BY NICK LICATA

n the muscle car and hot-rodding scene, it’s been said that “stance is everything.”

It’s a bold statement that carries a lot of weight but doesn’t mean the same stance works on every car. Far from it. For example, when it comes to a Pro Touring build, a low stance all around is very important as it gives the car the appropriate look and a low center of gravity that ensures excellent cornering ability. In this situation, having the car just an inch too high in either the front or the rear can spoil the whole Pro Touring recipe.

Now, if you are building a gasser-style hot rod, precise ride height rules don’t necessarily apply here as there is plenty of room for interpretation when it comes to tire-to-fender gap. It’s a build style where most anything goes as long as the front end of the car sits exaggeratedly high. Out back, it’s common for some gassers to have radiused rear fenders to fit the massive slicks required for optimal traction while adhering to the fat tire section of the unwritten gasser rulebook. With that said, some of these cut jobs can look pretty crude while many builders perform the exercise with exceptional style for a more-refined appearance.

With Pro Street builds, wheeltubs are king when it comes to fitting huge rear tires inside the fenders with surgeon-like precision making one wonder how those massive meats spin without rubbing the inner fenders. I’m convinced there’s some sort of voodoo Pro Street builders take part in to get the tire-to-fender tolerance so tight.

Stock restorations are another build style that requires little precision when it comes to tire-to-fender gap as these cars rolled off the assembly line with functionality as an important factor to the success of these groundbreaking early muscle cars. Because of that, a bit of leeway can be granted when it comes to building a stock restoration (cue the emails coming by the concours restoration crowd). Sure, once hot rodders got ahold of most any 1960s muscle car, the changes they made affected the car’s stance. That leads us to a typical Day Two restoration where the rear end was raised to fit the wider, white-letter tires under the rear quarters. Up front, it was common to use the stock-sized tires, although depending on the time period, skinnier rubber may have been adopted to get that drag car look.

The stipulations in stance mentioned earlier are guidelines subject to interpretation by the car’s owner. It’s also worth mentioning that functionality can play a big part as having your car too low can make it challenging to drive on rough roads and steep driveways. There’s no need to damage an oil pan or ruin a set of headers. So, there is certainly an area of compromise.

Just remember, you can spend thousands of dollars on a high-end paintjob and the coolest wheels, but if your car misses the mark on stance, your build is certain to fall short in the end. So, yes “stance is everything.”

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