Lowriders

A lowrider is a car or truck which has had its suspension system modified (sometimes with hydraulic suspension) so that it rides as low to the ground as possible. Lowriders often have user controlled height adjustable suspension. more...

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Lowriders are very often classic cars from the 1950s which rode low to begin with, although large numbers of 1940s and 1960s cars are also modified, and to a lesser degree newer vehicles. The word is also used to refer to those who drive or own such cars. A lowrider will traditionally have as many factory offered accessories / options as possible and often many after-market accessories added.

A lowrider's internal parts are likely to take damage from any form of an obstruction or imperfection in the road surface. The reverse automobile trait is people who drive raised trucks, expressing the ability to ignore such problems no matter how damaged the road is or whether they are on the road or not.

Description of the subculture

Lowriders were originally unique to Mexican-American/Chicano culture in San Diego County, California, then became part of Latino culture as a whole, but since the early 1990s, they have become common in urban youth culture in general, primarily in West Coast hip hop. Today the lowriding scene is diverse with many different cultures, vehicle makes and visual styles, however, it remains an important part of the Chicano community. Essentially all the options available to today's custom automobile creator are also available to the lowrider builder, and lowrider style varies greatly from region to region.

Summer is the most popular season for lowriders, as the weather often encourages being outside either in or nearby the vehicle. Some lowrider clubs have weekly meetings in the summer where owners and friends will have a BBQ/cookout followed by cruising a popular drag (or strip) after dark. Aside from local drags and their parking lots, lowriders are most commonly seen at privately organized lowrider car shows that often feature a variety of different vehicular and joto non-vehicular events, the most popular of which are the wet T-shirt/bikini contests and the hop and dance hydraulic competitions where competitors compete against each other to see who can hop the highest or complete a list of moves within a time limit (dancing). There are several magazines devoted to presenting, preserving, and chronicling lowrider culture, the best known of which is Lowrider Magazine, currently published by Primedia, although this magazine is losing favor with people who actually own and drive lowriders due to the over-whelming amount of advertisements, most of which are unrelated to lowriders.

Description of vehicles

The 1964 Chevy Impala hardtop or convertible is one of the most popular lowriders, and to a lesser extent other 1958-1964 Impalas. Daytons is one of the most popular manufacturers of spoke rims, such as their 13-inch or 14-inch 100 spoke rims (Although many people prefer the "old school" look of the 72 spoke Daytons). Although the 1961-64 Chevrolet Impala is usually sought after by car collectors, vehicles including the 1978-88 GM G-bodies (which includes the Chevrolet Monte Carlo, Buick Regal, Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, and Pontiac Grand Prix) and their 1973-77 relatives are usually seen as entry-level lowriders. Although heavy customization of the cars is popular in the lowrider scene, some lowriders pass for restored stock cars, especially those based on 1930s-1960s American cars. In some countries, other cars like the Volvo PV544, Morris Minor, air-cooled VW Beetle, Ford Zodiac, Vauxhall Victor and Vauxhall Cresta (or other car with Trans-Atlantic styling) are often used as substitutes for American cars. This is generally due to the lack of American car imports, costs or even a desire to build a unique lowrider out of a domestically produced vehicle.

Read more at Wikipedia.org