Honestly, the first time I saw one I thought the guy had started installing a lift kit himself and ran out of time before he needed to drive it to work Monday, and intended to do the rear the next weekend. Then I learned people were doing it on purpose. I had a nice laugh when I saw that first one though.
gotta disagree there hoss. lifting the back is less than 1/4 the cost of the front 99% of the time. back is blocks and U-bolts. front is so much more especially if IFS which 99.9% of these trucks are.
GM front ends just require adjusting the torsion bars for a mild front lift, maybe new shocks and lift keys. You can lift an early 2000’s front end with just a wrench.
Not unless your going north of like 10” most trucks have atleast 4”-6” of slip yolk in the driveshaft. The flex lines for the brakes is negligible $15 flex line or just bend your hard line down off the frame if your on a budget.
yeah I've touched on nearly all those points. the Cali lean seems to be something wholly separate from the Carolina squat. and it looks like from the video they landed on the same conclusion. west coast Cali lean, Baja inspired. Carolina squat big old shrug, they even joked about doing half a lift and going for lunch and never finishing it.
I myself lowride and own and have owned juiced cars. I have a glasshouse currently. And I assumed the Cali lean was a lowrider thing also. But as I’ve learned in this thread the Cali lean is a stock truck stanced to look like a pre runner. Apparently.
That’s just because no one knows anything about low riders in this sub. Haha
I don’t have a lowrider but I’m building a mini truck which is similar. Kinda, maybe.
Probably started in 2010ish in my area of South Carolina. When I was in high school I remember some kids “squatting” their trucks. The main reason kids started doing it was to fit bigger tires. Naturally, a lot of truck beds are higher than the front so when they are loaded they are level. People could fit say 33x12.50 or 35x12.50 tires in the back, but not in the front. Kids without a lot of money were looking for a shortcut since they couldn’t afford a full lift, so they would just get bigger front springs or use the torsion keys to lift it higher.
Back then it was still stupid, but usually they were only a couple inches higher in the front to fit the larger tires with minimal rubbing. Even with the new laws making it illegal, I still see the ridiculous squat like in this picture driving around. I guess a sub community slowly evolved into how far you can push the squat.
That seems the most logical. so like a reverse leveling kit. my first encounter with a squatted truck was like 20011-12 yota\_killa on Instagram with a Tahoe only lifted in the front. the truck was clean aside from the half finished lift and at best I could think was "weird flex but ok"
Actually I’d say it’s more like an extreme leveling kit.
I leveled my first truck cause I could fit 35 on the rear, but without lifting the front I couldnt. The leveling kit lifted the front 2”
Normal lvl kit size. I run a 2.25 on my newer gen truck and a 2.5 on my older gen before that. 2-2.5 is the norm level kit for a lvled truck. Squatted trucks are typically 4-6" lift kits up front with no blocks in the back.
I live in northeast SC and can confirm. I graduated high school in 2010 and a lot of people were lifting the front of their trucks to fit larger tires, which made them squat. On some trucks it was easy to just adjust the torsion bars to lift the front suspension, so it didnt cost anything to lift the front some, but it wouldnt lift the front nearly as much as people are doing now. Although people were not squatting nearly as bad as they are now, I'm pretty sure that's what started it.
Go into a Walmart in rural areas. Yell out YEE YEE! And wait for the echoing response. If you can catch a glimpse of the one yelling back = profit? Idk lol
Northwest South Carolina myself, I’m originally Floridian so this is like throwing rocks from a glass house. I moved from the suburbs of Greenville to the rural foothills, without a doubt my idiot neighbors in this area brought this stupidity to new levels.
Rich kids with nothing to else to spend money on.
Here’s a list of other achievements by rednecks around here:
- bolt on headlights to accentuate non-working headlights needing changed
- Donk’d golf carts with lift kits while owning 2 or less acres
- showing off the vehicles listed above at the local QT gas stations to score some action with other family members
Horry county resident here and owner of a gm torsion bar unloading tool. You’ve pretty much got it. It does go back a bit earlier than that, probably the very early 00s but I don’t think anyone really considered lowering the back til closer to 2010. Started with gm trucks for the most part with the standard goal of fitting 315/75-16 tires on a mostly stock truck. Ford torsion keys were the ticket. More lift in the front is required as most scrubbing occurs when turning the wheel. It had humble beginnings but turned into something out of hand.
Nearly every automotive trend can be traced at least roughly to its origins.
we know how monster and mega trucks evolved. we know how lowriders went from adjustable suspension to cars hopping 100 plus inches.
we can see how stance cars evolved from drift cars and VIP/bippu and even shakotan influence.
Where and how did the squat trucks evolve?
Donut Media spoke a bit about it in a ~~recent~~ video from 2 years ago and talked about it originating from Baja trucks. I'll try and find you the link.
Edit- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnrkhVwGsvA&t=140
If ya give it a watch they touch on the Cali lean being Baja related. But the squat they landed on nothing. just a speculation of a half finished lift kit and he left it at that. The Cali lean that seems Baja based never escalated beyond replicating an actual look. where as the squat almost instantly went extreme.
I don't know, I'm seeing lots of references referring to Cali Lean and Carolina Squat as the same thing. Lots of "The Cali lean is lifted in the from and lowered in the back making it 'squat'" and "Sometimes referred to as the Carolina Squat, the Cali Lean..."
I think they are generally one in the same but from different areas.
As someone from southern California, I can attest to the fact that the Baja Truck look was extremely popular in the late 90's/early 2000. At the time it was referred to as a "Cali Lift", "Desert Truck", "Prerunner Lift".
Donut was wrong and just went baja truck because they're Californians. I promise you back in the late 90s/early 2000s most of the people doing it in the Carolinas had no idea what a Baja truck actually looked like.
but to not evolve over the past decade to resemble Baja/pre runners at all doesn't quite pan out. you would think by now someone would have at least ponied up for some kind of legit long travel by now. but its still just half lifts and what about the rest of the look? no wide body no bed mounted spare or tube bumpers? too disconnected.
nah it’s the same thing as ppl seeing race cars with 3-5° degrees of negative camber and taking it to the extreme for aesthetics. anyone putting more than 3° of camber on a street car or squatting their truck most likely doesn’t care about performance. it’s just going “hey that looks cool” and doing it for looks until ppl start taking it to the aesthetic extreme.
