In the 70's I saw a lot of cars jacked up in the rear end. Why did they do that? How did they do that? Why does'nt anyone do that today, if as I assume, there was some performance advantage to be had? Really curious as to what they were doing back then.....

Most cars were jacked up to look cool by air shocks or shackels (for leaf spring cars). That way you could also get a huge tire to fit in the wheelwell. There was absolutely no performance gains. It took all theweight off the rear and even a P.O.S could squeel the tires a little.

Back in the 50's the dry lakes speed attempt cars used to be jacked up to allow better access to the quick change rear end gears. The geniuses of the world copied this for their street rides.

My guess is they wanted to change the pinion angle and suspension geometry to prevent the dreaded wheel-hop our cars have in stock trim.
I still think it looks pretty cool! Some shocks today are adjustable and you can jack-up or down whenever you want.

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JARRET GRATHWOL
TEAM CHEVELLE MEMBER #573

1970 Chevelle SS 396- Documented Number Matching Original.
"Tuxedo Black" with white stripes and Ivory interiour with Factory Guage Package
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We did it to stuff bigger tires under the rear. There were only a few big tire sizes you could get back in the late 60's and 70's.
Mickey Thompson 60's or M&H Racemasters and maybe a few other types,but that was all.I had a 63 Corvette convertible I bought for $375. bucks, with a 396 I bought for $100. from a running 67 S.S. that had been hit in the rear. Chrome reverse wheels with Mickey Thompsons 60's on the rear.They stuck out a couple inches and hit the fenders everytime I went over a bump,so on went the air shocks and I machined a spacer block for the rear spring to lift the back .Very stiff,but it didn't hit anymore.Made the cars sit kinda like the old Funny cars. Total cost of car,
$672. with new exhaust,brakes, paint,new convertible top,63 big block vette,those were the days!

I thought we did it to get better speed and gas milage by setting it up to always roll downhill http://www.chevelles.com/forum/cool.gif

We did it cause we had our heads up our arses. Sure I put huge tires on my Nova, and had the de riguer shackle extensions. It only served to totally screw up my suspension geometry and cause the car to never want to hook up.

Jarret, I cant say its cool anymore becasue, well its stupid, and moreso, I've seen way too many junker cars done this way.

$672 dollar 63 Vette, DAMN!

Rubik's cubes, mood rings, platform shoes, bell bottoms, yo-yo's, hula hoops, CB radios, cars with rear ends jacked up: What do all these things have in common? Fads of the times.

Randy I had all those things and paisley shirts and a D A haircut (be nice to have hair now)and a 4 track car stereo with a reverberator, really wanted one of the new 8 track stereo's they were way cool.

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Philip Valentine
Gold Member #42
Under Construction Car & Page (http://www.citlink.net/~bowtie)

I think cars look a lot more "mean" with the back end jacked up, actually, just the rear end being higher up than the front. Whether you jack up the back or lower the front makes no difference. I'm not going to jack up the back end of my '71 6" or anything, but my car will ALWAYS have the front end lower than the back just cuz it looks good.

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Chris Dagenais
Saskatchewan
'71 Malibu with a home built 454!
My Chevelle (http://www.ycworld.dynip.com/home/car.html)

Randy and Philip lets not forget the things we loved about those times,go go boots,spandex,discos,drive in theaters, cruising without drive-by-shootings and best of all CHEAP UNCUT 106 OCTANE!!!! http://www.chevelles.com/forum/wink.gif

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PhilMullaly Member562 72camino TPI proj

[This message has been edited by pmullaly (edited 06-12-2000).]

Been there, done that http://www.chevelles.com/forum/biggrin.gif

The main reason was the "look".

Other reasons could be:

1) To keep the gas from leaking out the gas cap. http://www.chevelles.com/forum/frown.gif

2) Make it easier to fill the tank. Tall people don't have to bend over as far. http://www.chevelles.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

3) So the people in the back seat can see out the windshield. http://www.chevelles.com/forum/wink.gif


Michael,
To answer your question, how did they do it?
1) Air shocks, not recommended. Our cars were not designed to be lifted/supported by the shocks.

2) Air bags inside the springs. Worked good. Could be easily adjusted for desired height.

3) Longer springs.
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Bill Taylor
TC Gold Member #73
December 1999 Feature Car
www.chevelles.com/feature/december99.htm (http://www.chevelles.com/feature/december99.html)
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www.chevelles.com/showroom/leaves2 (http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/leaves2)

[This message has been edited by Bill T SS70 (edited 06-13-2000).]

