1962 Chevrolet Impala Wagon by Stephanie Bueno - LOWRIDER Roll Models Ep. 32
lowridermagazine:
♪ "This Way" by Brock Berrigan ♪
- Lowriding, to me, it's about the people.
They're truly into it for
the love of the family
and the love of the car.
The first lowrider car show that I went to
was in the '90s.
There were cars there that
we had never seen before.
All the vibrant colors, all
the intricate work and detail
that goes into building a lowrider.
We could appreciate that work.
And to see all the detail that goes
into building these cars
it intrigued us.
And we kept coming back for more.
♪ "Matt's Wedding" by Brock Berrigan ♪
I have a 1962 Chevy Impala wagon.
It's a light blue candy paint
with patterns and flake on the hood,
the roof,
the dashboard
and the tailgate
and it has pin striping, gold leafing,
silver leafing with candy paint
throughout the car.
The engine is 350 small block engine.
The wagon also has 13 inch
hundred spoke wire wheels
rolling on 520s.
The interior is a light blue as well.
It's a stock style interior vinyl,
has engraving on the door handles,
the plaque and the knockoffs.
It also has custom
emblems and custom grill.
The color of the car was
chosen by my late husband
before he passed away.
And his favorite color was blue.
That's why the color of the car is blue.
My favorite part of the car...
well the whole car is beautiful.
I love everything about it.
But, I have to say the paint is amazing.
Depending on if the car is
in the shade or in the sun,
the color of the car does
change in photographs.
Sometimes it could look light blue,
a little teal, a little turquoise.
So vibrant, so detailed.
When she sits in the sun, the flake,
the candy paint,
it's beautiful.
I could just sit back
and stare at her all day.
♪ "Where I've Always
Been" by Shane Baker ♪
I was born in California
Hospital in Los Angeles
and I was raised in Al Hambra.
My dad was a controller accountant.
He's now retired.
And my mom worked up until
my brother and I were born
and she quit working so
that she could stay home
and take care of us and raise us.
And I have one brother.
He's also an engineer.
I've always had a love for photography
ever since I was in junior
high and high school.
I always borrowed my mom's film camera.
Took it everywhere I
went to document my life,
my family, my friends, parties, events.
Kind of like a photo journal of my life.
I love everything about photography.
You can capture so much just
with one click of a camera.
Jay and I met
when I was 16 years old.
We were high school sweethearts.
When we got together, I was the one
that always had the camera.
Everywhere we we would go I'd shoot
and capture the events.
We'd go drag racing.
We'd go to lowrider car shows.
We'd go to import car shows.
Everywhere that we went, I
was always snapping pictures.
Jay started getting into photography
and about 2005 we started
shooting together.
(melancholy piano music)
My late husband's name
is Joseph Bueno, Jr.
But they all called him Jay.
He was an engineer with HP
and photographer.
He was a very humble man.
Took amazing photos.
He had the eye for
photography like no other.
In the beginning it was just taking photos
and just saving them and having them
for our own personal use.
Before we turned it into a business,
my late husband started
a website, jaybueno.com,
which eventually turned into our brand.
Him and I both shot for jaybueno.com.
It was very well-known
that
Jay was the face of the company
because everybody assumed
that all the pictures
that were on his website were all his.
But, in fact, they were
both of our pictures.
Jay felt bad that I wasn't
getting the recognition
that I deserved.
He even offered for us
to shut down jaybueno.com
and collaborate and open
up a brand together.
But I felt like we had worked so hard
to get it where it was
that I just was gonna be a team player
and to continue to shoot for the brand
and support him and support our business
so that we can flourish.
We were very open to shooting anything.
We would shoot landscaping,
we would shoot animals,
we'd shoot cars, we'd shoot graffiti.
It wasn't until we went kind of outside
that comfort zone of just documenting
and it went into an artistic
part of photography.
Once we started going
to lowrider car shows
and we saw how vibrant the
colors were on the cars,
all the work that went
into building a lowrider.
As my late husband used to
say, it was rolling art.
When you have that art
piece in front of you,
it inspires you to want to shoot that car
and just capture its beauty.
And for our business,
the lowriding industry
is what helped our brand be what it was.
(somber instrumental music)
In December of 2012,
Jay started having some stomach pains.
Jay was diagnosed with stomach cancer
in January of 2013.
It was already found at stage 4.
So, unfortunately, there was nothing
that the doctors could have done for him.
They only gave him a short time to live.
Once we found out that Jay had cancer,
he said, "I'm gonna fight.
