LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Lowrider Cars: Vehicles
built 614 days ago
According to Lowrider Magazine, the term ‘lowrider’ was first used by police after the Watts Riots of 1965 to refer to the young kids who were causing trouble. These kids, famous for removing the springs from their vehicles and sometimes putting heavy objects in their trunks to achieve a lower profile, have redefined the term to denote cultural resistance and artistic expression.
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According to Penland, the origin of lowrider culture has ties going back to traditional Mexican courting practices. Penland calls low-riding “an automotive extension” of the Mexican equivalent of “the paseo,” an act where young singles of the opposite sex walk in opposite directions around a circular road, making eyes at one another. However, it wasn’t until the Zoot suit fever broke out in 1930s Southern California and Texas that low-riding began to make its way as a cultural phenomenon. In barrios, or Mexican neighborhoods, Zoot-suiters, or “pachucos,” began weighing down the trunks of their cars with sandbags to achieve a lowered effect. Soon, as custom alterations to vehicles became more and more impressive, the low-riders came to symbolize pride and community within Chicano culture.
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Hydraulic suspension is often featured on many lowrider cars: A lowrider is a car or truck which has had its suspension system modified (usually with hydraulic suspension) so that it rides as low to the ground as possible. Lowriders are very often classic cars from the 1950s which rode low to begin with, although large numbers of 1940s and 1960s cars are so modified, and to a lesser degree newer vehicles. The word is ... used to refer to those who drive or own such cars.
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The problem with a lowrider is that things like speed bumps and rough roads can make driving difficult. To solve these problems, lowrider enthusiasts install car hydraulics lift kits that allow a completely adjustable height for the vehicle. These kits use electric car hydraulics pumps and normal hydraulic cylinders to raise and lower the vehicle. Imagine connecting the cylinder alongside the shock absorber or the spring, and you get the idea. It's a pretty involved installation and can cost several thousand dollars.
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For you to determine if a vehicle is a lowrider car, you would have to check its components. A vehicle becomes a lowrider car when the suspension system has gone through modifications. Sometimes, it is not the suspension system which undergoes changes but it can sometimes be the hydraulic suspension. Either way, when one of these systems have been changed, then you get a lowrider car. You see, when these are changed, the car rides lower than usual and that is where the name is derived from.
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YOU MIGHT SAY Marco Gaitan was born to be a lowrider. His mother and father's honeymoon vehicle, after all, was a '56 Chevy, decked out with a red and white, tuck and roll interior, chrome running pipes and a back end that nearly scraped the ground. In kindergarten he drew treehouses and choppers. When he had his tonsils removed, his family brought him hot-rodder magazines. He learned to drive in his older brother's '64 Impala, which had a back end that nearly dragged the ground but a front end tilted so high in the air Gaitan could see only by looking 20 feet down the road.
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