Lowrider

Lowrider car culture began in Southern California, in the mid-to-late 1940s, and grew during the post-war prosperity of the 1950s within Mexican-American youth culture.{{Cite web |title=Aircraft Hydraulics |url=https://www.eternalrollerz.com/TechArticles/AircraftHydros.htm |access-date=2025-03-16 |website=Eternal Rollerz C.C.}} Conversion of standard production vehicles included adding lowering blocks and cut-down spindles, reduced-length suspension spring coils, and creating "Z frames" from stock straight frames.{{cn|date=June 2024}} The purpose of lowriders, as their motto "Low and Slow" suggests, is to cruise as slowly and as smoothly as possible.{{Cite web |last=Arizon |first=Gabriel |date=2023-06-29 |title=Low and Slow CSUN Holds its First Event Celebrating Lowrider Culture |url=https://sanfernandosun.com/2023/06/28/low-and-slow-csun-holds-its-first-event-celebrating-lowrider-culture/ |access-date=2024-04-24 |website=The San Fernando Valley Sun |language=en-US}}

File:Lowrider_Culture_Conference_San_Jose.jpg (2019). The city was among the first to repeal its ban on lowriding in 2022.{{Cite web |date=2023-01-01 |title=Cruising in National City could make a legal comeback in 2023 |url=https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/communities/south-county/story/2023-01-01/cruising-in-national-city-could-make-a-legal-comeback-in-2023 |access-date=2023-01-27 |website=San Diego Union-Tribune |language=en-US}}]]

Section 24008 of the California Vehicle Code went into effect on January 1, 1958, prohibiting cars modified to shift the vehicle body lower than the bottoms of its wheel rims. In 1959, mechanic Ron Aguirre bypassed the law by installing hydraulics that could quickly toggle the height of a General Motors X-frame chassis.{{Cite web |last=TUNDRA_News |title=What Happened To Hydraulics? Nothing. It's Still Here |url=https://thetundra.com/interests/cars/magazine-articles/what-happened-to-hydraulics-nothing-its-still-here |access-date=2023-01-27 |website=theTUNDRA |language=en}}

Lowriding became widely popular in the 1980s and 1990s, and bans were enacted in many California cities.{{Cite news |last=Clift |first=Theresa |date=6 June 2022 |title=Sacramento Repeals Ban on Lowriding, Rescinding 1988 Law Now Viewed as Discriminatory |work=The Sacramento Bee |url=https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article261980045.html |access-date=22 October 2023}} It regained popularity a little in 2009, then significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.{{Cite web |last1=Hernandez |first1=Daniel |last2=Schaben |first2=Allen J. |last3=Chun |first3=Myung J. |date=2021-05-14 |title=The lowrider is back: The glorious return of cruising to the streets of L.A. |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2021-05-14/lowrider-cruising-culture-southern-california |access-date=2023-02-16 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}} In the 2020s, activists argued that the practice was harmless and banning it was simply the result of prejudice against Mexican-Americans. San Jose and Sacramento repealed their bans in 2022 that had been enacted in 1986 and 1988, respectively. In 2022, the California State Assembly unanimously passed a resolution urging all remaining cities with bans (including National City, which banned it in 1992) to repeal them.{{Cite web |date=June 28, 2022 |title=State Assembly encourages California cities to repeal cruising bans |url=https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/state-assembly-encourages-california-cities-repeal-cruising-bans/509-20dd7e58-0e3a-4138-8db5-c2b891a7e287|access-date=2023-01-27|publisher=KFMB-TV|language=en-US}} In 2023, California rescinded state restrictions on the height of vehicle bodies and superseded local regulations against cruising.

In 2020, police in Albuquerque, New Mexico introduced a lowrider police car in a reversal of the city's anti-lowriding policies.{{cite web |title=APD's Lowrider Makes Debut at Drive-thru Car Show |url=https://www.cabq.gov/council/find-your-councilor/district-3/news/apd2019s-lowrider-makes-debut-at-drive-thru-car-show |website=City of Albuquerque |access-date=November 10, 2023 |language=en}}

{{main|Height adjustable suspension}}

In 1959, a customizer named Ron Aguirre developed a way of bypassing the law with the use of hydraulic Pesco pumps and valves that allowed him to change ride height at the flick of a switch.{{cite web |url=https://goldenstate.is/going-low-slow-east-los-angeles/|publisher=The Golden State Company|title=Going "Low and Slow" in East Los Angeles|accessdate=24 August 2020}} Ron Aguirre developed this modification with help from his father, after conceiving of the idea. Aguirre's motivation was to stop being targeted with traffic tickets, as he had been by local police in his city of Rialto, California after the statewide ban was enacted.