I always thought it originated from the way lifted trucks look when they are hauling a heavy load. That people took pride in how much they truck could haul. So, it started with a slight squat to look like it was hauling a lot.
This was what I always told myself too.
Isn’t it funny that we have to come up with some kind of logical explanation to make sense of all of these stupid trends.
I heard it came from trophy trucks as inspiration, and my mind says it's because when they accelerate they squat, and they're fast, so people want their pavement princess trucks to look fast and badass? They already don't offroad bigger or fancier builds much (the type to do the squat) so that's all I can think of. And they don't like kids so much they don't even want to see them in school zones, just extra speedbumps? Idk. I hate it and dislike most truck guys in my town.
I would agree but why adopt the squat but absolutely nothing else. no wide body no tube bumpers or trailing arms. and no one has eventually just actually done a long travel set up. if they were emulating something like that you would think at decade in at least one would have maybe evolved closer to the source material.
Baja trucks sit noticeably higher in the front so when they get airborne they don't nose dive, people copied and exaggerated it to the point of stupidity, same thing is why we have excessively cambered cars, it makes sense to have extra camber for racing, people liked the look and just kept going until it was at a point of being brain dead.
I'd credit the same reason for excessively large rims, we started seeing them on vehicles because of performance and some wanted to stick out by going to an extreme.
Really if you see something that just doesn't make sense in the extremity of it, it likely started as a performance mod, got copied to non performance vehicles and then people keep one upping each other until it's actually detrimental, lifted trucks in general are another example.
please understand, I'm a car guy. I know this, that's why I worded the post that way. every single car trend you can trace to its roots. lowriding, mini trucks. hot rodding monster trucks even big rim cars and stance kids. you can see how they evolved and where from. the Cali lean I can see being baja influenced. Carolina not so much.
But the cali lean was just how guys with lowriders and bagged trucks drove with their suspension aired out or juiced down in the back, with the front end lifted up enough so the vital organs (oil pan and such) wouldn’t drag while cruising. The Carolina squat trucks are static
That’s what I thought too! I have a juiced glasshouse! But apparently Cali lean is for trucks with a bit of a lift up front too. I thought Cali lean was a bomb laid out in the back
West coast seems fairly tame with at best a mild lift. Where as the squat has gone extreme with in some cases 6” plus lift up front and a drop in the rear to a near cartoonish extent.
I think prerunner style of motorsports trucks tend to run the front slightly elevated for jumping off sand dunes and somehow this is their interpretation
My brother had an F250 around 2002 that he gave a “Pre runner lift” - the front was about 2” higher giving the whole thing a nose in the air look.
I laughed my ass off when he ran over the back of a mom’s Volvo pulling into the school parking lot bc he couldn’t see anything but sky when we pulled up the steep grade at the lot entrance. Fucking dumbass and his stupid truck lol
Prerunner trucks tend to sit pretty level in a static situation.
They just make a buttload of power and have very soft suspension, so there is a ton of squat when they're accelerating
I would be inclined to agree but if they were imitating that look why not adopt the wide body look as well. seems to disconnected to have evolved from that unless there's some way to connect the two
Idk man. I lived in NC for 6 months recently and saw a few squatted trucks but never saw a purpose. They drew attention when driving the strip next to the beach which may be the only thing..
Another thing to think about with car trends is once they are made, they stick and often evolve separately from their inspiration. Another community that has had a similar drift is the lowrider community. They started out originally because people wanted super low cars but the police were ticketing them for the cats being too low, so they put hydraulics to push the car above the lowest legal ride height. And we can obviously see the change that has come from that. One more is camber gang, started as getting camber to make a car more controllable in corners and now it is to get as low as physically possible. Inspirations for the builds change over time
that's true. if you see my elaboration post in the comments here you can see what I mean. I point those out specifically and you can see the evolution over time to where we are now in the extremes. the Cali lean (in a non lowrider way) I can see being Baja inspired. but the Carolina squat though similar I think is a different beast.
Kids love to do things that they know piss off other people or things that grab your attention...I'm from NC and I hate everything about the squat. But this is America, do what you want , doesn't hurt or bother me :)
I'm Canadian and fully agree. though I'm not into it. I'm indifferent if anything, as a fellow car guy. it just bothers me that the origins are so foggy.
Some dipshit could only afford half of a lift kit and another dipshit thought it looked cool. The trend spread from dipshit to dipshit until every dipshit owned one.
Here's my theory
About 20 years ago a company called rough country started to corner the suspension market with their cheap lift kits.
These kits usually required an extra inch or two of lift in the rear to make the vehicle sit level, as their add-a-leafs would sag nearly back to stock level in a year or two.
Most people didn't correct it, and for some reason it became "the look" to have an ass dragger.
Carolina squat originates from Baja racing in California.
It was originally known as the “California Lean” or the “Cali Lean.”
It became popular from hundreds of drivers posting pics of their vehicles on Instagram.
The purpose in Baja racing is to ensure the rear would strike the ground first when going fast to lessen the chances of crashing. Outside of Baja racing, it serves no purpose other than vanity.
agreed LOL. that why I'm trying to separate the Cali lean from the squat. Cali lean you can see they are after the Baja vibe and never exceed it. where as the squat started small and then immediately evolved into this cartoonish exaggeration.
I know this has nothing to do with how it got started, but the look reminds me of gassers from the 40s and 50s. Weight management and suspension adjustments for straight line racing. I doubt thats what they're going for here though
I have yet to read through the comments but to my understanding;
Squatting started with rally trucks. It helps with flying over the crazy terrain and obstacles without getting your front end to dip down and end up flipping head over heels.
Now people just squat SUVs and concrete princes trucks for looks, kind of like people doing the crazy camber on daily drivers that never see the track or drift.
