In 1959, a customizer named Ron Aguirre developed a way of bypassing the law with the use of hydraulic Pesco pumps and valves that allowed him to change ride height at the flick of a switch.
Since the introduction of lowriders in Japan and the rise of lowriders in Japan in 2001, it is estimated that there are still 200 car clubs that are related to the lowrider scene that are still active to this day. Between 1960 and 1975, customizers adapted and refined GM X-frames, hydraulics, and airbrushing techniques to create the modern lowrider style. Today, the lowriding scene is diverse with many different participating cultures, vehicle makes, and visual styles.
The term is used to describe a class of vehicle, not simply the height from ground to chassis. At first, lowriders were only seen in places such as Los Angeles, especially in the 1970s on Whittier Boulevard when lowriding came to its peak. Whittier was a wide commercial street that cut through the barrio of the city in Los Angeles, California. Lowriders were featured in the 1979 film Boulevard Nights, which some blamed for associating lowrider culture with street gangs. The preceding year, 1958 saw the emergence of the Chevrolet Impala, which featured an X-shaped frame that was perfectly suited for lowering and modification with hydraulics. On this car, the standard perimeter-type frame was abandoned, replaced by a unit with rails laid out in the form of an elongated “X.” Chevrolet claimed that the new frame offered increased torsional rigidity and allowed for a lower placement of the passenger compartment.
These customized vehicles are generally individually painted with intricate, colorful designs, rolling on wire-spoke wheels with whitewall tires. Lowrider rims are generally smaller than the original wheels, ranging down to 13 inches . They are also often fitted with hydraulic systems that allow height adjustable suspension, where the vehicle is raised or lowered at the owner’s command. Given these specific characteristics, while a lowrider is always a lowered car, a lowered car is not always a lowrider.