"I'm gonna fight 'til the very end
so that I could be there
for you and the kids."
He tried.
He tried hard.
He went through chemotherapy.
But stomach cancer,
it's deteriorating.
It takes you quickly.
Even though the chemotherapy was only
temporarily prolonging his life,
we all decided that it
was in his best interest
to stop the chemo.
He had always wanted to build a low rider
being that it was not something
that we were able to do right now,
a collective group of friends decided to
donate the car,
the parts,
the paint,
labor.
They wanted to build him the
wagon before he passed away.
They started the build of the car in 2013
and the restoration was completed
in August of that year in 2013.
Any chance that I could get
I would take him down there
to see the builders, to
see the car being painted,
so that he could see the steps
of the wagon being built.
He was so happy when
they showed him the car.
(exhales loudly)
Jay passed away
in June of 2013.
He was 44 years old.
"Where I've Always Been" by Shane Baker
I can't even express
how happy I was,
and yet sadness at the same time
that he wasn't here to be able to enjoy
this beautiful car that
they built for him.
It's kind of bittersweet.
I love driving her around,
but at the same time,
she is a constant reminder of his passing,
which sometimes makes it difficult.
But I try and see the
good out of this build.
And that was the comradery
and the people that worked together
to make sure
that this wagon was completed.
When you've been with someone
for most of your life,
and then you have to live
your life without them,
it takes a lot, it's very draining.
The last five years has taught
me to be a stronger person,
to be more independent.
I think that that experience
has made me stronger.
I decided to go back to school in 2004
to become a registered nurse.
I had always wanted to become a nurse.
I went to school to be
a medical assistant,
but I felt like that wasn't enough.
Nursing, for me, is not just
a career, it's a passion.
I love it.
And I take care of my patients
as if they were my own family.
I work at White Memorial
Medical Center in Boyle Heights.
I did critical care nursing
for about five to six years
and now I work at Surgery Center,
which is within White Memorial
and I pre-op and post-op patients.
The thing I love the
most about being a nurse
is how rewarding it is.
I love my job and it shows.
Patients tell me all the time,
"You really love being a nurse don't you?"
I go, "Yeah, I love it."
I always come to work with a happy smile,
a positive attitude,
ready to start the day.
I always make sure I go that extra step
to give them excellent care.
Sometimes it's difficult to
think of the happy memories.
Sometimes you think of him being sick.
I try my best to put that behind me
and try and remember the
good times that we've had,
all the laughs that we shared.
We've had an amazing 25 years
and I try and
instill in my children
that even though he's gone,
that we just have to live the best life
that we can live.
I would tell anyone who's had a loss that
over time it gets a little bit easier.
You can never forget.
They'll always be inside of your heart.
But you have to move forward,
'cause if you keep living in the past
and keep living in the sadness,
it's just gonna tear you apart.
I found that if I surround
myself with good people,
that if you just think positive,
that good things will happen, too.
My name is Stephanie Bueno.
I'm a registered nurse and photographer,
and I'm a Lowrider Roll Model.
♪ "Where I've Always
Been" by Shane Baker. ♪
2015 Chevrolet Impala | CarGurus Test Drive Review
CarGurus:
Hi! I'm Chris Wardlaw for CarGurus, and this
is a 2015 Chevrolet Impala, a full-size, 4-door
family sedan. Now generally speaking, I like
this car, but having driven it for a week
now, I can't figure out why full-size sedans
continue to exist. We'll get to more on that
in a minute. For now, let's talk about what
we're driving today. Now my test car is equipped
with 2LT trim and just about every option
you can throw on this vehicle. The total window
sticker comes to just over $37,000, and this
particular paint color, just in case you like
it, is called Crystal Red Tintcoat - it is
an extra-cost option. Now, this is a sleek-looking
full-size sedan, and it's got a lot of heritage
design queues for Chevrolet, such as this
scalloped hood design; it's got this rising
character line over the rear fender; of course,
the classic Impala badge; it's got this kinked
D-pillar here, and my test car's got optional
19-inch wheels and tires, which really give
this particular Impala presence. Now, you're
probably wondering what's under the hood.
A 4-cylinder engine is standard in all Impalas,
but if you get the 2LT or the 2LTZ trim level,
you get a 3.6-liter V6 making 305 horsepower.
In case you're wondering, that's more horsepower
than the last-generation Impala SS ever made.
Now when you get inside of a Chevy Impala,
what you're going to be doing is you're going
to be facing a very busy dashboard. It's got
this stylish dual-cowl appearance, but even
in jet black, it looks busy. If you get any
other interior color, you get a 2-tone effect
that just exacerbates the amount of chrome
detailing and this shiny trim and this fake
wood. It's supposed to come off as looking
upscale, instead it comes off as kinda cheesy.
