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Are you as tired as I am about cars being cool when they are on the ground Jump to page : 1 2 Now viewing page 1 [50 messages per page] | View previous thread :: View next thread |
Forward Look NON-Technical Discussions -> 1955-1961 Forward Look MoPar General Discussion | Message format |
bbrasse1 |
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Extreme Veteran Posts: 537 Location: Upstate NY | Ok, I am expecting a lot of flak here but I am an older guy who says I am tired of every car show talking about what older cars and trucks need is to be chopped to the ground with close to zero ground clearance as being “cool”. I admit that there are a few cars and trucks that look good low. We used to use fender skirts to accomplish the same look but whoa! Not everything needs to be lowered But yet every single show says that’s what they need??Some vehicles need a full stancev to look cool. Many forward look cars in my opinion need a higher stance and in fact look stupid sitting on the ground. Where is the variety ? Where is the open mindedness? Our forward look cars have class sitting high in many cases. Open your mind. I can agree on some low riders but the world is not all low and i Don’t believe the designers ever meant to have their designs sitting on the ground. Nor do I. | ||
imopar380 |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 7206 Location: Victoria, BC, on Vancouver Island, Canada | I agree. The designers knew what they were doing (at least most of the time!!). They paid big bux to go to school to learn auto design. I just don't like lowered suspensions, chopped roofs and 20 inch wheels on vintage cars. To me the aesthetics are all wrong. Edited by imopar380 2019-06-10 7:00 PM | ||
1960fury |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 7395 Location: northern germany | I personally can't imagine that any car looks good at a high stance, especially not Forwardlooks. They look great lowered and that is why they were lowered in the brochures and ads. It enhances the long and low look and that is typical FL. I even like lowered old Pick-ups and COE Trucks. That said, IMO, cars sitting on the ground is too much lowering. They need to look driveable. | ||
Old Ray |
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Extreme Veteran Posts: 507 Location: Invermere B.C. Canada - Rocky Mountains | bbrasse1 - 2019-06-10 4:49 PM I am tired of every car show talking about what older cars and trucks need is to be chopped to the ground .... But yet every single show says that’s what they need? I didn't know that car shows could talk, but if you don't like what they are saying, don't listen. You have every right to your opinion but do not expect that should have to be anybody else's. Age has nothing to do with it, .... I am 75 and I like them low. | ||
Viper Guy |
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Expert Posts: 2002 Location: Branson, MO | Yeah, I remember going to the dealer introduction shows with my dad when he was a dealer. The display cars were always lower than the way they were built and were for "display" only. I asked one of the show "caretakers" what the deal was and he said they all had about 600 to 800 lbs. of weight added in sand bags strategically placed. Keep in mind these display cars were for modeling and photos and the factory cars we could get into and feel were the standard production cars. The difference was quite obvious. The same thing went for the publications/brochures - the cars all looked lower in the pictures. Just marketing strategy even back then. But that was waaaayyy before today's slammers with 22" wheels, etc. My guess is these weren't even thought of back then. | ||
mikes2nd |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 5006 | well the gassers are jacked up. I dont like the stupid low either though, tastefully lowered | ||
Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9654 Location: So. Cal | I prefer them a little higher. To me it makes the car look shorter, which I like better. I've never liked the look of a long car. The really low look isn't appealing to me, and definitely not with the back end dragging on the ground like I see with many of the early 50's customs. Most of the time, fender skirts & continental kits make me want to puke. The first stance that got my attention as a kid were the drag cars with the back ends up higher to clear the big tires. Although I am not a fan of a huge rake, the high look with bigger tires does look better to me. But I prefer to keep them close to stock with bigger, wider wheels & tires on them. | ||
60 dart |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 8947 Location: WHEELING,WV.>>>HOME OF WWVA | imopar380 - 2019-06-10 6:59 PM I agree. The designers knew what they were doing (at least most of the time!!). They paid big bux to go to school to learn auto design. I just don't like lowered suspensions, chopped roofs and 20 inch wheels on vintage cars. To me the aesthetics are all wrong. but i do like a rake of about 2-3 inches at the rear bumper ----------------------------------------------------later Edited by 60 dart 2019-06-15 4:52 PM | ||
