What comes to mind when you hear the word stance?  Could it be the cringing photos that post into your daily social feed with defunct camber and tires that look chewed up by your neighbors dog?  Or the beaten and battered shrapnel that used to be a fender well cutting away as the car scrapes down the roadway.  Let face it, Stance is a word that can bring a bitter taste to the automotive pallet.  For seasoned enthusiasts, maybe we just don’t understand this trend. Or should we?

So on a brutally hot and humid Florida day, I made a trip to the outskirts of Tampa for an automotive gathering hosted by the club known as “Clean Culture.”  Upon my arrival, I entered a parking lot of lowered down cars most of which were touching the ground.  I held my breath for a moment and remained calm, disillusioned by random thoughts of what I was about to see.

I began to walk around and to my amazement were not the dreaded visions of internet memes or the ridiculous beaten up machines.  But a display of finely crafted automobiles.   By no means was this the largest event I have ever attended, but it is the first of which every vehicle was lowered to the ground, tires tucked away, and the camber cranked to 11.

As I baked in the sun, I began to soak in the energy of the elaborate paint schemes and wheels that where meticulously shined up and tucked away.  Each car gleaming one after another.  Despite the random fender well dents here and there, they were a visual sensation, balancing my nerves between distaste and awe.  Walking through the isles of this show, was like walking through a modern art gallery.

So one can say that Stance is art.  It may not be functional, but it’s not supposed to be.  It’s a way to turn a vehicle into an abstract form.  In fact — Stance is the abstract art form of the car culture.  Such as a drag racer breaking parts to go fast in a straight line, these enthusiasts too, suffer for their art with broken wheel lips and fender wells.  It may not something you understand, but maybe Stance is a form of the modern car culture, we can accept.