1958 saw the emergence of the Chevrolet Impala, which featured an X-shaped frame that was perfectly suited for lowering and modification with hydraulics. The standard perimeter-type frame was abandoned, replaced by a unit with rails laid out in the form of an elongated "X." Chevrolet claimed that the new frame offered increased torsional rigidity and allowed for a lower placement of the passenger compartment. This was a transitional step between conventional perimeter frame construction and the later fully unitized body/chassis, the body structure was strengthened in the rocker panels and firewall. This frame was not as effective in protecting the interior structure in a side impact crash, as a conventional perimeter frame.{{cite web|url=https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/automotive-history-an-x-ray-look-at-gms-x-frame-1957-1970/|title=Automotive History: An X-Ray Look At GM's X Frame (1957 – 1970)|first=Paul|last=Niedermeyer|date=19 January 2012|website=Curb Side Classic|access-date=28 February 2015}}

Lowrider cars had their origins in the 1940s, when Mexican American veterans began customizing vehicles to run "low and slow", a contrast to the hot rod that was customized for speed.{{Cite news |date=2024-03-07 |title=Lowrider Magazine Special: Dedicated to Women Shaping the Culture |url=https://www.motortrend.com/news/limited-edition-lowrider-magazine-women-shaping-lowrider-culture/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250127022449/https://www.motortrend.com/news/limited-edition-lowrider-magazine-women-shaping-lowrider-culture/ |archive-date=2025-01-27 |access-date=2025-02-17 |work=MotorTrend |language=en-US}} During the Chicano Movement in the 1970s, lowriders formed car clubs that began to help their community by using these cars for fundraising.{{Cite magazine |last=Blanck |first=Nili |date=May 5, 2021 |title=The Vibrant History of Lowrider Car Culture in L.A. |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/vibrant-history-lowrider-car-culture-in-la-180977652/. |access-date=2024-12-13 |magazine=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}} Lowrider cars are typically elaborately painted and decorated, often using graphic art of significance to Chicano culture.{{r|blanck|PBSNewsHour}}

In the 1970s, Lowrider magazine promoted an association between lowriders and pachucas, pachucos, and zoot suiters by filling its pages with advertisements and photographs that reflected those fashions. The 1979 play Zoot Suit and 1981 movie Zoot Suit reinforced the connection between zoot suit fashion and lowriders. Lowrider also featured cholas, although some established lowrider clubs disdain chola fashion.{{cite book | last=Tatum | first=C.M. | title=Lowriders in Chicano Culture: From Low to Slow to Show | publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing | year=2011 | isbn=978-0-313-38150-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jIXDEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA46 | access-date=December 13, 2024 | pages=45-51}}

The 21st century boom in lowrider culture is generational, with children being introduced to it by parents and grandparents. Participants view it proudly as an aspect of Latino history in the United States.{{cite web | last1=Figueroa | first1=Fernanda | last2=Winder | first2=Melissa Perez | title=Lowriding is more than just cars. It's about family and culture for Mexican Americans | website=AP News | date=October 15, 2024 | url=https://apnews.com/article/hispanic-heritage-month-lowriding-mexican-chicano-culture-762d6d557c73f5c8b251257201797cf7 | access-date=December 13, 2024}}

