Ten Awesome Cars (and trucks) that Prove Stance is Everything!

When you're building a hot rod, rat rod, slammed custom or jacked-up gasser, you'll likely have a vision for the car's stance long before you consider it complete. You might even have the stance planned out before you ever get started. The right suspension setup certainly plays a role in a car's stance, but allow us to be the first to say that tires and wheels rank highly in the stance department. The right tire and wheel combination can make an undesirable car look cool, and the wrong tire and wheel combination can make a cool car look awkward. In the end, it's up to the owner of the car to determine the overall look, but we're throwing TEN killer cars and trucks out there to provide some inspiration. 1932 Ford Vicky Alright, imagine this bad-to-the-bone hot rod, but instead of the slick two-tone paint job and traditional hot rod rolling stock, it has turquoise paint and Weld Drag Lite wheels with modern blackwall radial tires. This car was outdated but received a huge makeover by Kevin King of Loganville, Georgia. He and a group of friends rebuilt this car, and absolutely nailed the stance with a 4-inch dropped front axle and a four-link rear suspension with adjustable coilovers. Tires consist of our Firestone Dirt Track series, sized at 5.00-17 up front and 8.20-19 out back, and the big steel wheels are our Hot Rod Steels, coming in at 17x4.5 and 19x4.5 inches. The exaggerated big-n-little, tall-n-skinny look makes for a killer stance. 1932 Ford Roadster We don't know the specifics on this red '32 Ford roadster, but it has the hot rod vibe down to a science. The owner took big-n-little to the extreme with some tiny 135R15 fronts and massive rears that appear to be 32 inches tall about around 12 inches wide. It's an awesome combination that gives this otherwise average '32 Ford street rod a whole lot of attitude. 1955 Chevrolet Handyman Station Wagon When Chevrolet introduced the Handyman wagon in 1955, it was intended to be a family cruiser or a utilitarian workhorse. Ground clearance was originally around 7 inches for a car of this nature, but this one appears to have eliminated those inches with the help of an air bag suspension system. The "in the weeds" stance is finished off with a set of Coker Classic wide whitewall radials and painted Smoothie wheels, sporting Chevy dog dish caps. Ants have to duck when the walk under this one. 1951 Henry J Gasser From down in the dirt to up in the air, we go to Al Morgan's '51 Henry J, which takes us back in time to the heyday of drag racing. Gassers, as we call them, are typically cars that are built to replicate the drag cars of yesteryear. A straight front axle and a high stance sets the tone, while narrow front runners, combined with cheater slicks, finishes off the gasser look. This one rolls on Firestone 560-15 blackwall tires, and Firestone Dragster cheater slicks. 1930 Ford Model A Coupe Patrick Hampton built this wicked Model A coupe, and made it sit at low as it could possibly go with full fenders. The coupe isn't just about looks--it's a beast of a hot rod with its mutli-carbed, open header small block Chevy. Patrick set up the chassis with a dropped front axle, and kicked up the rear frame rails to get a couple more inches of rear end clearance to accommodate the super low stance. The wheels are glossy black Ford steelies, wrapped in Firestone Deluxe Champion blackwalls, sized at 450/475-16 and 750-16. 1930 Ford Model A Coupe Alright, let's try a Model A coupe without fenders. This one is owned by Jo Kerr (yeah, we don't know if that's his real name, but it's cool either way), and his hot rod features a low slung '32 Ford chassis with a dropped I-beam axle with split wishbones. The black-on-black-on-black look is downright menacing on this Nailhead-powered highboy, and it's finished off with Coker Classic blackwall radial tires and steelies with '40 Ford V8 caps. 1941 Willys Gasser The iconic 1941 Willys coupe has the perfect proportions for a gasser style build. This one is the real deal--a former drag car campaigned by the owner, Kevin Svarda's father in the '60s. The nose-high stance is a product of parallel leaf springs and a chrome-plated straight tube axle, while the rear suspension sits a little higher than stock, allowing the Firestone cheater slicks to protrude ever so slightly. 1947 Ford Coupe If you're looking for a stance like this, air suspension is your best bet. This '47 Ford coupe has nearly swallowed up those whitewalls and steelies, but it sure does get a lot of attention. Rusty or not, this bagged Ford turns heads, and it's all because of the stance. 1932 Chevy Coupe Ben Smithson's Chevy coupe is getting a lot of attention, and part of its wow factor is the low slung stance and outstanding traditional hot rod flavor. This Street Rodder magazine cover car features a home-built chassis, a chopped top and tons of cool details. The wheelbase is stretched slightly and the ride height is way low, thanks to a channeled body, Z'd frame rails and a dropped front axle. Ben's coupe rolls on Firestone blackwalls, sized at 560-15 and 820-15, and wrapped around chrome steel wheels with Spider Caps. 1956 Ford F100 Some people lower their suspension with air bags, and some would rather static drop the suspension to be low ALL the time. Brian Wilbanks prefers the latter with his '56 Ford F100, which is low enough to look awesome, but just barely high enough to keep from scraping on everything. The slammed stance is accompanied by BFGoodrich Silvertown whitewall radials, and OE Steel wheels and Spider Caps.