This grouping of photos is from the disassembly and tire / stance mock up and planning while I was measuring the Rambler project for the custom chassis to be built. This was roughly a year or so ago.
Out with the old drivetrain.....we certainly won't be needing this again!
Here I've removed the engine, transmission, front and rear suspension and any misc. mechanical components leaving just the uni-body left on jack stands. (Sorry for the blurry pic)
A view from the rear once all the suspension and mechanicals were removed.
Here I've just temporarily set the body off the stands and basically onto the rack until I can do some determining for future parked and ride heights.
This picture helps illustrate the upside down bathtub shape that John had mentioned above. The bottom of the vehicle is wider than the top of the fenders / quarter panels. This does make tucking some larger tires way up inside difficult as you loose a lot of clearance VERY Quick with the narrowing shape of the body sides the higher up you go.
Determining tire size is a compromise between size and height vs. how far back the tires are set from the opening. Choosing a happy medium is about all you can do really.
I attached this picture just to show how small the car really is. This is an employee at the shop (he's not a short guy like me...but I'm not certain on his height 6'3" maybe) The car is just a bit lower than I've calculated "parked" height to be.
If I remember correctly this picture should roughly indicate driving height. Here I was tried several sets of tires front and rear in order to achieve the look and proportions we were satisfied with.
Also note I did a quick paper mock up of the general shape of the planned rear wheel opening. This was necessary so we could visually see how the test tires looked in the opening.
While I was away on a snowmobiling trip my father and son decided to do a fun little project for me and made a set of cardboard wheels!ha
Here the car is roughly placed at the calculated parked height.
Here is a photo of the dash