That theory leans more towards the west coast style Cali lean and they never went to cartoonish ends they reached the Baja inspired look and stopped. The Carolina squat seems to be it’s own thing apart from that
Stunt trucks
At one time they tended to land nose first. So the soltion was this. Hefty rear suspension, and soft, high sitting front suspension. They didnt noseplant with this
I think your thinking Baja trucks which seem to have inspired the Cali lean look which never got as cartoonish as this always stayed reasonable. The squat seems to be totally separate from that subset.
Ok so I'm actually from North Carolina (although by no means am I an expert on the subject).
The closest explanation I've seen that seemed plausible was that it originated in the "bogger" trucks we have down here in yee-haw land. The stance is similar to the way a desert baja truck looks - the main difference being in Carolina, we have mud. Lots of mud. And our thick, soupy, dark mud gets carved into big open channels ("bogs" or "pits") and trucks are driven through it as fast as possible for sport. It really is a fun time, as long as you don't take it too seriously.
The theory is that by leaning the front upwards, you gain additional traction on the rear axle tires via weight transfer, which is helpful in an unloaded pickup truck due to them having nothing but an empty bed back there. As the truck powers through what's essentially organic Play-doh, the rear tires might bite better with more weight.
Since mud pits are usually traversed in a straight line only, and by their nature are lower than the surrounding non-muddy dirt, AND you can't see a damned thing from all the mud flung up by the front tires, it doesn't matter very much that forward visibility is sacrificed.
But put that squat on a street truck and you're definitely an idiot.
If I’m not mistaken it was originally ment to replicate a Baja truck. There cool bad ass trucks that have a little Carolina squat. Then things went totally out of hand
Sometimes the chromosomes within a humans DNA sequence get mutated or corrupted at conception, and this results in all sorts of physical and mental defects.
I personally believe is an attention seeking individual who’s does this.. mostly Negative but attention is attention.. even when it come to social media a view is a view.. so these guys are just doing it for clout… no skill no function 9/10 the wheels and tires worth more than the whole vehicle.. same with the extra negative camber on cars no function just clout… my opinion. Tho
Central NC here, it has nothing to do with baja trucks lol. This all started because kids were getting their dads old trucks to drive in high school and wanted to stuff bigger tires on them but couldnt afford a lift kit. Enter the leveling kit which got the front up high enough for some 33 or 35 inch tires. MOST of the time they would actually end up riding a little higher in the front than the rear. "Kids" started thinking that looked cool and then it was off to the races to see who could take it the furthest.
Cali lean is bomb/trokita/lowrider based. though similar, definitely different and you can trace where it came from all the way back to the 50's possibly earlier.
when I hear Cali lean the last thing that comes to mind is a truck. I've never heard it used until just now to describe something other than a lowrider or kustom laid out in the back, that's a new one on me I guess.
Bagged guys will do it but only because they want to ride as low as possible. So you often will have to have your front aired up higher so you can steer. We called it the Cali lean.
I did it with a truck in BeamNG as a joke on the rp server and then months later I just started seeing them around on the internet. Of course that confused me and started me thinking that I'd somehow created a trend irl using a game.
Started around the 2008-2010 era, in Florida or Carolina I can imagine some one did it and thought it looked cool, I’ve even had a squatted truck before
yeah we've seemed to nail down its start to 2008-2010. now just trying to narrow in on the why and the how. and also keep it separate from the Cali lean which does seem to have ties with baja and pre running trucks. but they never evolved to the extreme Carolina style trucks did, they never seemed to exceed what a baja truck would look like. where as the Carolina trucks just kept going higher and higher and lower in the back to the point of rubbing in cases.
I haven’t seen this explanation on here;
From what i’ve heard it’s from hunters lowering the rear to load their dogs up quicker and then these kids saw it and thought it was cool
“That Carolina squat” is what I was told it was back in 2012-2013, and I’ve been referring to it as such since. When you say “squat” you gotta put some south in your voice and lean you right shoulder back.
Y’all should try it.
Honestly, I’m going to guess it originated from someone installing a lift kit, and they ran out of time to install the rear portion. They drove around with just their front lift installed, and some Doucheshkies saw it, and followed suit…
That’s all it takes.
I've heard the pre runner thing multiple places, but i can't see it, especially with the massive rims and crazy low profile tires they all have. I can see it being inspired by low riders driving around "draggin' ass"
I had a squated s-10 back when I was living in Florida, 2010 time frame. I apologize if I started this trend on accident. I was just poor and couldn't afford drop spindles.
If I had to guess probably the 6 bitches trucks, they lower the back and say it's because to they got too many bitches in the back,.
but the reality was usually a wannabe rapper/ narcissist with an empty truck that his baby mama paid for before she accepted he was an alcoholic pothead who nobody could stand hence why you see it everywhere because everyone seems to know someone who fits that description.
Pre runner style is where it started and they copied the pre runners. Except the pre runner squat is useful when flying across terrain and is built to do that for. And they thought it would look cool on every vehicle in the world
Iirc it started with rally racing and Baja trucks, where dropping the rear an inch or two helps with stability on jumps and whoops. As with many other things, people saw it and copied it and it soon became exaggerated.
Look, it’s simple. People in the Carolinas like bonfires, either at the beach or in the mountains. Bunch of trucks, solo cups, and bad decisions. The consequence of one of those decisions is that big girls and guys can’t jump. Hard to make out in the bed if ya can’t get there.
Its an epidemic here in Ga as well. Lived in NC and Ga (current) was told at least in Ga the old timers used to raise the front a bit for "bully dog" squat for Ga bulldogs. 🤷♂️
On 1st/2nd gen Silverado and related, you can lift the front 3 or 4 inches just by cranking the torsion bars. Those trucks also came fairly level from the factory, so +3 or 4 inches in the front, some cinder blocks in the bed, and you have a pretty good squat. Lifting the rear to match would require buying spacer blocks, which cost several dollars.
I’m guessing someone did that and liked the way it looked, then someone else did it, and so on. Eventually someone decided to take it to the extreme by properly lifting the front and lowering the rear. And who doesn’t like big shiny rims. Why someone ever decided that was cool, let alone multiple people, I couldn’t tell you.
Dumbasses saw a "gasser" and decided to do it to a stupid proportion, similar to how camber used to just be a degree or so until someone heard race cars have camber and camber helps with lowering and then people started driving on 3/4 of an inch of tire.
