The sad fact is they probably spent lots of money to make it this way. I thought the suspension had some serious problem at first glance. It does have a problem but they made it that way on purpose. I mean it got stuck trying to get out of the garage and then they had to pull it up the driveway with a truck. It basically became a DIY road grader at that time. I love how all the gravel and dust pours out the back once they get it on a paved road.
It is a “thing” that car customizers do. I think it’s silly.
But this is/was silly, too. Lets put 700 hp into a car that can’t control it and lower it until it barely rolls;
Every generation takes things too far at some point!
There’s a town not too far from me (Lawrence MA). I’ve seen a few there. I have no idea why they do it.
Neighbor has a t-bucket roadster. Never drives it. 2nd neighbor has a 68 hemi charger. Which I really like. I lik it when he leaves garage door open, so I can see it.
When I was a teenager, I drove around in a 1957 Chevy with 18 inch shackle extensions. I only put them on because it was considered cool at the time. One side broke on a nasty local curve and I went back to stock. Every generation is different.
My teenage years were the era of the air-shock. Jack the rear to the moon so you could hang big tires (N-50-15’s) out the wheel arches. When the air goes down. the car can’t even roll 'cause the fenders are on the tire.
They do it because they likes it. We need to take an existential view when considering junk like this. Don’t think too much about it, just, ahem, enjoy it.
The trouble is that more recent automotive fads led to safety problems on the roads. The “Fast and Furious” look led to clear tail lights, which of course are illegal so they’d put a red gel around the bulb which made it emit this ridiculously dim pink light that you had no prayer of seeing in the daytime, so you didn’t get the usual warning that they were braking.
The “hellaflush” look in the OP’s picture puts a lot of unnecessary stress on suspension components. I had some dumb kid with the cambered tires almost slide into me a couple years back because he snapped his ball joint as he was trying to stop for a light. I got lucky that it snapped on the side that veered his car away from mine, because I had no room to get out of his way.
And while the Model T up there isn’t exactly safe for street driving either, at least it’s unsafe for the occupant, moreso than the people he encounters. Plus, a lot of those guys trailer those things to car shows and that’s about it. The dope in the hellaflush Accord is daily driving that thing.
In years past those T-buckets would have been street driven very often. Now the older owners have way more money and can afford trucks and trailers. The younger guys who have adopted these types of cars are driving “rat rods” like this;
Just as unsafe at the hellaflush twits. Each generation did its own version of this. Not endorsing this by any means but all generations did dumb stuff with cars.
Forward vision obstructed much?
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My 1971 MACH I was equipped with Gabriel High Jackers when I bought it. It eventually ended up with N-50-15s on rear and G-50-15s on front. It was great in the snow. NOT!!!
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yep. I sold my Camaro with an extra set of alum slots with l60-15s or close to it. the kid who bought it thought they were cool. dad just looked at them and rolled his eyes. even worse, they were the darn uni-lug mags and the stud slots were wasted. I had never even tried to use them. I got them for free and they were worth less.
What a piece of junk, IMO
I’ll take the Ford truck, thank you very much
They can keep that Civic, as far as I’m concerned
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Were you trying to turn your tires into slick ones ?
I think the whole “rat rod” craze had it’s beginnings with “rat bikes”.
Rods are beautiful things when done right.
The problem is that mods originally done for function became an end to themselves and the tail starts to wag the dog. The long forks on choppers is a good example. Originally, using longer forks was the easiest way to give an old rigid frame Harley or Indian more ground clearance for cornering, then the chopper crowd made them an an end to themselves instead of a means to an end and we got a generation of ridiculous choppers that were nearly unridable.
The word “chopper” itself came from “chop job”, where young men bought inexpensive old police style motorcycles and converted them into more sporting bikes by chopping off fenders and unnecessary bodywork.
The original “rat rods” were a turning away from the show car trend in hot rodding and getting back to the roots, enjoyable street cars in the old school hot rod style without the high maintenance had rubbed lacquer paint and chrome, then what was originally a means to an end started being the tail that wags the dog and you get rolling junk piles like the one posted by Mustangman. This type of car has gotten a name of its own, “shock rods”.
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Circa winter 1972. 1950 Triumph 6T with Sonny Routt 800 CC jugs. Front fork is a WWII era Harley 45 extended (27") with Ford radius rods from a Model A. Several friends who rode it were amazed at how well it cornered and handled on the road. Granted, it was a bit of a tight fit turning a U in narrow confines…
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During the late 1970’s, I bought a non-running Honda CB-175 for really cheap and I took the engine completely apart and freshened it up, new rings and a valve job. I then gave the frame a rattle can coat of black paint and put the bike together using parts from other bikes from the salvage yard for as cheap as possible. No attempt at restoration, I just threw together a roadworthy ride that I proceeded to ride all over the place for a couple of years. The tank still had the faded factory paint and the rims were left as was, nothing was rechromed. I got rid of the tachometer and just had a speedometer, using a tach cable plug to close the hole in the engine for the tach cable. You own a bike like this, it doesn’t own you. You aren’t scared to get it dirty. You don’t worry about another scratch in the paint. If little kids want to sit on it in the parking lot, you don’t care, you even help them up on the seat.
Seems that I rode “rat bikes” before they were cool.