I am working on a couple of different articles; History of Sidewall Tire Design and How Hot Wheels Taught Me About Stance. The two separate ideas land in one solid place in time. The 1970’s. Jacked up cars with raised white lettered tires. The Seventies Street Freaks. Cruisin Whittier Blvd in East Los Angeles or Van Nuys Blvd in the valley, in the mid 1970’s is where these beasts roam. Every town had their own little cruise strips too. In my second hometown of Orange in the late 1970’s we cruised Tustin Street. from Big O Skatepark at Chapman Ave. up to Lincoln Ave. and around the Orange Mall’s Friday Midnight Movies playing Song Remains The Same in one theater and the Rocky Horror Picture Show in the other. Talk about two different crowds. I even made a trek up to my original hometown of Santa Rosa to cruise 4th street. I brought my buddy John Martinez up to meet my nor-cal friend Jon Kirkman in my dad’s Lincoln. We got pulled over on 3rd street as I was attempting to turn around and hit the strip again. Not realizing 3rd street was a one-way street, the cop saw I was from out of town and let me go, only if I swore not to hit the cruise strip. This was at the very end of cruisin’ when the cops were coming down hard on us having a good time.
So as I look back, I found this cool-ass video of the van life. Hope you dig it too.
The Seventies Influence Todays Rods.
I thought to look back at recent car shows and grab some photos of cars/trucks that I saw were influenced by the 1970’s. Stance or Rake as we called it back then. Wide raised white lettered tires. Flashy paint. Chrome wheels unless they were centerlines. Side pipes. You get it. Enjoy.
