"Gangster lean": what's it mean?

[Tom Dalzell]

In 1994, Judi Sanders collected 'gangster lean' as 'a car with hydraulic
shock absorbers that are set to leave the car higher on one side than
the other.'

Mashing and Munching in Ames: A Dictionary of Iowa State University
Slang (1994)


Tom Dalzell


Wilson Gray wrote:

> Newsweek August 9, 2004 p.54
>
> With its  _gangster lean_  and high-caliber name, the Dodge Magnum RT
> is a station wagon ...
>
> In 1972, Curtis Mayfield wrote a song called "Be Thankful (For What
> You've Got)." It contained the phrase, "in a Cadillac, digging the
> scene with a gangster lean." The "gangster lean" that Mayfield referred
> to was a manner of sitting behind the wheel of a car with your back
> against the driver's-side door and with your legs twisted to the right
> so as to make it possible to operate the brake and gas pedals with your
> legs crossed as though resting in an easy chair, a *very* cool but,
> needless to say, also a very *dangerous* way to drive. This way of
> positioning yourself was also known by the more-descriptive name,
> "sitting to the side."
>
> So, what does it mean to say that a station wagon is a vehicle "with
> gangster lean"?
>
> -Wilson Gray
>