minitruckin life is spreading to all generations
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minitruckin life is spreading to all generations
HotRodDime
+1y
Damn you guys are really negative not thinking that we have influenced the market a little bit... We certainly have made a dent in the way of customizing and mini-truckers do take cues from all sorts of custom culture but we put our own spin on it and are one of the most creative groups collectively!!!
MT4LYFE
MT4LYFE
graffix
+1y
Actually,the way I heard about this, was that it was a corvette, but it was with Ed Roth(Rat Fink) and yea it was a hand pump. I cant remember the date, I could of sworn it late 40s/early 50s. Anywho, story goes that a cop had seen the car, roth and his buddy noticed that and they jacked up the car. When the cop came there he said he could of sworn the car was low,and that he didn't want any low cars around the area. Roth said it was an "illusion". From far away the car looked slammed.
So the cop started getting farther back, and they started lowering the car, then the closer he got the more they lifted it. At the end the cop said that it was a damn good illusion and that was that!
So the cop started getting farther back, and they started lowering the car, then the closer he got the more they lifted it. At the end the cop said that it was a damn good illusion and that was that!
Abercrombie
+1y
I agree that it has only been here in the last couple of years that you have seen the older "Hot Rod" trucks to start showing up body dropped. Yes, they have always been there, BUT you see more of them now than 20 yrs ago.
bodydropped85
+1y
check this out from the lowrider history link above
"The advantage to gates was the built-in dump," explains Julio Ruelas, co-founder of the Duke's Car Club. "With that, you really didn't need the second dump, either. It was also easier to convert everything to electric, which I did in 1967."
A new sport was lighting up the night, lowriders making a leap of logic into the scrape zone. It probably all started when someone's brand-new setup suddenly lost elevation, dropping to the hard concrete while the car was still in motion. Before the driver could cruise to a stop, he must have noticed the long rivers of sparks flowing from behind his low.
Soon, the ominous grind of metal against pavement was echoing through Los Angeles alleyways, because that original scraper was back cruising the boulevard the minute that he'd cleaned up the oily mess in his trunk. At first, lowriders were willing to sacrifice their front crossmembers and rear bumpers to achieve the ultimate scrape, sometimes attaching rollerskate wheels on the back to cut down on wear and tear.
"Then, some hip homeboy came up with the idea of welding small steel blocks (usually about 2x3x3 inches) under the front and back of the car, which could be replaced when they wore out," writes Dick DeLoach. "The 'scrape plates' or 'blocks,' as they were called, worked great and were a vast improvement over replacing worn car parts. Those pavement pioneers used carbon steel for their plates because it was cheap and plentiful. But carbon steel is relatively soft and the plates still had to be replaced after a few good scrapes. A harder metal was needed that wouldn't grind down so quickly."
Industrious scrape fanatics got to work, testing different metals and alloys in an effort to pinpoint the perfect plate. This experimentation yielded a great deal of information--different metals had very different properties, some softer but yielding more sparks, others trailing a glow of white, reddish or even greenish embers into the Los Angeles night. As the '70s progressed, the two top choices for scraping action were magnesium and titanium, "chosen because of their hardness and for the flood of brilliant white sparks which they give off, even though both were more costly and harder to come by than carbon steel."
While the homeboys perfected scrape plates, hydraulic systems were also coming up. Nobody knows who first got their front end off the ground, but it's safe to say that the event took place on Crenshaw sometime during the early '70s. Now, Whittier was still a no-man's land, ominous black and white police cruisers threatening enormous tickets to anyone who passed the same point more than twice in an evening. Worse, gangs disguised as car clubs let innocent cruisers know whose territory Whittier was, keeping the really nice cars off of the streets. To be sure, there were a few brave cruisers still willing to risk harassment and worse, but for the most part, Los Angeles lowriding was now a South Central game.
"
"The advantage to gates was the built-in dump," explains Julio Ruelas, co-founder of the Duke's Car Club. "With that, you really didn't need the second dump, either. It was also easier to convert everything to electric, which I did in 1967."
A new sport was lighting up the night, lowriders making a leap of logic into the scrape zone. It probably all started when someone's brand-new setup suddenly lost elevation, dropping to the hard concrete while the car was still in motion. Before the driver could cruise to a stop, he must have noticed the long rivers of sparks flowing from behind his low.
Soon, the ominous grind of metal against pavement was echoing through Los Angeles alleyways, because that original scraper was back cruising the boulevard the minute that he'd cleaned up the oily mess in his trunk. At first, lowriders were willing to sacrifice their front crossmembers and rear bumpers to achieve the ultimate scrape, sometimes attaching rollerskate wheels on the back to cut down on wear and tear.
"Then, some hip homeboy came up with the idea of welding small steel blocks (usually about 2x3x3 inches) under the front and back of the car, which could be replaced when they wore out," writes Dick DeLoach. "The 'scrape plates' or 'blocks,' as they were called, worked great and were a vast improvement over replacing worn car parts. Those pavement pioneers used carbon steel for their plates because it was cheap and plentiful. But carbon steel is relatively soft and the plates still had to be replaced after a few good scrapes. A harder metal was needed that wouldn't grind down so quickly."
