Hot Rods Have you ever scraped the pavement with your hot rod??

Nope. My stuff is pretty low, but it would take a big hump to drag anything on it.

 

Had a 39 Chevy 2 dr. sedan that set pretty low in front, would scrape the chin guard (panel below the grill) a lot. Had to use 2 X 6's to just get out of my driveway because of the way the street was made with a rain gutter at the end of my driveway.

 

Yes......I hate speedbumps.

 

The pan on my T was a bit too low and just in the right spot to catch a speed bump when the front spring was fully compressed.
I busted the pan on it at least twice.
I hung the front bumper up a few times when the 48 was subframed. Got hung up on a grocery store driveway in Bountiful Utah (not a great town for lowered rides) and my family had to get out to be able to move it.

I could lay a beer can on the ground under the bumper and step on the bumper and smash the can then.

 

Oh yeah...had a couple of scrape-eez. Years ago, I built this '40 pickup with '37 pass. front sheet metal. Managed to completely flatten the curved chin of the grill from numerous hits. It was one of those cheap Argentina repro grills and it took the hits quite well.

Picked up this '40 Ply. in the 90's in a trade for an OT pickup. We have some railroad tracks at one end of the road we live on, and the car sat SO low that I would make Bonnie get out of the car when we crossed the tracks so it wouldn't scrape so much

 

Spark it, or park it.

 

A few times. Also have had head liner bottom out on my head.

 

Yes!

 

Yes, When you run them lowered sooner or later you will drag across something. As someone stated, you learn how to drive a lowered car, what to watch for. My Roadster, 32 3 window and my Merc all violate the scrub line rule, knock on wood, 20+ years, hasn't bit me in the butt yet.

 

Bashed my front MMl crossmember on a dip in the road.
Took a lot of muscle to correct it.
Mine is not on bags and just too low,


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scraped a road once with the roof.....about nine times

 

Drug the mufflers on my 50 Ford and 60 T-Bird several times but not with my avatar. Was on a road trip with a friend and he bottomed the aluminum pan on his Deuce roadster turning into a driveway and cracked it.

 

No, my cars are built for fun. This is low enough. I live in Pittsburgh lol.

 

I remember hearing a friend say that on a lowered car they used to have, he made a few strategically placed "wear parts" that could be easily removed and replaced, I guess kind of on the same line of thinking as a skid plate on an offroad vehicle.

Once they got worn down too much, he's just take those chunks of steel out and bolt in fresh ones. Purposely making them a bit lower than the exhaust, so that hopefully the exhaust or anything else wouldn't scrape.

 

It Is Using The Braille System...

 

I started building rods an customs end of the 1950s,as for low we all though was cool,it had to have 3 to 4 in. under the car<that was low and cool> but any lower would just end up high centered coming in to local hangout drive way=nothing looks as stupid as that,an even more so if it's your dates driveway picking her up.
My hot rod is pretty low at the oil pan,3 in. to the road. Over the years I've made it leak 3 times by hitting crap in the road. After the first time,I added a extra steel bottom 1/8in, plate to pan. Even with that ,there was one time I hit a hole an bent it so bad it leaked,I got home by adding 3 Qt.s one every mile tell I got home,had to build a new pan n safety plate. Not bad for a rod from 59 to now.

 

I took a first date out in my ‘29 closed cab pu and nailed a speed bump in the restaurant parking lot with the flex plate. No dust cover. Didn’t think much of it, the engine stumbled but kept running. After dinner and a few drinks we returned to the truck and it turned over about half a revolution and the starter disengaged, then no more cranking. I looked under and sure enough about 90 degrees worth of flexplate was bent back. Without missing a beat, I pulled the 12” crescent wrench and a screwdriver out from under her seat, laid down and slowly straightened it out. I finally got it good enough to start it up. She was impressed that I knew what went wrong and could fix it so quickly.
Of course we had to go back to my place so I could change clothes.........


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No and hell no.

Gary

 

Ha ha i was thinking the same thing!

 

I had a 292 chevy 6 in my roadster for a while. The pan took a beating and began to leak after one particular incident. Have an sbc in it at the moment. The pan sits a bit higher with it.

 

You mean today?

 

Exactly. The only reason I haven't scraped the ground with my '40 today is that it's not running.

 

This one had gouges in the bottom of the front bumper from scrapping the ground so much. It also would scrape the front edges of the running boards if there was a hump in a driveway entrance.
One time the threads broke off a ball joint when I hit a pot hole and the fender laid on the ground.
The sad part was it really did clear the scrub line test. The long overhang on the front, and the low center on drive entrances was most of its problems. Anything of importance was above the bottom of the frame, and that was 6" above the ground.

Everything I've built since then has had more ground clearance. I didn't enjoy having to watch the road surfaces that much. Gene

 

I drag my unibody here and there, not often. The worst I do to it on a regular basis is rub the tire on the fender when I am turning and hit a bump at the same time. Now I know to just go slow into driveways.

 

Three of my cars -- my '40, '51 and '56 -- were so low that they dragged on the ground all the time. All three were raised an inch to correct the scraping.

 

Neither car is a Hot Rod but yes on the pavement scraping thing.

 

A more likely subject might be be who hasn't scraped pavement with their hot rod. The largest damage done was breaking a shock mount.

 

My '65 Caddy sat just right....way too low. It dragged almost every driveway. Dips in the road and railroad crossings would always be an adventure. The Shoebox sits low but not so low it drags frame.

 

I call BS on some of you. My daily ski hauler is a Subie Crosstrek, ground clearance is as good as many SUVs and I STILL scrape on steep approaches. My old 54 was pretty rare to scrape but it happened. As said, you just learn to drive differently.

 

YES