At first, lowriders were only seen in places such as Los Angeles, especially in the 1970s on Whittier Boulevard when lowriding came to its peak. Whittier was a wide commercial street that cut through the barrio of the city in Los Angeles, California. Throughout the 1970s that culture spread throughout the Central Valley and San Jose areas of California, helped by release of the funk song “Low Rider” by War, and creation of low riding clubs such as Carnales Unidos in 1975,{{Cite web|url=https://www.motortrend.com/events/1009-lrmp-carnales-unidos-car-club/|title=Carnales Unidos Car Club – Lowrider Magazine|date=6 August 2010|website=MotorTrend.com|access-date=15 February 2022}} and further expanded with the publishing of Low Rider magazine by San Jose State students in 1977.{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2019-12-13/lowrider-magazine-ceases-print|title=The life and death of Lowrider: How the Chicano car magazine shaped California|date=14 December 2019|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|access-date=15 February 2022}} At its peak in 1988, Low Rider magazine had monthly sales of over 60,000 copies. Lowriders were featured in the 1979 film Boulevard Nights, which some blamed for associating lowrider culture with street gangs. A mural in Chicano Park celebrates the lowrider culture.{{Cite news |date=2022-06-26 |title=Here's the story behind Chicano Park's new mural |url=https://fox5sandiego.com/news/local-news/heres-the-story-behind-chicano-parks-new-mural/ |access-date=2023-11-26 |work=FOX 5 San Diego |language=en-US}} In 2024, the Oceanside, California community and its police department collaborated to create a hand-painted lowrider police car,{{cite web | last=Candelieri | first=Domenick | title=Oceanside police turn law enforcement vehicle into lowrider | website=FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News | date=February 17, 2024 | url=https://fox5sandiego.com/news/local-news/oceanside-police-turn-law-enforcement-vehicle-into-lowrider/ | access-date=February 17, 2024}} and the San Jose Police Department planned to participate in the city's Cinco de Mayo lowrider parade with its own lowrider vehicle.{{cite news | last=Freimarck | first=Annalise | title=San Jose police cruise with lowriders on Cinco de Mayo | work=San José Spotlight | date=April 30, 2024 | url=https://sanjosespotlight.com/san-jose-police-cruise-with-lowriders-on-cinco-de-mayo/ | access-date=April 30, 2024}}

In the US state of New Mexico, lowriders play a central role in New Mexican culture, particularly of the Hispanos of New Mexico.{{cite web |title=New Mexico History Museum |url=https://www.nmhistorymuseum.org/exhibition/details/2672/lowriders-hoppers-and-hot-rods-car-culture-of-northern-new-mexico |website=www.nmhistorymuseum.org |access-date=November 10, 2023 |language=en}}

In Albuquerque, cruising on Central Avenue (U.S. Route 66) has become a tradition, particularly on Sundays. The city and Albuquerque Police Department (APD) used to take a firm stance against this practice,{{cite news |title=Lowrider enthusiasts: Police targeting Sunday cruises down Central |url=https://www.krqe.com/news/lowrider-enthusiasts-police-targeting-sunday-cruises-down-central/ |access-date=November 10, 2023 |work=KRQE NEWS |date=4 July 2017}} but in recent years have reversed this stance, with APD introducing a lowrider police car{{cite web |title=APD's Lowrider Makes Debut at Drive-thru Car Show |url=https://www.cabq.gov/council/find-your-councilor/district-3/news/apd2019s-lowrider-makes-debut-at-drive-thru-car-show |website=City of Albuquerque |access-date=November 10, 2023 |language=en}} and the city creating a 'Cruising Task Force' to "promote responsible cruising" in the city.{{cite web |title=City of Albuquerque Cruising Task Force |url=https://www.cabq.gov/council/documents/cruising-task-force-final-report_.pdf |access-date=November 10, 2023}}

The cities of Española and neighboring Chimayó have become hotspots for lowriders in the northern part of the state. Española is billed as the "lowrider capital of the world".{{cite web |title=Lowrider Culture |url=https://mytext.cnm.edu/lesson/lowrider-culture/ |website=myText CNM |access-date=November 10, 2023 |language=en}}

Lowriding culture has also spread to Japan.{{cite web|last1=Frost|first1=Bob|title=History of Lowriders|url=http://www.historyaccess.com/historyoflowride.html|website=Historyaccess.com|access-date=April 25, 2018|archive-date=August 18, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818053118/http://www.historyaccess.com/historyoflowride.html|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.convictedartist.com/lowrider_history.html|title=LOWRIDER HISTORY|website=Convictedartist.com|access-date=15 February 2022}}