AceS |
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Veteran Posts: 281 Location: WA/USA | bbrasse1 - 2019-06-10 3:49 AM Where is the open mindedness? ..... Open your mind. I agree with this part. | ||
Doctor DeSoto |
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Location: Parts Unknown | Depends on the car in question. Fins already throw the rear silhouette high. Adding to that, and creating a large gap under the car at the back isn't my idea of good aethetics, and it reminds me all too much of what every white trash trailer park dweller did with these cars back in the day. Since finned cars have become something people seek out and restore, the same effect occurs when the owners overspring the rear leaf sets. As mentioned above, and this is largely where I draw my preference of ride stance, is the sales brochures, where the studio guys sandbagged stock cars to get them to squat a little. But they ride flat and just a couple inches lower than how they were delivered. As for ground hugger low riders, well, they've never been my bag. They seem terribly impractical, but some pull off the look pretty well, in spite of being prone to scraping bottom on anything laying in the street larger than a book of matches. Current fashion of giant wheels and skinny little tires ..... sorry, you lost me there ! ... but what to I care ? | ||
57burb |
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Expert Posts: 3967 Location: DFW, TX | bbrasse1 - 2019-06-10 5:49 PM Ok, I am expecting a lot of flak here but I am an older guy who says I am tired of every car show talking about what older cars and trucks need is to be chopped to the ground with close to zero ground clearance as being “cool”. People have been doing exactly that to their cars since the 1930s. If you're as old as you say you are, then you should already know. | ||
1960fury |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 7395 Location: northern germany | 57burb - 2019-06-16 12:47 PM bbrasse1 - 2019-06-10 5:49 PM Ok, I am expecting a lot of flak here but I am an older guy who says I am tired of every car show talking about what older cars and trucks need is to be chopped to the ground with close to zero ground clearance as being “cool”. People have been doing exactly that to their cars since the 1930s. If you're as old as you say you are, then you should already know. :laugh: Yep, has nothing to do with "old". I feel like 17 but I'm over 50, so I guess I'm over the hill too and I like em long and low, that is why I'm into FL's. The mid/late 50s were all about long/low in car design and "my" period anyway, when people or the mainstream shared my taste and political believes. Besides, there is more to it. Maybe the engineering mind or understanding the laws of physic. Low cars look fast and eager to move, cars at a high stance look unsafe and like a death trap. The lower the center of gravity, the better. Just had to avoid to run over a couple of ducks at high speed. Slammed on the brakes but I wouldn't have made, it so released the brakes and swerved/circled around them, close call and at a stock or higher stance I would have possible rolled the Fury (no way I'd run over my favorite animals). Edited by 1960fury 2019-06-16 4:40 PM | ||
1960fury |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 7395 Location: northern germany | Lowered Trucks look great too! Love the late 50s Apaches: (loweredapache1959.jpg) (loweredapache59.jpg) Attachments ---------------- loweredapache1959.jpg (429KB - 151 downloads) loweredapache59.jpg (389KB - 152 downloads) | ||
firedome |
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Expert Posts: 3155 Location: NY & VT | IMO ForwardLook cars usually look best as their designers originally intended them to look. That said there are some that look better lowered a bit, but nothing too extreme, it's just plain dumb to get them so low that actually using them becomes difficult to do. | ||
GregCon |
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Expert Posts: 2524 Location: Houston | I think the idea is that cars sit high simply because they have to...not because they want to. In other words, if the designers had their way, the cars would be on the ground, or very close to it. But...the world being not perfectly flat and smooth, cars need ....ground clearance. To me, nothing makes me more uncomfortable than seeing an mean car like a 300C photographed from an angle that highlights its skinny, small wheels and (seemingly) 2 feet of ground clearance. I instantly find myself making excuses like 'well, they didn't have any bigger tires back then....' | ||
58 DESOTOS RULE |
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Expert Posts: 2308 Location: The Bat Cave, Fairborn, OH | Gas Monkey garage was the worst offender for the low & slow school of suspension. They seemed not to know how to build any car except for one that was shooting sparks off the pavement as it was crawling down the road. Ye Gods, no car needs to be that low. Forward Look cars are low enough at factory heght, in my opinion. Maybe crank down the torsion bars a little if you must, but don't slam it down to the ground, please. Edited by 58 DESOTOS RULE 2019-06-18 2:44 PM | ||
Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9654 Location: So. Cal | I absolutely hate lowered trucks! As soon as you actually use the bed for anything like carrying a load of plywood or helping a friend move, or carrying bricks, etc....all the things a pickup truck is great for, that lowered suspension pukes out on you making the truck absolutely worthless. No thanks. What is a pickup bed for if you can no longer use it? | ||
1960fury |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 7395 Location: northern germany | Powerflite - 2019-06-18 2:51 PM I absolutely hate lowered trucks! As soon as you actually use the bed for anything like carrying a load of plywood or helping a friend move, or carrying bricks, etc....all the things a pickup truck is great for, that lowered suspension pukes out on you making the truck absolutely worthless. No thanks. What is a pickup bed for if you can no longer use it? :wince: I was talking aesthetics. And of course a lowered suspension requires stiffer springs. Not sure how many would use a 60 year old truck for farm work or to carry bricks or a load of plywood anyway. | ||
Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9654 Location: So. Cal | That's what '60yr old trucks are great for. What I don't understand is using a brand new $40K truck for that stuff. | ||
1960fury |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 7395 Location: northern germany | They have done their duty back in the day and it would be a shame to drive them into the ground. IMO they are way too pretty for that. | ||
Doctor DeSoto |
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Location: Parts Unknown | No lowering here, but with a 1 ton rating, I use this 100-year old beast for exactly what it was built for, HEAVY HAULING ! (26 731 2016 aug 01 copy (1).jpg) Attachments ---------------- 26 731 2016 aug 01 copy (1).jpg (123KB - 146 downloads) | ||
1960fury |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 7395 Location: northern germany | Doctor DeSoto - 2019-06-19 1:12 AM No lowering here, but with a 1 ton rating, I use this 100-year old beast for exactly what it was built for, HEAVY HAULING ! Yes, I saw you on the highway the other day, with about 200 cars trailing you.... | ||
GregCon |
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Expert Posts: 2524 Location: Houston | LOL. Yeah that beast would have a longer tail than even a VW bus. $40K trucks hauling stuff? My good man, in 2019 the proper hauling truck begins at $75K and heads North. Plenty of F-350 King Ranch Lariat XLT Platinum trucks out there with tobacco juice running down the tufted and embroidered leather door panels. | ||
Doctor DeSoto |
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Location: Parts Unknown | It is my pleasure to make traffic slow down. | ||
Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9654 Location: So. Cal | GregCon - 2019-06-19 6:12 AM ..... $40K trucks hauling stuff? My good man, in 2019 the proper hauling truck begins at $75K and heads North. Plenty of F-350 King Ranch Lariat XLT Platinum trucks out there with tobacco juice running down the tufted and embroidered leather door panels. Reality is stranger than fiction. | ||
Doctor DeSoto |
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Location: Parts Unknown | There are people all around me who truly live on another planet, when it comes to debt and life expenses. A was floored to have a client tell me they just dropped $70K on a GMC Yukon (2 years ago). Not too long ago, another told me they signed on to buy an Escalade for $130K ! I saw solid gold toilets for sale in Dubai. If a normal porcelain toilet weighs 60lbs, and gold is 2.5x heavier than porcelain, that's 150lbs of gold. Conservatively assigning a market value of $1200 per oz. x 16 = 2400oz x $1200ea, that's $2,880,000 just in gold weight alone. Never mind the cost to turn gold bars into a functional toilet ! Clearly, some people have more money to blow than any desire to be frugal ! What's a new Ford F-350 King Ranch Lariat XLT Platinum selling for these days ? | ||
AceS |
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Veteran Posts: 281 Location: WA/USA | Powerflite - 2019-06-17 11:51 PM I absolutely hate lowered trucks! As soon as you actually use the bed for anything like carrying a load of plywood or helping a friend move, or carrying bricks, etc....all the things a pickup truck is great for, that lowered suspension pukes out on you making the truck absolutely worthless. No thanks. What is a pickup bed for if you can no longer use it? :wince: I have one truck for working and a lowered D100. The D100 is done with stock springs all around - rides great, hauls as good as it did stock, easy for old farts to get in and out of, and makes hauling motorcycles, quads, mowers, etc. around because the tailgate is way closer to the ground. It's the right tool for the right job. ... and who says you have to have just one truck? | ||
drosera88 |
