lol, the modern era does not quite have the monopoly on low ride heights. The moment early Pro Street came to Australia...
But sure, before that, it was less typical.
And there are still shitloads of Toranas now that sit like 4WD's, so I wouldn't go as far as to say that the trend is all towards low, unfortunately.
If the guard lip sits on the tyre, then you're still mega high so you'll need to go lower than that! The top of the tyre should be concealed behind the guard lip on a modified car of course.
Before you write anything off, make sure it has some negative camber at ride height... you can also put hubs on it that pull the mating face of the front wheels in (P76 rotors for example, although they are 4.5" P.C.D. not HQ pattern) and re-work your brake caliper mounts. Smaller tyre will of course help but if you already have a 175 I doubt you want to go any narrower (unless you want front runners). I suspect you might be better to find a set of wheels with a less aggressive offset unless you want to add pumped guards (which I'm also all for).