Lowrider: Past, Present and Future - The Downshift Episode 1
On the premiere episode of The Downshift
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MotorTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 Lowriding has changed in the last, I'd say, 20 years.
00:22 It's become more commercialized, especially because of Lowrider
00:26 Magazine.
00:27 Lost the battery, man.
00:29 The perception of lowriding has always been it's a Hispanic thing.
00:34 It's not a Hispanic thing no more.
00:35 It's changed.
00:36 [LAUGHTER]
00:40 What makes a lowrider different?
00:42 I'd like to say that lowriders aren't different.
00:46 All the other automotive industries are the ones that are different.
00:49 Japan was big a few years ago.
00:50 It actually gave lowriding an actual economy.
00:53 Right here in Southern California, people were buying and selling cars.
00:56 A lot of people made their money from that.
00:59 More people getting involved, it's going to evolve.
01:01 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:05 I know everything about hydraulics because I broke down
01:12 on weekends all the time.
01:14 There are hazards any time you alter your suspension,
01:17 whether it be airbags or hydraulics.
01:19 And they are illegal.
01:21 I mean, if you were to go down the street on some of these cars
01:23 and you blew a hose, the car is going to come down to the frame.
01:26 So where are you going to steer to?
01:28 Where are you going to go?
01:29 I mean, that frame is going to dictate where you're headed to.
01:31 I've seen guys hopping their cars on the freeway, which is the craziest thing.
01:35 I've hit switches before on a freeway, and you kind of lose control of the car.
01:38 You've got guys doing gas hopping, hopping their cars,
01:41 picking up the back on freeways.
01:43 And that becomes very dangerous.
01:46 But when you're young, it's not dangerous.
01:48 It's just all fun.
01:49 We all do that.
01:50 [HELICOPTER WHIRRING]
01:55 I want everybody to understand that though hydraulics go on all lowriders,
02:01 mostly, I would just like to say that when you see a car going down the freeway
02:05 and you see it bouncing and all that, it's because they're stiff coils,
02:08 because the guy wants to elevate his car as quick as he can.
02:11 That's 10% of the lowriders out there.
02:15 The other 90%, they want to enjoy their car.
02:18 They don't want to get pulled over by the cops,
02:20 because if you have hydraulics, you're going to get pulled over.
02:22 Lowriding has been around for 60, 70 years.
02:25 Even the cops now think that, well, the guy can't be that bad,
02:29 because look at the money and effort he's put into the car.
02:32 He had to make a lot of sacrifices to keep it up that way.
02:35 I don't see where he had the time to be out there doing something bad.
02:39 Leave him alone.
02:40 That is his hobby and sport.
02:42 And things are cool now.
02:43 People really appreciate lowriders a lot more.
02:46 But I want everybody to know that in every automotive industry, hey,
02:50 I can laugh and joke and laugh all weekend long on some hot rod or muscle
02:54 car that I saw.
02:56 And there's plenty of funny-looking lowriders, too.
02:58 But we're all trying.
02:59 We're all having fun.
03:00 Not everybody is a great artist.
03:02 You start off with your crayons.
03:03 One day you go to markers.
03:05 One day you're dipping in oil and you're painting.
03:08 You make it that far.
03:09 There's no judges out there, but it's the same thing.
03:11 The people come up and recognize your car and give you the compliments
03:15 that I like it.
03:15 Or you can see somebody that walks up, and they stay there
03:18 for more than 10 seconds.
03:20 They really like their car.
03:21 You know that your input and your sacrifices you've made are well done,
03:25 and they're well admired.
03:27 The people are the real judges.
03:29 Now, being that there's car shows all over the world, there's nothing like the
03:31 one that Lowrider has that's in Las Vegas.
03:35 There's no other place, like I mentioned, the Glamour and Glitz town,
03:37 the gambling, the casinos.
03:39 You know, everybody, you got 700 to 900 cars that come up there,
03:43 look, showroom condition.
03:44 They all come out.
03:46 And I know there's mad money spent there just to get those cars there.
03:50 I just don't know how they have anything left over to hit the slot machines.
03:54 But the big winners every year are recognized in Lowrider Magazine.
03:57 You'll see that those cars or those winners, if you've won a couple
04:01 trophies, they're going to be in Lowrider Magazine, even probably,
04:04 possibly, the front cover.
04:06 ♪ [music] ♪
04:09 - I've been lucky enough to be here with the magazine for almost two decades.
04:18 And I've seen our industry grow.
04:20 Other countries are getting involved, like Australia.
04:22 Australia is huge.
04:23 And it's going to be interesting to see how our now generation that we call them,
04:28 to see where our Lowriding culture is going to be at even in five years from now.
04:32 - Where the future goes from here, there are a lot more body styles.
04:36 Most of the Lowrider styles, it's just like if everybody's living back
04:39 in the '70s.
04:41 And that's what makes us a culture, and we don't want to leave that era.
04:44 Through Lowrider Magazine right now, we want to showcase the different styles
04:48 from the early '70s that were very popular.
04:51 Where today, the '64 may be the most famous and popular Lowrider.
04:55 Back in the days, no one wanted those cars.
04:57 It was all the '72 Caprice, the '69, some of the '66 Rivieras.
05:02 And Lowrider tries to show that, that there are other styles,
05:05 think out of the box.
05:07 So if they don't make us brand new cars that change our style to add to our style,
05:11 that's okay too.
05:12 We may be stuck in the past, but that's a good world to be in.
05:16 Will Lowrider ever die?
05:18 I've been asked that question a thousand times, and Lowrider's going to be around.
05:23 It's a culture, it's a life, it's a tradition full of generations and love
05:27 for the automobile.
05:28 It's not going anywhere.
05:30 As long as there's fuel out there to put in the gas tank,
05:33 we're going to hit those switches.
05:35 [MUSIC]
05:45 [CAR ENGINE]
05:47 [MUSIC]
05:55 (upbeat music)
05:58 (upbeat music)