Then, and now, I have always felt the owners/drivers of those cars had a bad case of the DA (dumba$$). It was directly related to those rice cars with more wheel/tire outside rather than inside the body. Dumb as a rock and twice as stupid!
Personally, I would not modify a car/body like that. But, I have to admit that a tastefully tubbed body that totally contains the rear tires projects a "very bad" image. And most of the ones I have seen that are tastefully tubbed do, in fact, have the power plant to go with it. I DON'T EVER challange a car that is serioulsy tubbed with a very deep sounding thumper. Might get my behind kicked!

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Tom Parsons

From history books, I've learned that people jacked up their cars to prevent water damage from unusually high tides in the 70s. Some people used spacers that sat in between the spring and the spring perch on the axle housing. The 12 bolt I got out of the junkyard had 4 inch spacers in the rear. Performance increase or not it just looks goofy to jack up a car. I've never seen any NMCA car jacked up, and most were lowered, so I'll just keep my car stock or consider lowering it.

Been there done that. Pair of Buick springs bolt up easy on the Chevelle rear. This was the look in early 70s. California Rake. Looks stupid now, but in a couple years the on the ground look with the 12 inch wheels sticking out of the wheel well 8 inches will look stupid too. Well, hell, that looks stupid today in my opinion.

In my neck of the woods, all the guys who had cars jacked up in the rear were looked at as fools. Everybody laughed at these guys, including myself. I always viewed those cars as a dumb man's hot rod. I still don't know anyone who thinks a car looks good by having a tire so fat that the car has to jacked up. But to each his own.

I had a 69 SS Chevelle in the early 80's. Reversed Centerlines and fat 50 series tires tucked under the wheel well. Now that looked mean.

[This message has been edited by rstoltz (edited 06-13-2000).]

I just got new tires and rims & on the back i have 15x10 Centerlines with Mickey Thompson Indy S/Ss L60-15. The tread measures 11 inches. My car is lowered & those tires look huge. Killer stance & the back just screams 'Don't mess with me!'

As an answer to your question...I have no clue. Maybe they were on acid http://www.chevelles.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

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Jay In-the-works 67 Malibu (http://www.angelfire.com/ca5/socalrat)

I think the strategy was that the rear end was to higher AND stiffer. The theory would be that the center of gravity is shifted forward. That, and the taller and stiffer rear end, would make the car less likely to lift the front end off the line.

I guess it was also to give it the Funny Car look.

Now don't ask me why anyone would tub out a stock Pinto and lift THAT rear end way up!

Just had to add this comment, I still think about this story to this day. I had a 63 Impala in high school. This was in 68 or 69, and I too thought the rear end up in the air was the way to go. I packed those coil springs with as many spacers and blocks as I could get in, and bought a set of Marsh re-caps. In case you younger guys dont know, they were re-capped standard tires, made really wide for racing (soft compound) They were like 14" wide. Well, they fit just fine now. Everything was fine till one day I hit a sharp bump in the road, and snapped one axle tube right off the pumpkin!! Slid right into the ditch. The tow truck operator too one look under the car when he was hooking it up, and said "What the hell is this all about!!!" I can still see the look on his face. OK, enough said. Its only a memory now, thank God......John

Boy, you guys talking like it was waaay back http://www.chevelles.com/forum/wink.gif When I was in high-school in the late 80's, I had a 1976 Monte Carlo, restored that I had airshocks on...jacked way up almost all the way...it was kewl man, really. I think it was because I didn't know better, and other guys did it too.

Now I'm a much wiser (and no older!) and have a 1966 Chevelle SS that has the original ride height in the rear, and lowered an inch or two in the front due to a disc brake conversion..... http://www.chevelles.com/forum/wink.gif

Back in the early fifty's, lowering the rear of the car was in style.
We used to put 4" lowering blocks between the springs and rear housing and try to get the back bumper as close to the ground as possible.

Some of our cars sorta looked like a boat with the bow up in the air when going down the street.

Late at night we always got stopped by the police and had to open the trunk to prove we didn't have a stolen safe inside.

Why did we do it;
Same reason we wore flat top haircuts, white T-shirts with a package of cigerettes rolled up in the sleeves and tight Jeans pulled down at the waste as low as possible I guess,
Just had to be cool and in with the rest of the crowd.

That was back when you wouldn't dare be seen by anyone with a hole in your Jeans, now if you don't have your rear end showing through, you are not cool.


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Dean Call
Team Gold member #3
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