Junichi Shimodaira continues to import and sell these cars through his business, Paradise Road.{{cite web |last1=Lirones |first1=Brett |title=Here's Why You'll Find American-Styled Lowriders Roaming Around the Streets of Japan |url=https://www.hagerty.com/articles-videos/articles/2019/02/28/how-lowriders-are-in-japan |website=Hagerty |date=28 February 2019 |access-date=5 May 2019}} The spread of lowrider culture and the fame of Paradise Road even attracted the attention of Ed Roth, who is famous for creating custom cars such as hot rods and a prominent figure in Kustom Kulture.{{cite web |last1=Mendoza |first1=Beto |title=Paradise Road - Shop Stop & Talk |url=https://www.lowrider.com/features/1501-paradise-road-shop-stop-talk/ |website=Lowrider |date=27 November 2014 |access-date=5 May 2019}} Since the introduction of lowriders in Japan and the rise of lowriders in Japan in 2001, it is estimated that there are still 200 car clubs that are related to the lowrider scene that are still active to this day.{{cite news |last1=Donoghue |first1=JJ |title=The Elaborate Customized Cars of Japan's 'Lowriding' Subculture |url=https://www.cnn.com/style/article/japan-lowriders-subculture/index.html |website=CNN |publisher=CNN |access-date=5 May 2019}}

The 1975 song "Low Rider" by the band War, highlighting the culture, reached #7 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/war/chart-history/bsi/|title=War Chart History (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs)|magazine=Billboard|access-date=May 2, 2022}}

In the 1990s, low riders became strongly associated with West Coast Hip hop and G-Funk culture. Eazy-E, Mack 10, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, The Game, Warren G, South Central Cartel, Above the Law and John Cena (In a music video of "Right Now") among others featured low riders prominently in their music videos.{{cite news |last1=Strait |first1=Kevin |title=Lowriders and Hip Hop Culture |url=https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/manylenses/lowriders#strait |newspaper=National Museum of African American History and Culture |access-date=30 August 2021}}

{{gallery

|title = Examples of Lowriders

| File:Solo s 48 Fleetline.jpg

| 1948 Chevrolet Fleetline lowrider. Lowriders from the 1930s through the early 1950s are typically called "bombs" in the community.

| File:Chevrolet Impala 64 hydraulic test lowrider.webm

| Test of a 1964 Chevrolet Impala hydraulic system

| File:Cadillac Fleetwood Broughamlow photo.jpg

| 1988 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham lowrider

| File:Elevated Lowrider Chicago SuperShow 2010.jpg

|Chevrolet wagon lowrider equipped with hydraulic suspension hopping

| File:2019 Seattle Fiestas Patrias Parade - 171 - lowriders (cropped).jpg

| A 1994 Cadillac Fleetwood lowrider 3-wheeling during the Fiestas Patrias Parade, South Park, Seattle, Washington

|File:1991 GMC Sonoma Pick-Up (27849813941).jpg|1991 GMC Sonoma pickup modified in the lowrider style|File:Lowrider stuff - Flickr - jns001.jpg|Hydraulic suspension system in the trunk of an Oldsmobile, running 12 batteries and 4 hydraulic pumps. This system is set up for frequent hopping, whereas a lowrider designed for cruising typically uses fewer batteries and pumps.}}

{{Portal||Cars|Hispanic and Latino Americans}}

• Lowrider bicycle
• Chicano Rap
• Gangsta Rap (album) which includes the track: Ridin' Low
• G funk
• Slab
• Kid Frost

{{reflist}}

{{Commons category|Lowriders}}

• Brown, J (2002). "DIPN The Industry of Low Riding", Dream Factory Films, 1(2)(3).

• [https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/manylenses/lowriders Lowriders, NMAAHC]
• [https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jan/12/lowrider-the-diy-car-mag-that-became-a-chicano-voice-of-resistance Lowrider: DIY car magazine that became voice of Mexican-American resistance, The Guardian]
• {{HAER |survey=CA-2329 |id=ca4308 |title=1964 Chevrolet Impala (Gypsy Rose), Placentia, Orange County, CA |dwgs=2}}

{{Mexican-American}}

{{New Mexico}}

Category:Modified vehicles

Category:Mexican-American culture

Category:Kustom Kulture

Category:Automotive styling features

Category:Visual arts media

Category:Subcultures