There's usually a few prime examples at SEMA every year. They just stop you in your tracks... Takes about a half hour to pull your jaw up off the floor. They are flat out AMAZING!
This was what I grew up around having lived in Southern California in the 50's and 60's, the old school stuff not the late model bouncers. The '54 Belair post at the 00:15 mark is identical to the '54 that I had back in '64/'65. That '54 earned me 27 tickets, mostly for being too low. Still love the old school low riders
I've seen a few of the cars in the video at local car shows and cruise night's. Some really amazing work done to them.
We run into a lot of those guys at shows we are covering. The amount of time and attention to detail is unbelievable. The pictures below are from last years Bedlam at the Broiler in Downey, CA.
Si mon! I grew up in the San Jose area in the '60s & '70s. The lowrider scene there was second only to L.A. I'm not a lowrider guy, but I still dig 'em. Lowriders are customs, plain and simple. Take any one of those bitchin' machines in the video, spray it flat black, slather it in cheesey, lime green scallops or way too much pinstriping (or both), and the lowrider bashing nay sayers here would drool over it.
They are a big presence at Santa Maria every year, some really nice cars. What I really dig is they all show up with their families and make a day of it. These guys live the lifestyle to the fullest.
Grew up in San Gabriel. In those days it was right in the center of Hot Rodding and Lowriding. The hispanic guys were mostly into lowriders but many, like the Valenzuela Brothers and the Bean Bandits, were into hot rodding. And of course, there were some who did both. In the 50s the most popular vehicles for lowriding were late 30s and early post war Chevys and the occasional Buick. Dropping the rear end with blocks was relatively easy to do and I think that, more than anything resulted in the tail dragging stance so emblematic of the lowrider style. Seats were also cut down to lower the occupants within the passenger compartment. With the nose up and the seats down you had to wonder how the driver could see the road. The cars were always immaculate and usually had a good paint job and TJ upholstery. Some had split exhaust manifolds and duals but that was generally the extent of automotive modifications. And oh yes, almost forgot the spotlights. Had to have spotlights. And sun visors. In those days, hot rodders, who were mostly anglo had flat top haircuts, wore white tee shirts, Levis and penny loafers. Lowriders had slicked back duck tails with a spit curl in front and also wore white tee shirts along with cuffed khaki pants. Them was the days.
According to the Low rider Legends, Low riding started in Southern California as far back as the 40s they would take there daily drivers and load the back with bags of cement or blocks and chained down the front suspension and cruise the weekend ,come Sunday evening it was undone and ready to go work for the week. I did my share of low riding back in the 80s and worked a custom Auto shop my last lowered vehicle was a 89 S10 ,drove for 10 years and was nicknamed "LOW RIDER" at over 50 I was asked aren't you a little old for that? I don't think so .
I don't see an ounce of hypocrisy in this. As different as much of this is it's just as much the same. Forget all the rosey "...passion for their cars..." "...craftsmanship involved...". That stuff is just fuckin kool. All of it? Yes, all of it. Many are not for me, most notably the newer versions on 80s and 90s cars, but it beats the 22 inch "rim crowd" with a crowbar. Bitchin post and topic.
As someone said in one of these old lowrider vs. custom threads, "prior to the magazine coming out, Lowrider referred to the driver, not the car." That fine line is so blurred it is difficult to even see.
Saw my first low rider in the 60's, I was a kid setting in my dads 67 Chevy pickup (it was new then) at the intersection of New York and Ohio in Aurora Il.. It was a 54 Chevy 2 door and it came around the corner on three wheels and I flipped. I have been around rods and customs all my life and I love a good low rider. Even owned a 75 Chevy low rider pickup for a while.
I was probably 14 years old in the summer of 78 when myself and a couple of other members of our BMX team were shipped out to LA to hit several national races.We flew into LAX and decided that Huntington Beach would be our base of operations.We were driving through an area with a lot of nice graffiti when a couple of lowriders pulled up along side of us.The '62 was tricked out beyond belief ,with a tri-color paint scheme topping it off.Being from a car family(Cords,Jags,Vettes,and other assorted cool stuff),this was one facet of the automobile world that I hadn't been exposed to yet.I was entranced while the other passengers somewhat ignored them,but that's OK,I was enjoying this without interruption. Before they left us at the next light,they dropped the ass of that Chevy hard and more sparks than the 4th of July flew out from underneath it.I gave 'em a double thumbs up and they returned the gesture and the passenger smiled a smile that seemed to say "We're in your head forever,little guero." 36 years later,they are.That car will always be burned into my brain.
Couldn't ask for a better compliment than to see the enjoyment and hear the reminiscing that this group got out of my video. Thanks! vimeo.com/alexrosen
Some of the best detailed cars in my town are Low Riders, but all of them are GM cars with the 13 " wires on them. Nice to see a little more variety with different brands, some trucks and various wheels on the video.
The Jalopy Journal