Now the control layout is actually fairly
simple, because a lot of your functions are
grouped together here in this 8-inch Chevrolet
MyLink touchscreen or the driver information
center that's between the gauges. Everything's
really easy to find as long as you're not
driving - I mean you're not supposed to play
with the touchscreen much when you're driving
- the problem is that the trim that goes around
these components and the buttons themselves
- if you listen, you'll hear them creak under
pressure, and it just sounds cheap. And because
these are the controls that people use all
the time, the driver's constantly reminded
that somebody in some meeting somewhere at
General Motors decided, "Yeah, let's cut a
few cents off those controls." They really
need to upgrade that, because otherwise there's
nothing to complain about in terms of the
quality of the interior. The front seats of
the 2LT are exceptionally comfortable. My
test car's got these optional microfiber suede
inserts with leatherette. The back seat is
absolutely massive, but one thing you should
know is that while this is a 5-passenger vehicle,
we decided to do a little road trip with my
Dad on Father's Day, and my wife got in between
the two car seats that were in the back seat,
and she was terribly uncomfortable. When we
use our own crossover SUV, she has no problem
fitting between the two car seats, so I would
say that that's one more reason why I'm questioning
the viability of the full-size sedan in general.
Okay, now that I've gotten all those complaints
out of the way, let's go for a drive.
So we're driving along a suburban boulevard
here in southern California, and it's very
smooth pavement, it's very nicely done. There's
not a ripple anywhere in it. Yet road noise
is a little bit high in this car and to be
honest, it is probably the one thing that
I can critique the most about how the Impala
drives. This V6 engine is strong enough for
almost any application. You've got plenty
of power to merge onto a fast-flowing freeway,
you've got plenty of power for passing, climbing
mountain grades. The 6-speed automatic transmission
behaves itself in almost all circumstances.
There was one time up in the mountains on
a twisty road when I was going downhill that
it started holding revs in an odd way, but
otherwise, it operated entirely unobtrusively.
The one thing I don't like about it is there's
a manual-shift mode, but it's a little rocker
switch on top of the gear-shift lever, which
is really almost no fun to use and just kinda
makes the interior look a little bit less
cohesive. But the brakes are outstanding.
I tested this car on a hot day in the mountains,
repeatedly abused the brakes, and they withstood
every application no matter how deeply I got
into the pedal. The suspension tuning is outstanding.
If you're looking for a car with a nice smooth
ride that absorbs everything, this is the
car for you. Overall, I really enjoyed my
seat time in the Impala. One thing I did want
to mention is that this car comes with 4G
LTE WiFi connectivity, and I actually took
a business meeting while I was sitting here
in the driver's seat. Conference call via
Bluetooth, I had my laptop plugged into the
3-prong outlet right behind the console here
and sat for 45 minutes in a parking lot, taking
part in a conference call. It was fantastic
- the only thing is is that when you're taking
a call through Bluetooth, the climate control
system automatically dials itself down to
a lower fan speed, and it got really hot and
sweaty in here in a fairly short period of
time. I really wanted some ventilated front
seats, which you cannot get in the 2LT because
of the sueded microfiber inserts.
Now it's true that full-size sedans don't
sell in very big numbers, and now that I've
spent a week driving the Impala, it's easy
for me to understand why that is. It's not
because full-size sedans are bad, it's not
because the Chevy Impala is an inherently
bad vehicle. It's because full-size sedans
use more gas than midsize sedans while offering
only incremental increases in terms of cargo
and passenger space. Now if you're committed
to getting a full-size sedan, I definitely
recommend putting the stylish Chevy Impala
on your list of considerations. For my full
review on this vehicle, be sure to visit CarGurus.com,
and thanks for watching.
Chevy Impala 1961 — Takin' Pride in Low Ridin'
Taste Drive:
Your thing won't be
good the first time
If you want to make a good one,
you have to try more than once
Especially if you are
such an idealist
"I want to make something
just for myself"
If you don't go to exhibitions,
you don't show it to anybody
you only keep it in your room,
then who's going to see it?
If only your friends
know about your craft
you will always stuck
in the same place
Hello,
I'm Andrey
This is my Chevrolet Impala
I call it 'Om' because it's
about the same age as my father
So I have a lot of
respect towards it
I heard from a friend about
the existence of this car
Then I came to a mall
to have a look
At the time I can just look at it,
because it was covered with a tarp
So I touched it and prayed
"If it meant to be,
I will get you in the end"
I knew the driver, so
I asked him to ask his boss
if the car was for sale
and I gave him my number
For two or three months,
there was no news
Until suddenly,
I got a phone call
"Who is this?"
