Because not everything has to be functional, some people just like how it looks and/or enjoy modding cars.
Sure, but how many people that did that to their truck bought it with the intention of hauling anything substantial with it as opposed to buying it for the purpose of modifying it?
I would suggest that the one purpose is to meet the owner’s needs, which may not be functional.
Also, I think part of the appeal of the lowrider scene to many is the fact that it’s sort of an act of rebellion. Making us normies complain about how “useless” their mods are is probably part of the point to them.
Low Riders are a more deep rebellion than just tweaking the normies. The low rider cars go back to the 1940’s, started by the same young Mexican Americans that endured the Zoot Suit Riots. The use of hydraulics to lift and drop the cars was prompted by the widespread anti-Mexican attitudes of cities in, first California and then through the Southwest. Until 2023, Low Rider cars were against the law in a great many California municipalities.
So yes, just a tad rebellious.
I knew “cruising” was banned in many California municipalities until recently, and those laws were originally passed due to backlash against Low Rider culture, but I hadn’t realized the cars themselves were considered illegal.
Part of the reason for the hydraulics is to avoid minimum clearance requirements and such. Raise it up to be legal, then lower it back down to be illegal.
From American Graffiti (set in 1962, produced in 1973):
Officer Holstein: And Milner, the front end of this … this… this thing you’re driving looks a little low.
Milner: Oh, no sir. It’s twelve and a half inches. Regulation size. Now, it’s been checked several times. You can check it if you like, sir.
There’s a minimum ground clearance law for cars?
Googling, I see mentions of license plates or headlights having to be at a specific height, which could be out of compliance due to lowering the ride height. But other than some anecdotes, I’m not seeing anything about a minimum ground clearance.
To be clear, I’m not saying I don’t believe there’s one, it’s just not something I’ve ever heard of. It seems like kind of a self limiting problem. As long as the car isn’t dragging on the ground or getting hung up on speed bumps, I’m not sure why the law cares how close to the ground it is.
For the same reason there was a law about how big a suit could be. Gotta keep those brown people in their place.
Low riders is probably only part of the equation. I’ve had to drive through Benson, NC to get to I-95S before the I-40 connecter was completed. The cruisers added forty-five minutes to a ten minute drive.
You didn’t google “lowrider laws”, did you. Here’s an NPR account from 2024.
From the article:
In 1958, the enactment of Section 24008 of the California Vehicle Code banned modifying cars so that the frame would be lower than the bottom of its wheel rims. In 1988, California state lawmakers passed a bill that allowed local governments to pass anti-cruising ordinances.
The law stated:
“It is unlawful to operate any passenger vehicle, or commercial vehicle under 6,000 pounds, which has been modified from the original design so that any portion of the vehicle, other than the wheels, has less clearance from the surface of a level roadway than the clearance between the roadway and the lowermost portion of any rim of any wheel in contact with the roadway,”
It was in place from 1958 to 2024 (66 years!).
This morning I saw a 1990s or early 2000s Toyota Tacoma pickup… with a stepside style bed. I honestly had no idea Toyota ever offered that style bed, but it looked stock, as it had Toyota and SR5 badges on it. And a Google image search shows that they did in fact exist:
The one I saw wasn’t a 4x4 and was a burgundy red color. the above photo is just to illustrate the bed style.
These posts made me think of that scene. I love that movie.
1953 Ford Customline Coupe on the highway, in gorgeous condition.
Also a nice HD trike conversion at the office
Perhaps you’ve seen these? ANTI ELON TESLA CLUB
More and more Tesla owners are distancing themselves from Elon Musk, because politics, obviously. This one has Texas plates and was spotted near San Francisco.
A quick search for these yields many kinds of anti-Elon bumper stickers for your car. The last dozen photos are from some of the web products out there.
In general I’m all for eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse, and for lower costs and higher efficiencies in our government.
I’ve always seen them on the side of apparatus, & you’re right, only hook them up; when you drive out they automatically disconnect. I’ve even seen stations where their procedure is to back in only far enough to hook it up again before backing in the rest of the way. It keeps exhaust out of the building, which depending upon design of the firehouse, may also be a day room for the firefighters & not just an engine bay.
WI gets plenty of snow & ice; keeping it inside means no wasted time clearing windows before rolling out.
I haven’t seen that sticker but I’ve seen a couple oval ones bordered with a red oval & a diagonal line thru the only word which was “Elon”
I was in NYC for an event this morning; saw some really cool stuff today such that the Lambo Uris didn’t even make top three.
#2 goes to a Brabus G-wagon
But far & away, the most interesting car I saw today was the most iconic vehicle associated with a city. A Checker Marathon cab, quite possibly this one driving south on 5th Ave as I was walking on the cross street.
SF has cable cars, but what other vehicles are associated with a given city?
Checker cabs are iconic.
But my point was that this was just a gas powered passenger vehicle. If it’s inside, it’s already room temperature and wouldn’t have any reason to keep the engine running, at least not that I can think of.
While it could be some sort of exhaust flange. I’m leaning more towards either a fill/drain port for some type of tank (clean drinking water? ICE generator?) or just a generic port to use as a pass through for whatever they may need to pass through it.
Don’t know why I didn’t think of this earlier. Firefighters, on average, area a proud group of people and enjoy showing off their rigs. I just checked youtube for “fire battalion chief truck tour” and got my answer. The trucks are full of stuff with batteries and the port is for providing mains voltage to keep everything charged.
You can see the same port here, around 25 minutes in, just under the passenger side cap window where the electronics are stored:
Here’s a slightly different looking port, but the FF describes it as specifically being to keep everything charged:
I’m sure there’s more examples, but I think it’s safe to say that’s what I saw.
I didn’t realize until I just saw now when I saw the thumbnails next to each other that those are two different trucks, but the same department/youtube channel.
All of ours are plugged in, on just a standard extension cord to a 110 wall outlet; no fancy plugs needed.