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Expert Posts: 1267 Location: San Antonio TX | Lowered cars are hit and miss for me. Personally, I don't really think FL's look all that great lowered, but on the 1959 GM flattop 4 doors are designs that are just begging to be slammed. The flat roof and flat fins just look awesome to me when they ride low to the ground. Eventually I want to get me a 59 Buick and make it look pretty similar to this one. That's definitely about 10 years off though, gotta give myself time to finish the Desoto. | ||
58 DESOTOS RULE |
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Expert Posts: 2308 Location: The Bat Cave, Fairborn, OH | I agree that the 1959 GM offerings do respond well to a little lowering. This is not bad at all - and a 4-door too. (1959 Buick 4-door.JPG) Attachments ---------------- 1959 Buick 4-door.JPG (130KB - 139 downloads) | ||
GregCon |
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Expert Posts: 2524 Location: Houston | The low(ered) car also ties in to a lot of imagery that appeals to a certain mystique....you can just see that Buick on a New York City street late at night, sitting low cuz it's full of gangsters, Tommy guns, and loose women. Lift that car up 12" and suddenly.... it's 1948. We need only look to the very words of the very famous, yet still greatly underappreciated, Leonard Cohen for guidance: The stories of the street are mine The Spanish voices laugh The Cadillacs go creeping down Through the night and the poison gas Edited by GregCon 2019-06-23 10:36 AM | ||
57burb |
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Expert Posts: 3967 Location: DFW, TX | The reason the '59-60 GM cars have such an appeal to "us" is because they were such a blatant styling ripoff of the 1957 Mopars. It is widely known that sometime in '55-56, GM execs started seeing what Chrysler was going to offer for '57, and they panicked. They immediately dropped the notion that the bloated 1958 GM styling would last the intended three years, and developed an all new design for the 1959-60s. Long, low, dramatic, with lots of glass.... hmmmm where have we seen that before? Love that '59 flat top Buick (all '59s Buicks, actually!) but in my personal, highly biased opinion, the FL cars look terrific lowered. | ||
GregCon |
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Expert Posts: 2524 Location: Houston | Yeah....no argument from me there...to paraphrase Thomas Hayden Church in 'Sideways', that car is nasty, nasty, nasty! | ||
Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9654 Location: So. Cal | Danny, your car would look terrific no matter how it sits. | ||
drosera88 |
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Expert Posts: 1267 Location: San Antonio TX | 57burb - 2019-06-23 5:31 PM The reason the '59-60 GM cars have such an appeal to "us" is because they were such a blatant styling ripoff of the 1957 Mopars. It is widely known that sometime in '55-56, GM execs started seeing what Chrysler was going to offer for '57, and they panicked. They immediately dropped the notion that the bloated 1958 GM styling would last the intended three years, and developed an all new design for the 1959-60s. Long, low, dramatic, with lots of glass.... hmmmm where have we seen that before? Love that '59 flat top Buick (all '59s Buicks, actually!) but in my personal, highly biased opinion, the FL cars look terrific lowered. I think all the American companies were ripping off Mopar at the end of the 50's, and for good reason! It's a good thing too, without the FL's we never would have gotten the awesome 59 and 60 GM offerings. Ford was late to the show though and in 59 their cars kinda resembled a brick with tiny fins and trim on them (except Lincoln which was a really exceptional design 58-60). It's kinda sad they didn't start to modernize their look till 60, because the 60 Ford and Edsel were incredibly looking cars (that also look really good lowered). Who knows, Edsel might have still been around today if they went with what was supposed to be the 60 Edsel back in 58. The 60 prototype even managed to nail the look of the vertical grille and make it look good. | ||
jboymechanic |
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Expert Posts: 2196 Location: Muskego, WI | Like many things, there is a range of lowering that is just right. I don't like cars dragging on the ground, but I don't like them sitting up too high either. When I finally get my Imperial together, I'm betting I will be wanting to drop it down an inch or two as they sit too high from the factory. | ||
Paul Hettick |
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Elite Veteran Posts: 705 Location: California | I have a 59 Buick and what a mechanical butt hole of a car it is. 1937 technology with a modern body draped over it. It's beautiful tho. | ||
Paul Hettick |
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Elite Veteran Posts: 705 Location: California | Back to the stance thing the most offensive to my eye are the cars jacked way up in back with fender skirts. | ||
1960fury |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 7395 Location: northern germany | Paul Hettick - 2019-06-25 3:49 AM I have a 59 Buick and what a mechanical butt hole of a car it is. 1937 technology with a modern body draped over it. It's beautiful tho. They managed to make the less than favorable solid axle design even worse by adding a completely unnecessary heavy torque tube. | ||