"It's the Impala's owner"
I was shocked
He asked,
"Are you still interested?"
"Yes, very much so. But I want
to hear your price first"
He said, "Don't worry about it.
Let's meet up in the car"
I think this car is unique
I gave the interior
some weird pattern
I knew it didn't fit the paint
colour, but I don't care
I just get all
the colours collided
And for the Airsus control,
I used a PS joystick
Controllers are usually
just up and down
But I wanted it
to be different
At that time, in 2012,
custom paint was not that common
I've known my friend Rio
from our bike activity
We got on well
So we brainstormed about
the stripes, the concept
Almost everything
was done manually
using some masking tapes
front to back, top and bottom
There was a colour gradation,
colour outline
He created some
water splash effect
People would know that
all were done manually
A lot of people say that this kind
of car can't be used in Indonesia
You will probably get it out
on Saturdays and Sundays
Especially since it has a V8 engine,
which can get really hot
So I have to think how to drive this
big engine in Indonesia's traffic
Not even around Indonesia,
just around Tangerang
For a 1-2 hour stop,
it's perfect
I wanted to put some
Indonesian ornaments up
But I didn't have the time
I did it with my bike
Get the body painted
with some batik pattern
So I still want to give
some Indonesian touch
on the shifter or something
So when people see it, they will
know that the owner is Indonesian
or someone with an interest
for anything Indonesia
This car has been featured
in the music video for
Via Vallen's Asian Games song
I myself can't believe that there
were still people who would
appreciate this old
and bothersome car
Indonesia lacks
only one thing
The willingness to start
People just don't get started,
don't have the courage
They don't have the courage to
create something that is more out
If people say that
you're wild, so be it
People can have a good
or bad appreciation
You can't make everybody happy
Just get started
Don't be afraid of judgement
Your thing won't be
good the first time
You have to be brave to get out
Brave to show your craft,
to be judged by people
If they think your craft
is bad, fine
You think it's good enough,
that's all that matter
Just let people say anything
And you just continue to create,
to do different
To be your authentic self
To hell with what others say
Here's Why Chevys are Crap
Scotty Kilmer:
rev up your engines, Christian Pete says
I got a 06 Chevy HHR heard some GM vehicles
won't work right with aftermarket radios
yeah you know it's true it's insane for
some reason a lot of the vehicles GM
made it that the radio is part of the
anti-theft system part of the starting
system of the car and I have had people
but aftermarket radios and the car once
thought they told it to me and I
explained to them you know it's got the
stupid interface for the starting system
I've also seen ones that they didn't
even touch of it's a factory radio but
something broke inside it in the car
wouldn't start
I don't know what this GM engineers have
in their minds or snuck up their rear
ends but they're certainly not doing it
right when they design stuff like that
that's just plain stupidity and they've
done it, v6 rice burner says Scotty I heard
that if the ground straps to your engine is
broken your wheel bearings can burn up
you know that sounds crazy but it's true
you gotta have a good strap from your
negative terminal your battery to both
the body of the car and the engine you
don't then ground its gonna seat you all
kinds of sources and since the tires are
on the ground it can even go through the
wheel bearings make them run hotter make
them burn out, so what
you want to do is everyone so how did
you check your ground straps it's very simple
they'll corrode it the battery clean
them or if they get loose tighten them
up and then the other end they just bolt
on you can unbolt them see if they're
rusted or corroded make them all shinny again
and then put them back on again it's an
easy thing to do and it's often to
collect it on older cars people don't
even think about it, James Royal the
first and he says I recently replaced the
catalytic converter on my Chrysler and my
mechanic
tells me the catalytic converter is
tripping a code that it's bad what could be
wrong all right well the first thing is
it's a Chrysler
unfortunately what people need to
understand about catalytic converters is
they burn unburned hydrocarbons so you don't
pollute if
a catalytic converter goes bad unless
you hear it rattling and it's physically
broken into pieces of rattling around
inside there's something that made it go
bad the engine is burning oil the engine is
running rich the engines running lean
fuel injectors are dripping too much
fuel and that runs the catalytic
converter or somebody was dumb enough to
spray silicone spray cleaner or using
something like seafoam and pouring it
right in the gas tank and then it can
mess with the catalytic converters they
go bad cuz there's a reason it hides out
with yours you got a serious problem
master mechanic who said you need a
catalytic converter again why is this
going on they don't generally go bad on