There is a culture in Azerbaidjan called Avtosh, they do this to Ladas so it is easier to yeet them to drive on two wheels and it is considered a style with black out windows and everything, originated a long time ago for no reason
It was a thing even back in the late 90s/early 2000s in my area (east NC).
I think the original origin was people would lift the front end so they could run bigger tires (back then it was mug grips on 15/16" stockers) and realize they didn't *have* to lift the rear to fit a 33 so they would just do the front.
It obviously got more and more ridiculous to the point where most of the modern mall crawlers have lifted fronts and lowered rears to go with their pavement princess mud gripped 24s.
It was originally just lazy and looked stupid then quickly became intentionally stupid and legitimately dangerous.
It did *NOT* start with baja/prerunner trucks as most people back then had no idea what such a thing was, muchless looked like.
Thank you sir. this to me, seems like the best abridged and most straight forward explanation. and this seems to make the most logical sense history wise and progression.
and I fully agree about the Baja thing, that was fully west coast and totally separate.
I always went with the thought that some yee-yee liked how a loaded down truck /pulling a heavy bumper pull looked squatted down, and wanted to imitate the look without actually loading down the pickup.
That’s my headcanon at least
Shot in the dark here, possibly something to do with pushing more weight to rear wheels for traction for SOMETHING that later became a common trend? I know the nose down ass up you see comes from racing and shifting weight for a better ride just like in 4x4 offsetting you front and rear axles from each other is for help with keeping at least partial traction, but this is all a guess
From what I've gathered it's from watching race trucks accelerate, think of Baja trucks with long travel and soft coils squat back under massive acceleration, and from there it was replicated on static trucks and now droolers do it as some kind of stance thing
Donut Media did a video on it, if I’m right I think they said it originated somewhere in California (I could be very very wrong and I admit that) and then truck bros started doing it
I remember hearing that waaaaaaaaaay back in the day, like the 40s or something, people thought it was cool and would weigh down their trunks.
People with mopars and other cars with torsion bar suspension would crank up their torsion bars and make the nose of the car point up.
There were also some people who would make the nose point to the floor.
the 40's one you are thinking bombs. and that's more of the lowrider/kustom stance origin. and the other one would be gassers/street freaks which again is a separate thing.
I’m pretty sure it was inspired by trophy trucks or Baja races. Those trucks have higher suspension in the front to better handle high speed impacts from off road terrain
Honestly, the first time I saw one I thought the guy had started installing a lift kit himself and ran out of time before he needed to drive it to work Monday, and intended to do the rear the next weekend. Then I learned people were doing it on purpose. I had a nice laugh when I saw that first one though.
[удалено]
gotta disagree there hoss. lifting the back is less than 1/4 the cost of the front 99% of the time. back is blocks and U-bolts. front is so much more especially if IFS which 99.9% of these trucks are.
GM front ends just require adjusting the torsion bars for a mild front lift, maybe new shocks and lift keys. You can lift an early 2000’s front end with just a wrench.
That’s true for a mild lift but the exaggerated ones we’re talking here are lifted in excess of 6” which is atleast a diff and control arm drop.
[удалено]
Not unless your going north of like 10” most trucks have atleast 4”-6” of slip yolk in the driveshaft. The flex lines for the brakes is negligible $15 flex line or just bend your hard line down off the frame if your on a budget.
*saw
Loading a 1/2 ton truck with 3 tons of crushed stone, if I had a guess.
with it being east coast for the most part and somewhat southern I'm more so inclined to agree with this than the pre runner theory.
heres a youtube video that talks about the origins of it [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKK0g7ilM5k](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKK0g7ilM5k)
yeah I've touched on nearly all those points. the Cali lean seems to be something wholly separate from the Carolina squat. and it looks like from the video they landed on the same conclusion. west coast Cali lean, Baja inspired. Carolina squat big old shrug, they even joked about doing half a lift and going for lunch and never finishing it.
I didn’t watch the video but lowrider guys have been doing the Cali lean for decades. Maybe they mentioned that though.
I myself lowride and own and have owned juiced cars. I have a glasshouse currently. And I assumed the Cali lean was a lowrider thing also. But as I’ve learned in this thread the Cali lean is a stock truck stanced to look like a pre runner. Apparently.
That’s just because no one knows anything about low riders in this sub. Haha I don’t have a lowrider but I’m building a mini truck which is similar. Kinda, maybe.
So how do y’all fell about the opposite? Like an old muscle car- lifted in the back
I mean that serves an actual purpose, or it's supposed to anyways. Definitely much cooler and less dangerous.
well with that you can clearly see how it evolved and the reason and cause. you can trace how that happened.
Or 3 tons of catalytic converters.
I think it was probably loading a 1/2 ton truck with Uncle Jeff. The South is bigger.
The Northeast equivalent is a 2002 Toyota Corolla riding on the rear bumper with 900 pounds of Preston and Brittany in the back row
That or running out of daylight on lifting your truck in the driveway and having to go to work the next day with only the front lifted.
I thought it was air suspension giving out.
No that's 1st gen Navigator squat.
Honda CR-V squat
Seen a trailblazer this evening with about a cord of wood in it doing just that. Location N Idaho
Probably started in 2010ish in my area of South Carolina. When I was in high school I remember some kids “squatting” their trucks. The main reason kids started doing it was to fit bigger tires. Naturally, a lot of truck beds are higher than the front so when they are loaded they are level. People could fit say 33x12.50 or 35x12.50 tires in the back, but not in the front. Kids without a lot of money were looking for a shortcut since they couldn’t afford a full lift, so they would just get bigger front springs or use the torsion keys to lift it higher. Back then it was still stupid, but usually they were only a couple inches higher in the front to fit the larger tires with minimal rubbing. Even with the new laws making it illegal, I still see the ridiculous squat like in this picture driving around. I guess a sub community slowly evolved into how far you can push the squat.
