Hot Rods Hot Rod Stance

What stance should a Hot Rod have? Are they suppose to be in the weeds, should they have a little rake, should it be completely level or lifted in the front gasser style? Some cars you see just look "Right". Some cars are so spot on with their stance you can't imagine them sitting any other way. So, to the smartest guys on the web: How do you like Hot Rods to sit? Is a 30's coupe suppose to be one way and a mid 50's drag car suppose to be another? I'd like to see some ideas!

 

Personally, I think it's from a car to car basis. You know, sort of the overall look of a car. Some look good with a little rake, some look good with a lot of rake, and some look good being well, for lack of a better word, level. Although, I've never been a big fan of the ones that are so low that you have to get in on your hands and knees. Honestly, if you can step into it through the roof, it's too low.

 

In my warped little noggin.... hot rods should not look like a dog dragging it's ass on the carpet...

 

I want mine to have a 50's hot rod look, it's a little higher in the rear, may make it a little higher still.

 

They should have a lot of rake. They go faster because they are always going down hill.

Seriously, pretty much what Joe said. It all depends on the car, except you can go to low.

 

wheres JEEM.....let him tell ya about that old hot rod rake...

 

I like some rake in mine.That way you're always driving downhill and saving gas?
He he he

 

Yes ,a rake says hot rod--started to lower one of mine but after it was photoshopped I didn't like it--left it high in the rear

 

I'm with HotRod Joe...the "right" stance is determined on a car by car basis.

I think things go really wrong when a builder mixes themes, giving a hot rod a "tail dragger" stance, for example, or giving a radical custom a "gasser" stance. Fortunately this doesn't happen too often, at least not around here. H.A.M.B. members are quick to point out flaws of this nature .

One very famous builder who puts stance above all else when designing a hot rod puts it this way, "take the ugly out of it". But even then, it's sometimes hard to do because the car just doesn't want to be made beautiful.

My '48 Plymouth is a pretty good example of a car that has a body style that will always be dowdy. Hudsons, Dodges, Chryslers and others of the '40s era are pretty much the same. You can customize them until the cows come home but they will never be pretty like a '40 Ford or a '49 Mercury. They just don't have the lines for it.

With these cars stance is everything. Low is ALWAYS good, with bigs an' littles and a slight forward tilt to give them an aggressive look.

Here's my Duckly Ugling...

 

Pretty much look at any Jeem or Norwell sketch and you will see what STANCE is!

 

Think it kinda varies by region too. Round the midwest a bigger front tire has always been popular, probably a byproduct of dirt roads & snow. Still raked, just a taller tire filling the well.

 

It would vary from the era your trying to reproduce, Today the "in the weeds" look is popular, but I bet if you were rolling like that in the 50s they would ridicule you

 

Hot rods it depends on the time frame your aiming at.

I spent alot of time trying to get my car so I liked it, I'm happy at the moment, but it meant different wheels and tyres C'ing the chassis, flattening out the original rear x member and various other things like playing with spring packs etc.


drewfus photos.






martins car, bit more east coast not low but looks it.








from rear looks ok,


from front looks like crap. low and flat looks good for these cars.


the old mans val sits nice and low and flat

 

And I love that '48 Plymouth posted by missysdad1. It seems to have the right angle!Friend of mine had one in highschool. I got to drive it to lunch occassionally - A complete stocker but it was cool!
I like a little rake on a traditional "hot rod" car and run big (700s) and littles (650s) on the roadster to help the look. Got some rake dialed into the chassis too. I like whoever said if ya have to climb in the roof its too low! If it drags on every speed bump, stick, log, or whatever it kinda takes the fun outa the drive. Art imitates life - but only to a point?

 

How about the tires? Were white walls used because they were available or was it because they looked cool?

 

Exactly how you like it. Just suit yourself.

 

The big and little "look" and raised rear came about because of traction limitations and tire size. "Hot rods" were modified to go faster. Tire compounds in the early days were terrible. We even used softer snow tires and dirt track tires to gain traction. Suspensions weren't designed for weight transfer. That's why you see different set-ups through the years on street-strip cars. From jacked-up rears, to cut open wheel-wells, to jacked-up (gasser style) front ends, and the sky-high A/FX look.
The real racers didn't care about what looked right, they wanted to win races...............
Tail dragging is a Kustom thing. Probably as early as the mid-30's, when aero-dynamics were hot.

 

I like a car to sit high with some rake. This is how mine sits.

I also like cars that sit lower depending on their style like the ones flatoz posted. I really don't care much for the untra channeled or big z'ed look much but their are some that pull it off.

I always like some rake though, it gives the car atitude.

 

^^^ that's a pretty damn good example of what a hot rod should look like

 

Little worried about mine, the engine goes in tomorrow which will lower the front, she has a 2 1/2 drop axle and reverse spring in the back..looks like it's will be angled not lower but still to early to say forsure.

 

I like the stance on the blue 3 window a lot. Bigs and littles and some sort of rake. Hers mine.

 

Here's a Tom Davidson photo showing three hotrods with similar stances .

 

Here's an old post of mine from tfeverfred's thread, The Eye:



Note how the line of the lower edge of the running board just clips the bottom of the front wheel rim, and how a line connecting the tops of the front and rear tyres is parallel to the running board line. This is the definitive big-'n'-little stance.

It's a rule of thumb I noticed years ago. Look at all the cars that sit best (in conventional hot rod terms) and you will find that this rule applies, though in the best cases it is set up intuitively.

I suspect that, if one were to go and look, one would find that the ratio of tyre width and height is roughly the same between front and rear.

 

I have had a few cars since high school and it was always where you began when you got a new one. Park it, figure out what tire, wheel comb. you are going to run and begin set it up in different ways till you find the just so look that fit the body style and there is the Stance that made the car present it self the best. Just as simple as that. Remember it's your ride and how you want it to look is all up to you if the next guy doesn't like it that way, then it's time for him to find the same car and sent it up the way he likes it, and not tell you how you should sent your's up. But Stance it the begin of any and all car builds so figure that out first and then build away.

 

I think my coupe sits just about perfect!

 

Low and slight rake for me.

 

I see its a old thread but lot of nice cars and stances never get tired of seeing what your all doing.
Here's mine

 

Stance, wheel & tire are 90% of what makes a car.

 

Don't forget the rubber rake

 

I go back to what some senator said about porn, "I can't tell you what it is, but I know it when I see it!" That's what I think about hotrods. I either like it or I don't. It all has to work together or it falls apart. My current project is evolving...not sure I like the poverty caps and I'm going to move the front bumper
in another 1" or so. Stance is somewhat deceiving it's parked uphill.