History "Bombs" versus Traditional

A couple of years ago the San Diego Automotive Museum featured Bombs along with low riders in a great display. Included club jackets, plaques and some great video from the late forties through the seventies. Growing up in SoCal in the fifties, Bombs were a genuine part of the car culture and traditional in every sense of the word.

 

really...

 

You mean Bombitas mang.

I am not sure that anyone is really interested in Hoppers, although they were juicing them in the '60s that I know of. But anyone who is not ethnically biased and is a died in the wool custom guy cannot say that they don't appreciate a bombita.

There is a very fine line that separates a bombita from a mild custom.

There was sure a lot of them in the Mission District when I was growing up. It cost me 15 cents to get there when I was little and I could spend the day with people that I preferred to be around and usually get a ride home.

 

There are still a bunch of them there now, but Ché and the boys all moved to the 'burbs.

Traditional?

 

Well they fit the criteria era wise, I think that there are traditional low riders as opposed to the modern variety. My sis drove me up the Embarcadero a couple of years back when I was visiting. There was a bunch of older style Bombitas parked by the Ferry Building so we stopped. I was chatting with an old friend from when I was a kid and he was saying that a bunch of them had broken off from the hopper crowd to build "Traditional Bombas." " Dis ees our roots ese, ya sabes."

No air just juice or static drop, drag plates were cool on the juiced rides, no late model anything. Lots of inline motors, a few early V8s for running from the fuzz. Everything clean to the max even the suspensions.

Traditional customs? I don't think that you saw a lot of them in the little books but the little books were written by white guys, weren't they. As I have mentioned more then once, our hobby was regional and often differed from one neighborhood to the next. I think that Bombas are a part of our history, if you exclude them you exclude the Latino influence on our hobby.

It is a difficult subject, if you say too much you sound political and if you say too little you sound biased.

 

My 70's style Bombita. Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki

 

Awesome Ride!!!!!

 

I have to agree nothing sound better than hot six!

 

Bombas, or bombitas, .... what's not to like? The workmanship is usually superb, and all the volume of original accessories, if that's what trips your trigger, is insane!! Seems like the genesis was in the Mexican-American communities around LA. When I go to the Big 3 in San Diego with a need for stuff for my 49 Fleetline, I first head down under the Metro tracks, 'cause that's a good place to find them.

 

Know what I like the most about lowriders? No Patina.

 

Totally agree with you on that!

 

That makes 3 of us, hmmmn must be a movement.

When I was in high school my friend Jose owned the world's lowest Chebby, a '59 Impala that he and his dad had built in '65. Even the chassis was painted gloss black and pinstriped. You couldn't see it but it was always clean and shiny. Jose drove it as his daily, it was the only car that he owned.

 

P

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Damn new iphones! Will need to edit this mess after vacation.

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I like 'em, but I'm biased too,,,,

 

I bet it took a lot of elbow grease to keep it clean. WW! Does he still have the car?? Any photos??

 

As an East Coast guy living in Arizona, at the time, I made the trip over to Pomona to see what a West Coast swap meet was all about. I was blown away by the whole "Bomb thing". Those cars are absolutely beautiful. Like them or not the pride and craftsmanship that goes into them is second to none. I came away with a whole different respect for that segment of the car hobby. "Low and slow"

 

i was born in 1950 and graduated high school in 1968. where i was raised... in upland (30miles east of downtown LA) there were only a few bombas... we still thought of them just as old cars. most of us were more into 55,6,7 chevies and vettes. drag racing was king. bombas are nice in my oponion.

 

You're right, they were just old cars, then. People wanted newer cars and it seemed like everyone had a 5, 6, or 7 Chevy. If you didn't have one, your parents had one, if they didn't have one , a sibling had one, if they didn't have one, a cousin had one, in short, there was always someone in your life who had a tri-five chevy in the 60s.

 

Born in 51 so when I finally started driving I had a fleet of 57s. Back then you could buy one out of some ones back yard for $50.-$75 bucks. I can remember at least 6 of them. Wish I would have saved a couple.

 

Freddie Gutierrez and his 1949 Chevy Fleetline Deluxe.




From -
mexicanamericanproject.wordpress.com

 

An early Lowrider, but cool!

 

That line is is quite often the zip code of the owner.