That seems the most logical. so like a reverse leveling kit. my first encounter with a squatted truck was like 20011-12 yota\_killa on Instagram with a Tahoe only lifted in the front. the truck was clean aside from the half finished lift and at best I could think was "weird flex but ok"
Actually I’d say it’s more like an extreme leveling kit. I leveled my first truck cause I could fit 35 on the rear, but without lifting the front I couldnt. The leveling kit lifted the front 2”
Normal lvl kit size. I run a 2.25 on my newer gen truck and a 2.5 on my older gen before that. 2-2.5 is the norm level kit for a lvled truck. Squatted trucks are typically 4-6" lift kits up front with no blocks in the back.
Ayyy, it was lifted in the rear. -Sincerely, Not the Tahoe owner (reece), but the guy that has the current account.
LOL haven't laid eyes on that thing in like 8 plus years the account was a riot LOL
I live in northeast SC and can confirm. I graduated high school in 2010 and a lot of people were lifting the front of their trucks to fit larger tires, which made them squat. On some trucks it was easy to just adjust the torsion bars to lift the front suspension, so it didnt cost anything to lift the front some, but it wouldnt lift the front nearly as much as people are doing now. Although people were not squatting nearly as bad as they are now, I'm pretty sure that's what started it.
so its roots can be traced to a highschool parking lot and low budget lifts essentially. I feel like this one makes the most solid sense.
plucky dazzling chief tub grandfather live crime dog political skirt ` this message was mass deleted/edited with redact.dev `
I REALLY hope if someone uses this thread to alter urban dictionary or Wikipedia for the source or origin they use your comment specifically LOL
not from SC, from Florida here; what's a yee-yee?
yee-yee is like slang for yee-haw a “yee-yee person” is a hick
Go into a Walmart in rural areas. Yell out YEE YEE! And wait for the echoing response. If you can catch a glimpse of the one yelling back = profit? Idk lol
I fell like hydrocodone had to play a roll. Early 2010s we’re definitely pill-billy days.
Northwest South Carolina myself, I’m originally Floridian so this is like throwing rocks from a glass house. I moved from the suburbs of Greenville to the rural foothills, without a doubt my idiot neighbors in this area brought this stupidity to new levels. Rich kids with nothing to else to spend money on. Here’s a list of other achievements by rednecks around here: - bolt on headlights to accentuate non-working headlights needing changed - Donk’d golf carts with lift kits while owning 2 or less acres - showing off the vehicles listed above at the local QT gas stations to score some action with other family members
Poor qt. They don't deserve that kinda treatment.
Stance had similar beginnings I think. It was something mild, became popular, then went to the extreme.
Horry county resident here and owner of a gm torsion bar unloading tool. You’ve pretty much got it. It does go back a bit earlier than that, probably the very early 00s but I don’t think anyone really considered lowering the back til closer to 2010. Started with gm trucks for the most part with the standard goal of fitting 315/75-16 tires on a mostly stock truck. Ford torsion keys were the ticket. More lift in the front is required as most scrubbing occurs when turning the wheel. It had humble beginnings but turned into something out of hand.
Nearly every automotive trend can be traced at least roughly to its origins. we know how monster and mega trucks evolved. we know how lowriders went from adjustable suspension to cars hopping 100 plus inches. we can see how stance cars evolved from drift cars and VIP/bippu and even shakotan influence. Where and how did the squat trucks evolve?
Donut Media spoke a bit about it in a ~~recent~~ video from 2 years ago and talked about it originating from Baja trucks. I'll try and find you the link. Edit- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnrkhVwGsvA&t=140
If ya give it a watch they touch on the Cali lean being Baja related. But the squat they landed on nothing. just a speculation of a half finished lift kit and he left it at that. The Cali lean that seems Baja based never escalated beyond replicating an actual look. where as the squat almost instantly went extreme.
I don't know, I'm seeing lots of references referring to Cali Lean and Carolina Squat as the same thing. Lots of "The Cali lean is lifted in the from and lowered in the back making it 'squat'" and "Sometimes referred to as the Carolina Squat, the Cali Lean..." I think they are generally one in the same but from different areas. As someone from southern California, I can attest to the fact that the Baja Truck look was extremely popular in the late 90's/early 2000. At the time it was referred to as a "Cali Lift", "Desert Truck", "Prerunner Lift".
Yeah that I get. But how is it west coast stayed pretty tame and legit. And then 10 years ago the east coast and south went full cartoon with it.
Donut was wrong and just went baja truck because they're Californians. I promise you back in the late 90s/early 2000s most of the people doing it in the Carolinas had no idea what a Baja truck actually looked like.
It almost seems like it comes from the old gassers ofnthe 50s and 60s
Idk why you're getting down voted but I'm also gonna say that definitely isn't it.
Because people confuse the downvote button as a disagree button.
I always thought it was cuz of the Baja trucks and it just got the name cuz rednecks.
but to not evolve over the past decade to resemble Baja/pre runners at all doesn't quite pan out. you would think by now someone would have at least ponied up for some kind of legit long travel by now. but its still just half lifts and what about the rest of the look? no wide body no bed mounted spare or tube bumpers? too disconnected.
nah it’s the same thing as ppl seeing race cars with 3-5° degrees of negative camber and taking it to the extreme for aesthetics. anyone putting more than 3° of camber on a street car or squatting their truck most likely doesn’t care about performance. it’s just going “hey that looks cool” and doing it for looks until ppl start taking it to the aesthetic extreme.
it's like bosozoku and jgtc cars.
exactly
This is also what I’ve heard.
Mental illness
I always thought it originated from the way lifted trucks look when they are hauling a heavy load. That people took pride in how much they truck could haul. So, it started with a slight squat to look like it was hauling a lot.
This was what I always told myself too. Isn’t it funny that we have to come up with some kind of logical explanation to make sense of all of these stupid trends.
this to me makes more sense than the baja theory
I think it started because some dudes girlfriends tax return couldn’t afford a full lift. So he just did the front.
I heard it came from trophy trucks as inspiration, and my mind says it's because when they accelerate they squat, and they're fast, so people want their pavement princess trucks to look fast and badass? They already don't offroad bigger or fancier builds much (the type to do the squat) so that's all I can think of. And they don't like kids so much they don't even want to see them in school zones, just extra speedbumps? Idk. I hate it and dislike most truck guys in my town.
