No, this is not about why Funny Cars should look like their real-life counterparts, though that’s a common discussion around HOT ROD and drag-racing circles, in general. Instead, this is about proportion and stance. You might hear these terms come up from time to time dealing with the overall appeal of a particular car design, but it’s a bit fuzzy on what it refers to and how important it really is. Our example is the Rambler (soon to be AMC) Rebel from 1967 and its fantastic Grant Rambler Funny Car replicate of “Banzai Bill” Hayes from that epoch when Funny Cars were just morphing from real car body shells to fiberglass flip-top facsimiles.
Race Car Specialties’ Frank Huszar and Roy Steen built a chassis about 10 inches longer than a stock Rebel, which the Grant Industries–made body was lengthened ahead of the cowl to accommodate. Those few inches changed the proportions of the car from being truncated up front to giving the overall design a more natural proportion. Then with the big slicks in back and front-runners up front, the body lower in relation to the ground, and, of course, wheels and tires, the stance changed from looking like a cat with its back arched walking on its toes, to lower and more aggressive. Were the front of the car to be higher than the rear, the stance or rake would be off, unless we’re looking at Gassers.
Then, the higher the front, the cooler and more insane the overall proportions become, throwing all stance and proportion norms out the window. So whether you’re going for the cartoony craziness of Gassers or the low-down goodness of Funny Cars or Pro Stockers, think about this little primer when dreaming about your next project and make it look like a wolf on wheels instead of a wandering warthog.
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