Low-rider popularity flying high in Austin
Austin is becoming a prime location for motor-watching enthusiasts. From the classic car community, to street rods and luxury rides, Austin has more than its share to choose from. Sharing the roadways is a relatively small but growing community of low-riders.
The low-rider culture hails from the Latino streets of California, but its adherents now are spread out across the country.
“There’s always a meet-up going on, every Friday down on South Congress where some of the guys in the local community -it could be solo riders or car clubs -- go to hang out and go cruising down there,” said Robert Rodriguez, who is administrating austinlowriding.com and an accompanying Facebook page.
Sometimes there are special events that owners of low-riders organize for the community, and low-riders are regulars at Austin’s various other classic and custom car shows.
While the low-rider genre certainly has its roots in the Hispanic community, Rodriguez says that it is a wide and diverse community in Austin. He has seen people from all walks of life taking an interest in the unique combination of influences that shape a low-rider vehicle.
It’s part custom hot rod, part art car, and a healthy dose of attitude and personality that goes into one of these rides. As the name implies, the cars are most often modifified to cruise low to the ground. Then there is the tell-tale “hopping” suspensions that add a bit of comedic flair for show.
“That comes from the airplanes,” Rodriguez explains. “I know that there’s a history to it that goes back a long way.” In fact, the hydraulics to raise
and lower the cars originally comes from B-52 bombers. They were fifirst installed into a lowrider Corvette in 1959 by a car enthusiast named Ron Aguirre in California after a law had been passed on minimum height to discourage the low-rider movement. By installing Pesco pumps and Sidewinder valves, Aguirre was able to raise his Corvette’s height to meet the new legal regulation at will, and then lower the vehicle again without leaving the car.
The suspension system was a hit right offff the bat at its fifirst car show and immediately took hold across the low-riding community.
Unlike other genres of car collectors, in the low-riding community the make of the car is not as important as what you do with it once it’s in your hands. Some are derived from classics, while others take a “way-out” approach to a relatively mundane model.
“You might fifind them in the junkyard, or maybe they’re somewhere already fixed up,” Rodriguez said. “I’ve seen some guys get it from the ground up.
“It’s not just a guy thing,” he said. “It’s really a family thing where everybody wants to get together, especially at the parks, where different events go on throughout the year, like Easter egg hunting and Christmas. Everybody likes to get together and hang out in the community.”