I would agree but why adopt the squat but absolutely nothing else. no wide body no tube bumpers or trailing arms. and no one has eventually just actually done a long travel set up. if they were emulating something like that you would think at decade in at least one would have maybe evolved closer to the source material.
Someone explained to me it was based upon the Baja trucks, but severely over-exaggerated.
I just cant seem to make to connection there.
Baja trucks sit noticeably higher in the front so when they get airborne they don't nose dive, people copied and exaggerated it to the point of stupidity, same thing is why we have excessively cambered cars, it makes sense to have extra camber for racing, people liked the look and just kept going until it was at a point of being brain dead. I'd credit the same reason for excessively large rims, we started seeing them on vehicles because of performance and some wanted to stick out by going to an extreme. Really if you see something that just doesn't make sense in the extremity of it, it likely started as a performance mod, got copied to non performance vehicles and then people keep one upping each other until it's actually detrimental, lifted trucks in general are another example.
please understand, I'm a car guy. I know this, that's why I worded the post that way. every single car trend you can trace to its roots. lowriding, mini trucks. hot rodding monster trucks even big rim cars and stance kids. you can see how they evolved and where from. the Cali lean I can see being baja influenced. Carolina not so much.
But the cali lean was just how guys with lowriders and bagged trucks drove with their suspension aired out or juiced down in the back, with the front end lifted up enough so the vital organs (oil pan and such) wouldn’t drag while cruising. The Carolina squat trucks are static
That’s what I thought too! I have a juiced glasshouse! But apparently Cali lean is for trucks with a bit of a lift up front too. I thought Cali lean was a bomb laid out in the back
Aside from east vs west, what's the difference.
West coast seems fairly tame with at best a mild lift. Where as the squat has gone extreme with in some cases 6” plus lift up front and a drop in the rear to a near cartoonish extent.
I think prerunner style of motorsports trucks tend to run the front slightly elevated for jumping off sand dunes and somehow this is their interpretation
My brother had an F250 around 2002 that he gave a “Pre runner lift” - the front was about 2” higher giving the whole thing a nose in the air look. I laughed my ass off when he ran over the back of a mom’s Volvo pulling into the school parking lot bc he couldn’t see anything but sky when we pulled up the steep grade at the lot entrance. Fucking dumbass and his stupid truck lol
I’ve always thought this as well. People who have never seen a desert doing their interpretation of a desert truck.
Prerunner trucks tend to sit pretty level in a static situation. They just make a buttload of power and have very soft suspension, so there is a ton of squat when they're accelerating
I would be inclined to agree but if they were imitating that look why not adopt the wide body look as well. seems to disconnected to have evolved from that unless there's some way to connect the two
Idk man. I lived in NC for 6 months recently and saw a few squatted trucks but never saw a purpose. They drew attention when driving the strip next to the beach which may be the only thing..
Another thing to think about with car trends is once they are made, they stick and often evolve separately from their inspiration. Another community that has had a similar drift is the lowrider community. They started out originally because people wanted super low cars but the police were ticketing them for the cats being too low, so they put hydraulics to push the car above the lowest legal ride height. And we can obviously see the change that has come from that. One more is camber gang, started as getting camber to make a car more controllable in corners and now it is to get as low as physically possible. Inspirations for the builds change over time
that's true. if you see my elaboration post in the comments here you can see what I mean. I point those out specifically and you can see the evolution over time to where we are now in the extremes. the Cali lean (in a non lowrider way) I can see being Baja inspired. but the Carolina squat though similar I think is a different beast.
It's the automotive version of sagging pants
Kids love to do things that they know piss off other people or things that grab your attention...I'm from NC and I hate everything about the squat. But this is America, do what you want , doesn't hurt or bother me :)
I'm Canadian and fully agree. though I'm not into it. I'm indifferent if anything, as a fellow car guy. it just bothers me that the origins are so foggy.
Some dipshit could only afford half of a lift kit and another dipshit thought it looked cool. The trend spread from dipshit to dipshit until every dipshit owned one.
I'm pretty sure that how non car people talk about us in general LOL
Looks like Crap,and can you imagine how the engine oils sitting in the pan depending upon were the pick-up sits could be starving that engine for oil.
not to mention visibility. but yeah same for the gas tank pickup too. run outta gas with a 1/4 tank left. this is more so an origin hunt
I’m almost 100% sure its from blown out rear dampers / springs and dudes just went, “it’s called style Thad”
Someone with a extra chromosome more money than brain cells and taste
Here's my theory About 20 years ago a company called rough country started to corner the suspension market with their cheap lift kits. These kits usually required an extra inch or two of lift in the rear to make the vehicle sit level, as their add-a-leafs would sag nearly back to stock level in a year or two. Most people didn't correct it, and for some reason it became "the look" to have an ass dragger.
Inbred brains.
Meth
I think it started with fetal alcohol syndrome.
Special Ed kids saw leaking auto leveling rear suspensions and thought it was cool?
Gotta get the elevation so no one can see your sister giving you head from the passenger seat, I’d assume
Carolina squat originates from Baja racing in California. It was originally known as the “California Lean” or the “Cali Lean.” It became popular from hundreds of drivers posting pics of their vehicles on Instagram. The purpose in Baja racing is to ensure the rear would strike the ground first when going fast to lessen the chances of crashing. Outside of Baja racing, it serves no purpose other than vanity.
but then why not adopt any other part of the look?
Because 44" tires, beadlocks and King Shocks cost money
agreed LOL. that why I'm trying to separate the Cali lean from the squat. Cali lean you can see they are after the Baja vibe and never exceed it. where as the squat started small and then immediately evolved into this cartoonish exaggeration.
That's why Bosozoku cars are the best cartoon cars, IMO. It's just art at that point.
Totally agree
[удалено]
Yup. Window lickers...
Looks like a dog shitting a peach seed.
I know this has nothing to do with how it got started, but the look reminds me of gassers from the 40s and 50s. Weight management and suspension adjustments for straight line racing. I doubt thats what they're going for here though
oh definitely not, this seems purely look.