Industrious scrape fanatics got to work, testing different metals and alloys in an effort to pinpoint the perfect plate. This experimentation yielded a great deal of information--different metals had very different properties, some softer but yielding more sparks, others trailing a glow of white, reddish or even greenish embers into the Los Angeles night. As the '70s progressed, the two top choices for scraping action were magnesium and titanium, "chosen because of their hardness and for the flood of brilliant white sparks which they give off, even though both were more costly and harder to come by than carbon steel."
While the homeboys perfected scrape plates, hydraulic systems were also coming up. Nobody knows who first got their front end off the ground, but it's safe to say that the event took place on Crenshaw sometime during the early '70s. Now, Whittier was still a no-man's land, ominous black and white police cruisers threatening enormous tickets to anyone who passed the same point more than twice in an evening. Worse, gangs disguised as car clubs let innocent cruisers know whose territory Whittier was, keeping the really nice cars off of the streets. To be sure, there were a few brave cruisers still willing to risk harassment and worse, but for the most part, Los Angeles lowriding was now a South Central game.
"
///RELAXED 720
+1y
ya know after sittin here & thinkin i have come up w/ the main thing we as minitruckers have influenced people with. AIR RIDE ...yes i know that some caddys & lincolns had air ride for years before we started usin it, but then one guy ( i dont know for sure who really was the 1st minitrucker to use air springs) that said to himself ...self lets use air springs instead of juice or air shocks...he influenced everyone after... now 99% of ALL show rides whether they be minitrucks, hot rods, old skool customs, or even some lowriders so bags now
whynotfab
+1y
I just started doing side framing/vinyl siding jobs with my grandpa.. and he told me stories of his 57 ford he bought brand new, and put into his friends shop the day he got it. They added a 4th gear to the tranny, had flip down doors over exaust openings, shaved all the emblems, he took it to Mexico for all white leather interior, and the best part.. it was CHANNELED. He jokes around with me saying my trucks pointless because it can't haul anything, but now I find out he used to throw sparks when taking corners. That was really cool hearing that.. this post reminded me of that lol
dragn168
+1y
the first guy to use bags was (i think?) brian jendro from Mac's Springs thats who i heard it was
idragsdaily
+1y
Edited: 12/13/2005 10:42:14 PM by idragsdaily
as far as the minitrucks and lowrider being around for ever yes thats true but ppl do influence ppl 2 get into it!! i wuz 9 whn i got my first mt magazine frm a mexican boy that wuz on my school bus!!! my mom told me oh son u will be out of it in 4 years im 22 now and have owned 3 bagged trks!!! and i am building a blazer now and have a s10 with hydros as a side project!!! me and my buddies at that age use 2 just watch all the older guys with trks and say mine will be like dat one day!!! i remeber back then when every one wuz just lowered with sum air shock!!! whats next?.....................
as far as the minitrucks and lowrider being around for ever yes thats true but ppl do influence ppl 2 get into it!! i wuz 9 whn i got my first mt magazine frm a mexican boy that wuz on my school bus!!! my mom told me oh son u will be out of it in 4 years im 22 now and have owned 3 bagged trks!!! and i am building a blazer now and have a s10 with hydros as a side project!!! me and my buddies at that age use 2 just watch all the older guys with trks and say mine will be like dat one day!!! i remeber back then when every one wuz just lowered with sum air shock!!! whats next?.....................
TwistedMinis
+1y
Originally posted by Abercrombie
I agree that it has only been here in the last couple of years that you have seen the older "Hot Rod" trucks to start showing up body dropped.
Don't want to burst a bubble or anything, but those old trucks aren't body dropped. In fact, the running boards hang a good 6-8 inches below the frame. I know mine does, and so do the old chevys. And, when they first started to loose the running boards, the body was still much lower than the frame. It wasn't until the 60s and 70s that the frame started hanging down below the body.
However, 20s, and 30s trucks, the frame was below the body, but was considered part of it. This is where channeling first came about.
I agree that it has only been here in the last couple of years that you have seen the older "Hot Rod" trucks to start showing up body dropped.
Don't want to burst a bubble or anything, but those old trucks aren't body dropped. In fact, the running boards hang a good 6-8 inches below the frame. I know mine does, and so do the old chevys. And, when they first started to loose the running boards, the body was still much lower than the frame. It wasn't until the 60s and 70s that the frame started hanging down below the body.
However, 20s, and 30s trucks, the frame was below the body, but was considered part of it. This is where channeling first came about.
tomkat
+1y
My neighbor decided to come over one day and help me work on my truck... and little did I know, he started tellin me about his '77 Courier he had back in high school with skyjackers on the back and I guess the "thing to do" around here at that time was to put the big Skyjacker sticker on your back window and ride around with the ass end up. sounds like fun but I'll take my bags over those ole shocks any day.