Behind the wheel of a Carolina squat. Drivers face off with officials to keep ‘culture’ alive

Carolina squat truck drivers are in a showdown with local and state officials.

Drivers of the vehicles - modified to ride low to the ground in the back and high in the front - say they want to preserve the ride’s “culture,” which has been in the Myrtle Beach area for years.

Police officials, however, want the modified rides banned, saying they pose a danger to public safety.

Their fate may rest with the South Carolina legislators, who are considering doing away with the trucks for good.

What inspired the Carolina squat?

Drivers of what’s known as Carolina squat trucks or squatted trucks can be seen coasting along Myrtle Beach’s main drag.

Often their trucks are filled with friends, and music is blasting as they interact with people they pass on the crowded sidewalks of Ocean Boulevard.

The Carolina squat is a trendy alteration usually found on a pickup or SUV that lifts the front of the vehicle and lowers the rear.

While Myrtle Beach has been a popular destination for squat truck drivers hoping to show off their rides, it is not clear how squat trucks made their way to the beach town.

The California lean, which supposedly comes from Baja Racing, could be the reason for it. Baja Racing is a Mexican off-road motorsport race held on the Baja California Peninsula.

Those trucks, referred to as trophy trucks, use suspension systems and usually sit taller in the front and shorter in the rear.

Hot Cars, an online news source for the auto industry, claims the modified trucks became popular after drivers started sharing photos of their squat trucks on Instagram.

There are dozens of pages and groups dedicated to squat trucks on the photo-sharing app and Facebook. It has even become popular on TikTok, which has several profiles that keep up with with squat trucks.

Local mechanic wants trucks banned

T&R Truck and Auto Repair owner Ron Tacquard refuses service to anyone hoping to get the modification because they’re a danger to drivers and those around them, he said.

“First and foremost, it’s unsafe,” Tacquard said. “You can’t get the headlights to go right. They blind people, and you can’t see over the hood. You can’t tell your distances.”

Tacquard, whose shop is in the Myrtle Beach area, said he wouldn’t even let his daughters ride in them because of how unsafe they are. He agrees with officials that they should be off the roads.

“You also have to look at it from a safety standpoint of what’s best for your community around you,” the local business owner said. “If you’re going to have something like that, use it for off-road purposes only.”

Most of the drivers he sees are young, he said, and don’t have enough experience to be driving like that.

As a mechanic, Tacquard also understands the wear and tear that this sort of modification can have on the vehicle’s engine and transmission.

He said the lift on the front side of the truck forces oil to the back of the truck, causing the oil and water pumps to work harder.

“It’s basically like taking a brand new vehicle, and doing no maintenance on it and expecting it to hold up with all the pressures that you put on it,” Tacquard said. “They’ve engineered these vehicles to run a certain way.”

Who sits behind the wheel

Brett Michaels, a popular local TikTok user known for his posts about squat trucks, said he wanted to get a low-riding truck because they’re different from everything else on the road.

The 20-year-old grew up loving trucks because his grandad did, too. Michaels watched his grandfather build them, and he’s been driving them since he was 17.

The squat trucks, he said, are a part of Myrtle Beach culture. It started in Aynor, but then those drivers brought them to the beach, and that’s when it took off, according to Michaels.

The truck community seems to be large in the Myrtle Beach area, and Michaels participates in events when he can.

“We do have occasional meets, and the squatted community is fun. We all get together and have a chance to show off what we’ve built,” said Michaels, who used to watch trucks drive by on the speedway near his childhood home in Myrtle Beach.

Michaels, who says he attends Coastal Carolina University, has had three squat trucks and has spent roughly $15,000 toward modifying them. If they’re banned, Michaels said he would just get an airbag suspension on his truck, which allows drivers to adjust the height of their truck at any time with a compressor.

He has over 762,000 followers on TikTok, and he isn’t worried a ban would affect his social media presence.

Michaels said he understands the concern by opponents when it comes to the trucks that are “outrageously lifted and squatted, but when it’s something that we feel is reasonable, that’s where the problem arises for me.”

Lifted truck driver shares similar concerns about police

Rex Poplin, who is friends and roommates with Michaels, drives a pickup truck. But his doesn’t squat; it’s lifted.

“I don’t think I could ever drive them because (of) the attention they bring to themselves alone,” he said.

He would hate to worry about getting tickets and being hated on by being in the community, the 23-year-old said.

Because his truck is lifted, he is mindful of how high it sits because he has been stopped by the police for his music and the tint of his windows.

Poplin has many friends who drive the low-hanging trucks and is part of the truck community in the Myrtle Beach area.

He thinks if the bill is passed, squat truck drivers will resort to using airbags and has friends who have already made the switch.

SC legislators move forward with bill

In February, state senators voted 39-2 on a measure restricting a vehicle’s back-to-front height difference to 4 inches — with fines of between $100 and $300 for violators. Chronic offenders could even have their license revoked.

It was sent to the House, but no action was taken on the bill. However, an identical version of that bill made it through the House on April 5 with a vote of 106-0. It is now awaiting action in the Senate.

There was an effort to ban the squat vehicles last year, but the bill was derailed at the last minute and never reached Gov. Henry McMaster’s desk.

If the bill to ban the modification is adopted in South Carolina, it will join two other southern states, North Carolina and Virginia, with similar bans.

North Carolina banned squat trucks in 2021, and Virginia followed in 2022.

But even before the legislative ban, it appears that some police departments are cracking down on the squat trucks by enforcing laws already on the books.

In late March, according to a viral TikTok video, Myrtle Beach police officers targeted squat truck drivers during Myrtle Beach Truck Week.

In the video, it appears that trucks were towed, and drivers were arrested and cited for road violations, although it isn’t clear which ones specifically.

Michaels posted the video, which has received more than a million views.

Some city police officials are concerned about the drivers’ ability to see, and how the tilted position of the vehicle could result in maximum damage and injury, if wrecked.

Myrtle Beach leaders have been pushing hard for the ban after a pedestrian was killed in the summer of 2021 after being struck by a Carolina Squat — an incident Myrtle Beach police discussed with lawmakers in 2022 while testifying in favor of the ban.

Drivers of squat trucks say police tend to target them because they stand out, and they usually get questioned about their rides alterations.