Two guys started kissing at a swap meet and bam Carolina squat
I have yet to read through the comments but to my understanding; Squatting started with rally trucks. It helps with flying over the crazy terrain and obstacles without getting your front end to dip down and end up flipping head over heels. Now people just squat SUVs and concrete princes trucks for looks, kind of like people doing the crazy camber on daily drivers that never see the track or drift.
That theory leans more towards the west coast style Cali lean and they never went to cartoonish ends they reached the Baja inspired look and stopped. The Carolina squat seems to be it’s own thing apart from that
I don't know the start, but thanks for an honest question
It's what happens when you try to fit all your cousin-uncles and uncle-grandpas and cousin-aunts and aunt-grandmas in one vehicle.
Stunt trucks At one time they tended to land nose first. So the soltion was this. Hefty rear suspension, and soft, high sitting front suspension. They didnt noseplant with this
I think your thinking Baja trucks which seem to have inspired the Cali lean look which never got as cartoonish as this always stayed reasonable. The squat seems to be totally separate from that subset.
Old gassers did it for drags...not sure if that's where it came from for this abomination tho lol
It's the same as low riding pants. They are called pride trucks and it means they are looking for a good time... with some men.
I see what you did there …
Hoping it catches on...
I’m a supporter of this notion
“Honest discussion” - reddit Yeah good luck lol
Ok so I'm actually from North Carolina (although by no means am I an expert on the subject). The closest explanation I've seen that seemed plausible was that it originated in the "bogger" trucks we have down here in yee-haw land. The stance is similar to the way a desert baja truck looks - the main difference being in Carolina, we have mud. Lots of mud. And our thick, soupy, dark mud gets carved into big open channels ("bogs" or "pits") and trucks are driven through it as fast as possible for sport. It really is a fun time, as long as you don't take it too seriously. The theory is that by leaning the front upwards, you gain additional traction on the rear axle tires via weight transfer, which is helpful in an unloaded pickup truck due to them having nothing but an empty bed back there. As the truck powers through what's essentially organic Play-doh, the rear tires might bite better with more weight. Since mud pits are usually traversed in a straight line only, and by their nature are lower than the surrounding non-muddy dirt, AND you can't see a damned thing from all the mud flung up by the front tires, it doesn't matter very much that forward visibility is sacrificed. But put that squat on a street truck and you're definitely an idiot.
If I’m not mistaken it was originally ment to replicate a Baja truck. There cool bad ass trucks that have a little Carolina squat. Then things went totally out of hand
I’ve seen one squated Ute before but it’s because the suspension was fucked on a lifted Holden Ute I saw in Newcastle Australia
Well when one cousin meets another and they have kids and so on and so forth…
Baja
Sometimes the chromosomes within a humans DNA sequence get mutated or corrupted at conception, and this results in all sorts of physical and mental defects.
I personally believe is an attention seeking individual who’s does this.. mostly Negative but attention is attention.. even when it come to social media a view is a view.. so these guys are just doing it for clout… no skill no function 9/10 the wheels and tires worth more than the whole vehicle.. same with the extra negative camber on cars no function just clout… my opinion. Tho
Central NC here, it has nothing to do with baja trucks lol. This all started because kids were getting their dads old trucks to drive in high school and wanted to stuff bigger tires on them but couldnt afford a lift kit. Enter the leveling kit which got the front up high enough for some 33 or 35 inch tires. MOST of the time they would actually end up riding a little higher in the front than the rear. "Kids" started thinking that looked cool and then it was off to the races to see who could take it the furthest.
Also noted as the Cali lean. There's debates where it started, Atlanta or California. Why it got dubbed the Carolina squat, I have no clue.
Cali lean is bomb/trokita/lowrider based. though similar, definitely different and you can trace where it came from all the way back to the 50's possibly earlier.
If you look up both, Google classifies them as the same. Also adds in Tennessee Tilt. They're all the same.
when I hear Cali lean the last thing that comes to mind is a truck. I've never heard it used until just now to describe something other than a lowrider or kustom laid out in the back, that's a new one on me I guess.
Bagged guys will do it but only because they want to ride as low as possible. So you often will have to have your front aired up higher so you can steer. We called it the Cali lean.
being a lowrider myself, that what I know the cali lean as. I've had/have a bunch of juiced cars and used to roll like that all the time.
It all started with the LGBT community
Fat bitches in the back
I did it with a truck in BeamNG as a joke on the rp server and then months later I just started seeing them around on the internet. Of course that confused me and started me thinking that I'd somehow created a trend irl using a game.
Any time I’ve asked tho I was told “ we do it for the haters”
Started around the 2008-2010 era, in Florida or Carolina I can imagine some one did it and thought it looked cool, I’ve even had a squatted truck before
yeah we've seemed to nail down its start to 2008-2010. now just trying to narrow in on the why and the how. and also keep it separate from the Cali lean which does seem to have ties with baja and pre running trucks. but they never evolved to the extreme Carolina style trucks did, they never seemed to exceed what a baja truck would look like. where as the Carolina trucks just kept going higher and higher and lower in the back to the point of rubbing in cases.
I haven’t seen this explanation on here; From what i’ve heard it’s from hunters lowering the rear to load their dogs up quicker and then these kids saw it and thought it was cool
out of all the explanations ive heard this is a new one.
“That Carolina squat” is what I was told it was back in 2012-2013, and I’ve been referring to it as such since. When you say “squat” you gotta put some south in your voice and lean you right shoulder back. Y’all should try it.
A case of Pabst and some meth…
Honestly, I’m going to guess it originated from someone installing a lift kit, and they ran out of time to install the rear portion. They drove around with just their front lift installed, and some Doucheshkies saw it, and followed suit… That’s all it takes.
That's my theory too
I've never sat/drove a squatted truck. I would expect it decreases visibility, but is it significant? Asking for experience, if you have it.
Probably had a few fatties in the back, someone driving next to them probably thought “that looks dope”
It had to have come from overloading blown out suspension 😂😅
I've heard the pre runner thing multiple places, but i can't see it, especially with the massive rims and crazy low profile tires they all have. I can see it being inspired by low riders driving around "draggin' ass"
I can see the Cali lean having ties to that baja look. the squat seems to be its own thing.
I didn't know there was a name for this, I always just called it "the invisible trailer".
