Hot Rods Stance...get you some. Mine and Yours 50's Car Rake

So I was torn and have been for a while about which direction to go with my 54 Buick Special. I drove it on factory gear for years and the factory stance. Since I did this big engine/trans swap the rearend has been haunting me. Finally I jumped in face first and went with leaf springs... Knowing full well that it was gunna sit raked when it was said and done. Chassis Engineering Inc. and JPL is where I got the universal kit and I am so far very happy with there products. So now it sits and i look at it and here I ponder. I wasnt so sure I was gunna like the raked look. I was always kinda thinking that it needed to be slammed in the back. But several factors lead to my final choose. A. Wyoming is rough for any car let alone lowered cars. B. I cant afford bags. and C. this is my hot rod, not my custom low cruiser. Well take a look... tell me your opinion. AND LETS SEE YOUR 50's Era Raked Stance or whatever you call it in your neck of the woods.

 

let me start by saying:your avatar picture is fucking creepy. haha.

anyway, aside from that, all i can tell you is: ASS LOW.

that's just my .02 though, all my cars get about 2" lower in the front and 5" or more in the back, basically as low as i can go in the back. that's my thing, and that's what i would do with that car if i had it.

 

I dont know how to post pics up but...... if you have the time check out my album.... you will see a very early 50s stance. Kustoms ( westcoast style ). But thats just the way I like it. I like to do it just the way it was done at that time. No modern nothing.

 

AND you will see a ridiculously cool car... damn-i love that thing.

 

I'm with Shooter.. gotta drag ass on that!
~JoJo~

 

Thank you

 

Yeah thats a bad ass merc. Just to clarify. I wanted to try this way out and see how I felt about it. No question with out a DOUBT i will put lowering blocks on it. and lower the front... that said. Until I can afford what I really want to do this baby is gunna have to be a little taller in the back.

 

Hi Stutz! So you jumped in "face first"? You must do that often, judging by the condition of your face in your avatar. LOL. (Just tryin' to be funny.)

I like the rake. I like 'em either way, actually. As for "doin' it the way they did back then", there were probably more cars with the ass up than down over the years. Everybody seems to want their car scraping the pavement these days, but when I was a kid in the early sixties, a "jacked up" car was the coolest. One thing really good about having it up rather than down...with those low wheel-openings, you'll be able to change your tires! (Without having to undo the shackles.) - Rck

 

and you don't have to anticipate every single move you make. i get tired sometimes of having to think about what i have to do to get in and out of some places. sometimes my wife will call and be like "can you stop and pick up some food from (wherever) on your way home?" and sometimes i'll have to tell her "i would but my car doesn't make it up into that parking lot" because my shit's so low...... but, the flip side of that is that wherever i AM able to go, my shit looks tough as hell...haha.

 

I like it. My '63 LeSabre sits like that and that's how I'm doing my '59 Invicta and my '63 Electra hearse.

 

"Where were you in '62?" Not running around with your ass dragging I'm betting!
Good look!

 

That's funny, shooter! Hahahaha!

pasadenahotrod...That's actually very true. In the early sixties, the tail-dragging customs had kinda fallen from popularity, and the nose down stance wasn't seen much yet. The cat's ass was a car that was jacked up even front and rear. It gave 'em kind of a "tough" look...RUMP-RUMP-RUMP! I'm speaking generally, 'cause there are always exceptions. But that was the popular look for the time. They usually used extra-long shackles to raise the rear, and you could see 'em, and that became a part of the look too.

 

I regard the Kripple Kart as a kustom,but as I am more of a late '50's-early'60's guy,I went with a slight rake,if I remember rightly,by lowering 4" front and 2" at back,although I do admit I couldn't take her lower as we had to drop the floor between the rails to get me in in ED-209, my wheelchair.



