History About what year was this picture taken

I am guessing mid 50s but never seen a car sitting like that during those years,going to build a model of that 50. The ones I seen were tail draggers and customs.

 

It does have that souped up look, doesn't it?

 

The stance is not right for that era .

 

1955 according to
https://www.pinterest.co.kr/pin/523332419201417721/

 

Ed Binggeli ran Bing's in Santa Rosa from 1953 until 1976.

 

Someone, quick send me the lowered 50!

 

I agree, if that is a real picture that shoebox Ford was the best sitting I have seen from that time.

 

Maybe its the first to sit like that.

 

Taildraggers were not real popular in the West, at least in the Northwest. That was more of a Midwest/East coast thing, I think. I remember the' dropped all the way around' look, but not taildraggers... before my time (mid 50's/60's) maybe. Thank God that look died (if it ever existed here) before I came along!

 

Here in Okieland, 1959/1962 most were lowered all the way around with the front a couple of inches lower.

 

Guessing late 50s/ early 60s. Look at the corner of the car that is on the left. You can barely make out the corner of the car. Reminds me of a 59/60 Buick. I'm probably wrong though.

 

This photo is a still from the 1958 movie Thunder Road, the old moonshine runners cars sat low, at least here in the South & the Appalachians. HRP

 

The Rio Grande sign told me the location. That sign is STILL THERE.

Ben

 

Tail draggers NEVER made any sense to me.

*Lowered all the way around: less wind resistance (faster)
* Nose up drag car; weight transfer to the rear (better traction)
* Nose down Calif rake; less wind resistance and room for larger rear tires (faster)
* Tail dragger; no mechanical advantage or logical reason.

 

C'mon Jack:

Improved visibility at drive in movies
Reclined seating promotes necking
Empty bottles roll to rear floorboard

Important stuff

 

Yes it does.... check out the size of the exhaust pipes.

People forget that early Caddy and Olds motors were popular swaps into these, you could buy swap parts or even completed cars. They weren't all flathead powered like today.....

 

Ed Binggeli’s business was Bing’s Speed Shop, which he ran from 1953 to 1976 and was first located on Santa Rosa Avenue before moving to Barham Avenue. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/?p=4973

A lot of the teenagers liked the look of custom cars that were in car shows. But, after they lowered their own sedans as low as possible, that did not last long for daily driving for several reasons. Every intersection was your enemy and at the drop of a hat, the CHP or local police would pull any lowered car over for a possible ticket. That was the standard situation all over the USA, but in California, teenagers were well aware of the violations in lowered cars.


Hello,

I am pretty sure that it was what California hot rod/cruiser people were building back then. The time period was between 1954-60. By the 60’s most had the more modern 54-59 Chevy sedans in all stages of California rake styles. Take a look at what a 1951 Oldsmobile two door sedan looked like in 1956. At 15, my brother had his mind set on a 1951 Olds sedan. Upon buying it, he cut the coils to lower it in front and used blocks in back. That was the going style for those old sedans.

When the 51 Oldsmobile rolled into the driveway of our Westside of Long Beach home, it was a pale yellow.
The original color from the factory at purchase time as a used car.

The big problem was how low the Cal Rake stance would be. The first round of cutting coils looked good, but was impractical. So, a different set with less taken out worked fine. Even with 4 teenagers in their cruising seating arrangement, the Olds sedan was on the border of illegal. Since he added Traction Master Bars, those were the ground scrapers. His Olds was originally yellow and the Moon Discs and the lowered Cal Rake stance made the big sedan just right for teenage adventures in Bixby Knolls and as a daily driver to school/jobs.
1956-57
Jnaki

By late 1957, the Olds was painted a Lime Green and sold to a good friend that lived a block over from us in the Westside of Long Beach.
51 Olds Sedan Westside of Long Beach

By the time I was the main 58 Impala driver, (1960) with 4 normal teenagers or a double date, the stock heavy duty springs and shocks were taking a beating. The extra weight dropped the stock, level Impala down to a level close to being illegal. (Even with stock tires and rims.) But, by that time, lowered cars were not the thing, that it was 5-10 years earlier.

 

Never been bothered with them being too low but if the back was too high then you would get a ticket.

 

Here is my version but its going to be a 49 unless I can find a 50 grille,since its 55 and later its getting a Y block with a 3 speed o/d.

 

LMAO. That's some funny shit.

Having never considered the ergonomics of a taildragger...I stand corrected

My only issue is, my Jack Daniels bottles are square...they don't roll

 

That is sure a nice looking shoebox in the pic.
This is my dad and his '40 chevy. Low all around, no rake either way. He was 16 in '52 when he had this car.
(his first car WAS a tail dragging '41 chevy convert that he totaled in front of his high school)

He had just had the car painted and new TJ interior. He'd be in the Marines before he'd hit 17.

 

Just noticed it looks like that shoebox is running a 6.

 

On my phone those look like black plates with yellow on the numbers/ letters. If so, that started in ‘63.

 

was trying to figure out that myself, can't tell if front or back.

 

Started way before that.

 

The plates on the cars were 51/55 so I'd say that that photo was taken in the early 50's.
The 52 Ford Vicky that my step father had in the mid 50's was lowered all around and lowered even. It sat right at the scrub line.

The only Tail dragger I remember seeing in the PNW in the 50's or early 60's was a shoebox ragtop that a guy who looked like he was in the Navy and headed to Bremerton (I lived on Bainbridge at the time) who had out of state plates blew by me in when I was riding my bicycle the other way along the road. Saw the car coming down the road from several hundred yards ahead and stopped to watch it go by. That was 60 years ago and that car still sticks in my head as it was so different than local cars. The cool cars that the older guys had were lowered evenly all the way around and the "California rake" hadn't hit yet.

 

By '56 dad was just about out of the Corp and stationed at Pendelton. This pic was the day I was born in '56 on base and dad's coupe was gone, their only car was this 5 window with the new california rake.
Not sure when it started though.

 

The plates on the '53 look like the wider '47 to '55 plates but are the wrong color. Maybe they're not Calif. plates.