Paul Hettick |
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Elite Veteran Posts: 705 Location: California | Yes the dreaded torque tube, slugging like dynaflow that always leaks no matter how many times it has been resealed. Dreaded treadle vac mounted UNDER the car! Water pump designed to fail quickly, the speedometer only last a few years and to replace it is far easier to remove the windshield and go at it from the cowl area. And lots more nonsense. You gotta really love 59 bucks to put up with one. | ||
1960fury |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 7395 Location: northern germany | I just happen to drive one, an Electra 4d ht. Only a few miles and it didn't ride well but I do not think they rode that way from the factory. They look nice. | ||
Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9654 Location: So. Cal | That Edsel looks really good. They should have built that instead of what they did build. | ||
ttotired |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 8443 Location: Perth Australia | Low can look good and it can look bad I like the blue one (except they cut the steering wheel) The black one would look better without the conti kit and the front down Tail draggers always make me think of a dog with worms In saying that, if the owner likes how it is, then thats all that matters Edited by ttotired 2019-06-25 5:37 PM (s-l1600.jpg) (blue low1.jpg) Attachments ---------------- s-l1600.jpg (118KB - 148 downloads) blue low1.jpg (180KB - 146 downloads) | ||
drosera88 |
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Expert Posts: 1267 Location: San Antonio TX | Powerflite - 2019-06-25 3:02 PM That Edsel looks really good. They should have built that instead of what they did build. I know right? The one pictured is a one off replica of the 60 Edsel protoype that someone made. Not that the actual 60 Edsel wasn't already beautiful from the factory, but the concept definitely goes to show that the vertical grille could've been great and not looked like a you know what.
Edited by drosera88 2019-06-25 11:05 PM | ||
FINS! |
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Elite Veteran Posts: 943 | Lowering means you scrape the bottom of your car on even the slightest incline. Or get stuck. No thanks. There are plenty of inclines around here, there are already close for my cars at stock height. | ||
GregCon |
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Expert Posts: 2524 Location: Houston | The Edsel was dead from Day One....who calls a car 'Edsel'? I think of all the car companies, Ford did the worst at naming...though they all had their questionable moments. Then, the Europeans came along with their incessant numbering instead of names and made us all dizzy and confused....though I must admit I'm a fan of the BWM 534xiCtv3X! but only if it's on the C3728D chassis and has the E-Class body. | ||
drosera88 |
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Expert Posts: 1267 Location: San Antonio TX | 1960fury - 2019-06-25 2:41 PM I just happen to drive one, an Electra 4d ht. Only a few miles and it didn't ride well but I do not think they rode that way from the factory. They look nice. You have a 59 Buick flattop? Nice! Any pics of it? | ||
drosera88 |
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Expert Posts: 1267 Location: San Antonio TX | GregCon - 2019-06-25 10:14 PM The Edsel was dead from Day One....who calls a car 'Edsel'? I think of all the car companies, Ford did the worst at naming...though they all had their questionable moments. Then, the Europeans came along with their incessant numbering instead of names and made us all dizzy and confused....though I must admit I'm a fan of the BWM 534xiCtv3X! but only if it's on the C3728D chassis and has the E-Class body. They should have used one of the model names for the marque. "Corsair" or "Citation" sound great as a brand names. | ||
56D500boy |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9900 Location: Lower Mainland BC | GregCon - 2019-06-25 8:14 PM The Edsel was dead from Day One....who calls a car 'Edsel'? Umm...somebody who named the car after a son you called "Edsel"? | ||
wizard |
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Board Moderator & Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 13045 Location: Southern Sweden - Sturkö island | FINS! - 2019-06-26 5:12 AM Lowering means you scrape the bottom of your car on even the slightest incline. Or get stuck. No thanks. There are plenty of inclines around here, there are already close for my cars at stock height. Exactly my point - if a car is used as intended, stock height will allow to drive on most streets without any problems. I drive a lot on different streets and roads in long roadtrips in Sweden and the correct tire diameter and stock height makes the ride very comfortable. | ||
GregCon |
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Expert Posts: 2524 Location: Houston | There's no doubt that stock height makes for a better ride. Just not as cool.... | ||
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