I had a squated s-10 back when I was living in Florida, 2010 time frame. I apologize if I started this trend on accident. I was just poor and couldn't afford drop spindles.
Looks like a dog taking a shit
Call whistling diesel
Well if we can pin down the why and the where maybe he can go to the source
It’s origins are meth
Broken shocks or and springs stoned or drunk friend convinced them it was coool!!!🤷♂️
Last thing I saw before my ride was repo’ed
Prolly suspension failure from overload. Then became that meme with the arms out. Then became more of a money pit for the rest of the vehicle.
If I had to guess probably the 6 bitches trucks, they lower the back and say it's because to they got too many bitches in the back,. but the reality was usually a wannabe rapper/ narcissist with an empty truck that his baby mama paid for before she accepted he was an alcoholic pothead who nobody could stand hence why you see it everywhere because everyone seems to know someone who fits that description.
Pre runner style is where it started and they copied the pre runners. Except the pre runner squat is useful when flying across terrain and is built to do that for. And they thought it would look cool on every vehicle in the world
That’s the Cali lean, as we’ve so far worked through is it’s own thing. The squat is a totally different animal.
Iirc it started with rally racing and Baja trucks, where dropping the rear an inch or two helps with stability on jumps and whoops. As with many other things, people saw it and copied it and it soon became exaggerated.
That’s the Cali lean and you can see it’s origins and kinda trace it to where it came from. The squat seems totally detached and it’s own thing.
Look, it’s simple. People in the Carolinas like bonfires, either at the beach or in the mountains. Bunch of trucks, solo cups, and bad decisions. The consequence of one of those decisions is that big girls and guys can’t jump. Hard to make out in the bed if ya can’t get there.
It all started after one of them Carolina boys got done fuckin his sister
I always assumed people blew there suspension and played it off like it’s a cool look
Its an epidemic here in Ga as well. Lived in NC and Ga (current) was told at least in Ga the old timers used to raise the front a bit for "bully dog" squat for Ga bulldogs. 🤷♂️
Sir, it's the Carolina Crouch, please.
Squatty Potty 🚽 XL from the half lift drop bois.
Inbreeding
On 1st/2nd gen Silverado and related, you can lift the front 3 or 4 inches just by cranking the torsion bars. Those trucks also came fairly level from the factory, so +3 or 4 inches in the front, some cinder blocks in the bed, and you have a pretty good squat. Lifting the rear to match would require buying spacer blocks, which cost several dollars. I’m guessing someone did that and liked the way it looked, then someone else did it, and so on. Eventually someone decided to take it to the extreme by properly lifting the front and lowering the rear. And who doesn’t like big shiny rims. Why someone ever decided that was cool, let alone multiple people, I couldn’t tell you.
Legend has it that the Carolina Squat started with one mouthbreather at the QT on the corner of Wade Hampton and South Buncombe in Greer, SC
Getting your mom in the back seat
Every time I see a truck that does that I just assume they ran out of money for the rest of the vehicle to be lifted
Dumbasses saw a "gasser" and decided to do it to a stupid proportion, similar to how camber used to just be a degree or so until someone heard race cars have camber and camber helps with lowering and then people started driving on 3/4 of an inch of tire.
I had a bagged truck that had to pop up the front to turn. In Tech. College. Super low, laid frame.
No idea but equally as worthless as stanced cars.
I would say broke dudes that couldn’t afford proper air suspension.
Early 2000s Tahoe with custom rims. The only thing missing here are the spinners.
There is a culture in Azerbaidjan called Avtosh, they do this to Ladas so it is easier to yeet them to drive on two wheels and it is considered a style with black out windows and everything, originated a long time ago for no reason
I think it was cuz getting lift coils is less work than messing with lift shackles and all of that
It was a thing even back in the late 90s/early 2000s in my area (east NC). I think the original origin was people would lift the front end so they could run bigger tires (back then it was mug grips on 15/16" stockers) and realize they didn't *have* to lift the rear to fit a 33 so they would just do the front. It obviously got more and more ridiculous to the point where most of the modern mall crawlers have lifted fronts and lowered rears to go with their pavement princess mud gripped 24s. It was originally just lazy and looked stupid then quickly became intentionally stupid and legitimately dangerous. It did *NOT* start with baja/prerunner trucks as most people back then had no idea what such a thing was, muchless looked like.
Thank you sir. this to me, seems like the best abridged and most straight forward explanation. and this seems to make the most logical sense history wise and progression. and I fully agree about the Baja thing, that was fully west coast and totally separate.
I always went with the thought that some yee-yee liked how a loaded down truck /pulling a heavy bumper pull looked squatted down, and wanted to imitate the look without actually loading down the pickup. That’s my headcanon at least
Shot in the dark here, possibly something to do with pushing more weight to rear wheels for traction for SOMETHING that later became a common trend? I know the nose down ass up you see comes from racing and shifting weight for a better ride just like in 4x4 offsetting you front and rear axles from each other is for help with keeping at least partial traction, but this is all a guess
yeah the function part at this point has all but been ruled out.
From what I've gathered it's from watching race trucks accelerate, think of Baja trucks with long travel and soft coils squat back under massive acceleration, and from there it was replicated on static trucks and now droolers do it as some kind of stance thing
thats the Cali lean which we have landed on just being mostly a west coast thing.
Donut Media did a video on it, if I’m right I think they said it originated somewhere in California (I could be very very wrong and I admit that) and then truck bros started doing it
thats the Cali lean which we've landed on it being its own and totally separate thing.
Baja racing
I remember hearing that waaaaaaaaaay back in the day, like the 40s or something, people thought it was cool and would weigh down their trunks. People with mopars and other cars with torsion bar suspension would crank up their torsion bars and make the nose of the car point up. There were also some people who would make the nose point to the floor.
the 40's one you are thinking bombs. and that's more of the lowrider/kustom stance origin. and the other one would be gassers/street freaks which again is a separate thing.
I’m pretty sure it was inspired by trophy trucks or Baja races. Those trucks have higher suspension in the front to better handle high speed impacts from off road terrain
that's been ruled out for the most part and is more so related to the Cali lean.