Yahoo Autos "Ghetto Famous" Lowriders Reach For The Sky In Odessa, Texas
All the car culture that's fit to print revolves around Los Angeles.
The county of Los Angeles grew up around the car, its teeming diverse residents striving for something far beyond a factory warranty and dog-dish hubcaps: rice-rocket street racers, Hondas and Mitsubishi Eclipses with underbody neons. Old school muscle cars, hopped-up '32 Fords, all cruisin' Van Nuys Boulevard. Well-heeled men of mystery pushing Ferraris around Malibu with their soft Italian loafers. Lowriders and six-fours and prewar Bombs. If Southern California made the car cool, then we're all reaping the benefits-and there's reason to believe that everything good and interesting about the automobile not only started there but happened there.
But Odessa, Texas, is 1,085 miles east of Los Angeles. (Not just famous for its replica of Stonehenge!) And at the Tejano Super Car Show, so far removed from the barrios of Los Angeles, the strange, yet not-so-strange car culture of lowriders tries to leap as high into the air on hydraulics as humanly possible. Lowriding emerged from the California Vehicle Code, and the price targeting Hispanic-driven cars with down-to-the-ground bodywork; after Ron Aguirre scavenged the Pesco hydraulic system from a B-52 for his "X-Sonic" 1956 Corvette, the lowriders were able to cruise low and slow, bajito y suavecito, with full legality. "Just like the CIA and crack," said one member of the Lay It Low forums, "they invent it, give it to us, then bust our asses for for it…"
It's an identity, even down to the sunglasses and the hairnets and $2000 pedal cars with pink candy flake paint.
And what they're doing here is just as much rebellion as American Graffiti, opines New York Times contributor Ben Steinbauer-who, it must be said, is the Austin-based filmmaker who made Winnebago Man-an ode to a foul-mouthed salesman of RVs, who gained notoriety during the Internet's early viral video years, and who became the centerpiece of a sympathetic documentary-so much more than a minute-long clip your mother sent you.
"Really, honestly, this is the American dream for me," says one carbuilder. "It's the hop game, you know? We don't get famous, but…it's like, ghetto famous."
Images via New York Times