I was much inspired by these;




I think that there's more to hotrods and kustoms than just 'slammed',which seems to be the current 'default' answer to a thread like this. In my humble opinion, which I know aint worth a shit, dropping an un-chopped or un-sectioned car to the floor can just ruin the proportions.
Good luck whatever you decide.I think your car looks tough.
Paul

 

The American Graffiti cars all had a nose-low stance. And to my eye, that's how all mid-late 1950s cars look their best. Level is okay, even tail slightly down is okay. But 'draggin ass' makes it look broken and slouchy, not the designers' intent with these cars. Nose-high and ass-low works on the '40s-early 50s customs, but not finned cars.

It's just an opinion and it's worth exactly what you paid for it. I think your Olds' new stance looks great.

 

add a few hunnerd more hp, and you can get away with it

 

Glad to see I am not completely crazy. Its kinda funny that with my Buick I could have gone either way and I think the fact that its a Special 2dr Sedan and the late 50's style guided me into the raked stance.

Thanks for everyones comments....

I wanna see more!

 

Thanks man. It my car ever looks as good as these I will be a proud fella.

 

Double the width of your rear tires, then do as Squirrel says... add plenty of ponies to 'get away with it'...

I'm a fan of the low and mean stuff. Permanently low that is.

 

gotgas, the American Graffiti stance of that 58 impala being a hot rod and a custom had alot to do with my thinking.


Squirrel, hopefully my 65' 401 nailhead bored out will be enough HP for while. it sounds fucking mean, I know that much.

Stutz

 

I'm in the process of setting up a mild custom '55 Buick Special 2-door sedan. While it's not exactly the same as yours, it's pretty close except for the opened up rear wheel wells.

I'm doing mine in a late '50s - early '60s look with the car lowered all the way around, with the nose slightly lower than the rear, much like Andy Southard's well-known black '58 Impala on the left in the above photo. If you'll take the time to do some "little book" research you'll find that this was a very popular look at the time, and not just in areas with rough roads.

My first stage is stock height in the rear with the front lowered about 3"...a very mild drop...with slightly oversize tires in the rear. My car sits a bit higher in the front than in the rear the way it is now, so this will result in a very mild "rake" to the front.

My goal, the first time around, is to center the wheels in the fenderwells, with the front ones tucked up inside just a bit. This should give a very authentic stance with a bit of a performance flair.

Take a look at the little books and you'll find you are not alone...

I'll post photos when I get it back down on all four and you can judge it for yourself.

 

I concur! I noticed the double-pinner whites you have on the '57 Chrysler and how you removed paint from the top two grille bars... very slick!

 

Scavenger pipes will look good on that stance. And you still can drop it a bunch more. But I'd keep the rake

 

I ran triple tip long lake pipes for a long time. those are gunna go back on.

 

Whatever you do, don't let on if you're not gonna hook them up. Drives some people round here crazy if you run them just for show.


(Mine aren't hooked up, I like the sound of glass packs )

Paul

 

I learned my lesson years ago about side pipes not being hooked up... I got alot of shit for it. I am gunna run them this time. bakc in the day i just didnt give a hoot.

 

50 Stude Champion

 

dmw56 I like that a LOT!!!!! studes are sweet. had a 52 once.

 

I used to run lakes style pipes on my Dodge years ago (1992 ish) , I had to use them as the 429/c6 and the original torsion bar suspension and the fact that it was lowered meant that there was no room for rear exit pipes.
To be fair they sounded pretty good, and the chrome went a lovely blue colour from the heat


Heres a pic from about 1992, excuse the pink colour, it was all I had lying around and needed something to protect it from our shitty winter weather (was a daily driver)
I have since remade the front doors the correct 2 door length and moved the pillar back and lowered it considerably more.
I am planning on a refresh of the engine and getting the old girl back out on the street.

Paul.

 

Dang Paul was that a four door originally? I remember being a young kid and not sure if I liked those big bastard dodges. But they grew on me. Sweet hope you getting out on the road again.

 

back in the 50s, my grandma told me (and showed me pictures) of her 53 ford (mine now) with it just lowered 3 inches in the back.. i guess that was a cool thing to do in nor cal back then and still is now. my 53 is stock heigth now but i think it rides too high. This prob wont give YOU much help but yeah, just talking of a old school trad stance, that what she did back in the day..