the complete look unless you mounted a pair of beehive clearance lamps on either side of the rear end cover.
It is a Marina Blue on Bright Blue super sport car that was repainted a lacquer dark red with a black and fuzzy grey interior. It was probably quite the car in it's heyday ;-) My plan is to undo all that stuff...
It's funny hearing everyone crap on the "stinkbug" stance when half the sheeple out there are jacking the front end up for the "faux-gasser" look that is so hot right now.
Did it have Swivel Seats? You should really take pics so you can document the look for when the day comes that the style is back in and you want to restore it back to its Original Period Glory!
I dont see any shackles on this one but tell me this one isnt 70s wicked. I like shackles better than air shocks, if you dont make the shackles rediculously long...............I like em high front and back, on the rite car I will agree jacking up Mike Bradys big ole beast plymouth isnt going to look good but watch these jacked up 70s trends come back into play more in the next few years ...................I think even Mike Brady type cars (not jacked up or donked) will also be more (IN) than before
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