AARP - Segunda Juventud

Up With Lowriding

By Luis Clemens
October/November 2006

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Lowrider vehicles scream for attention: custom wheels, a lowered chassis, hydraulics that can make a car literally hop up and down.

Riding in such lavishly detailed vintage cars and trucks has been a popular Mexican American male pastime for half a century. Now it’s a multicultural, multigenerational hobby.

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Lowriders display their automotive finery like peacocks. “I want to go out riding and have people look at my [’74 Caprice] y que me digan, ‘Man, you got a beautiful, clean, nice ride,’ ” says 65-year-old lowrider Frank Leal of Texas.

Leal began lowriding in 1978 to spend time with his oldest son. The father of six and grandfather of 13 still spends hours working on his extended family’s half-dozen Caprices.

More and more grandparents are attending lowrider events, says Lowrider Hall of Fame cofounder Richard Ochoa Sr.

Asked how long he’ll keep tinkering with his beloved Caprice, Leal says: “As long as I can move my hands. I might die being a lowrider.”

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