Smiley's lowrider


		This photos were taken back in October 2002. The disk they were on was lost when the CD-Rom it was in broke. A year and a half later, while using parts from that computer to fix another, the CD-Rom was opened and the disk salvaged.
The pictures where taken with a Sony Mavic 200 CD Digital camera. The lighting conditions were excellent that day. The sun was high and the sky almost clear.
		Smiley's sidekick is his nephew, Rafael, aka Gordo. He seems to enjoy mimicking his uncle.
Lowrider History - From Ben Chappell's writings 1940s: After World War II, there was a rising Mexican American middle class. At the same time, the second-hand car market was booming. According to lowrider folklore, the pachucos—second-generation Mexican Americans in California who were into zoot suits and jazz—bought used cars and lowered them by adding weight to the trunks. The cars from this era, called “bombs,” still “have a lot of prestige. They have a prototype lowrider look,” says Chappell.
		1950s: The custom car and hot rod movements, represented in movies like “Rebel without a Cause,” spread during the 1950s. George Barris became famous for his custom work; he designed the first Batmobile for Hollywood. There is some debate about whether the pachucos lowered their cars in response to the jacked-up jeeps of California’s Anglo surfer crowd. In 1957, Ron Aguirre was the first customizer to install hydraulic lifts in his car.
1960s: Hydraulics grew in popularity after California passed a law regulating how close a car’s body could be to the ground. Since lowriders could now, thanks to hydraulics, raise and lower their cars at will, they could essentially outsmart the police who stopped them because their cars looked too low.
		1970s: There was a growing awareness of the lowrider culture due to articles in mainstream magazines such as Car and Driver and The New Yorker, and the production of “Boulevard Nights,” a movie that portrayed the lowrider cruising scene on East L.A.’s Whittier Boulevard. In 1977, “El Larry” Gonzalez and David Nunez created Lowrider Magazine, which is still in print today. The two men had been elected to the student council of San Jose State University in California due, in part, to the endorsement of organizer Cesar Chavez. They used their positions to divert university funds for their own publishing agenda. With Lowrider Magazine, “they validated the language and style of the barrios, and made it possible for lowriders to talk with each other on a national scale,” says Chappell.

1980s: With the release of “Straight Outta Compton,” by N.W.A., the California “gansta rap” scene exploded, bringing L.A.’s African American lowriders to national attention through music videos and films.	Next	1990s-present: Imports, “Euros,” or “tuners,” usually Hondas or Toyotas modified for street racing, challenge lowriders as the most popular custom car among Mexican Americans. Lowrider style continues to develop: more money is spent on the interiors, including installing the latest audio and video technology. The traditional 13-inch wheels favored by veterans are being replaced by oversized 20-inch aluminum alloy rims. “There is a lot of debate now as to what is a lowrider. The traditionalists say you have to build it from scratch. The old-timers do not think the imports have the same cachet,” notes Chappell. Ben Chappell to visit Ben Chappell's website on the history of the lowrider. Click here to visit Ben Chappell's website on the history of the lowrider.

Smiley's Lowrider

Fort Stockton Brown Pride Riders Lowrider Car Club