their own unless I say they break and you
hear them rattling, there's a reason they
go bad
and if you just replace the cat you'll just
keep replacing and replacing, williams GMC
say if
antifreeze gets into my engine and i
catch it in time do i have to replace
all angeles if you catch up in time and
it did damage you thing you won't have
to but here's what you have to worry
about your combustion chambers the
piston goes up it's compressing air and
fuel spray so that compress is pretty
good if you got a whole bunch of coolant
that leaked inside there when it goes up
and it's tell us to go further if it's
pushing against coolant the valves are closed
it still can push because the engines
got to spin it will bend the piston rods
goodbye it'll run bad, so if you
find that it still runs good now and you
change the oil and filter you're not
getting any foamy or a water mix yeah
you could continue in a job you want to
pray that not too much got inside there,
I'm at 9903 says my 07 hybrid
camry with 187 thousand miles is not
getting as good gas mileage as it used
to okay it's a hybrid often that's the
big giant battery the really expensive
one as they get older they lose
percentage of the power and as they do
your gas mileage will go down I see that
all the time in the hybrids now it is a
hybrid it's not a full electric car so
you want to check the spark plugs on
your regular engine that's a gasoline
four-stroke engine they are filled
there's stuff like that but if they're
all ok and it runs perfectly fine odds
are your hybrid battery starting to wear
out and then when you find the price of
that hybrid battery you might just live
with a little bit worse gas mileage
Wilhemina j says, Ford f-150 I was
going down the road and the speedometer
just stopped working and all kinds of
lights came on all right you want to
pray that it's just the speed sensor
there's an electronic speed sensor on a transmission
measures how it spins around sends an
impulse to the dash and makes the
speedometer work now even though your
speedometer looks like the old-fashioned
kind they have a speedometer cable it
doesn't work that way the signal on a
transmission is digital and it goes to
the dash and the dash changes the digital
one
to a stepper motor and a motor turns it
so it's actually turning but it's not
directly with the cable you want to pray
it's just that because if it isn't it
could be something's broken in the
transmission and then you won't get a
signal from the sensor praise the sensor
simple you can unbolt it by one and put
on yourself too, very easy fix, Easy Rider
says Scotty why does the low oil light comes
on
in a 2007 Express but it's full on the
dipstick, knowing those things just change
the
oil pressure sending unit they don't
cost much both off full time that could
fix all your problems if that isn't the problem
then you basically want to go to a
mechanic like me we put our actual oil
pressure gauge on that's a physical and
it gives the actual pressure and if you
do have low oil pressure that can get
super expensive it can be a bad oil
pump it could be bad bearings worn in
the engine they'd have a bigger space so
oil takes up a bigger space that makes
the pressure go down you want to pray
it's just the oil pressure sending unit from
my experience on those it often is,
so if you never want to miss another one
of my new car repair videos, remember to
ring that Bell
Ford Taurus and Fiesta, Chevy Impala and Sonic discontinued
CC- Car Curiosity:
General Motors and Ford Motor Co. plan to
discontinue four slow-selling car models,
including the venerable Ford Taurus sedan,
the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people
familiar with the matter.
GM will stop production of the subcompact
Chevrolet Sonic by as early as this year,
and is planning to discontinue the Chevrolet
Impala in the next few years, the Journal
said.
It also reported that Ford will stop making
the Fiesta small car for the U.S. market by
as early as next year, and discontinue the
Taurus, once the top-selling car in America.
Overall, U.S. sales of new cars are down nearly
11 percent this year and are on track to drop
for the fifth straight year in 2018.
Automotive News, in its annual Future Product
series last summer, reported the Sonic, Impala,
Fiesta and Taurus were widely expected to
be discontinued at the end of their current
product cycles.
The Detroit News in July also reported that
Ford and GM were looking to stop production
of those vehicles.
"Nothing formal to report today," Steve Majoros,
marketing director for Chevrolet's cars and
crossovers, told reporters on Wednesday when
asked about the Journal report.
"But I would say for all three of those products
[Sonic, Impala and Volt] we are committed
to those.
They're a part of our portfolio today, they'll
be a part of our portfolio here in the future.
"Every car we have in our portfolio plays
a role, every car's important and you know
the only way we're going to stay the fastest-growing
brand is to keep providing the vehicles that
people want.
So they're a part of our portfolio and they're
going to continue."
U.S. sales of the Sonic have fallen 21 percent
to 5,983 vehicles this year while Impala deliveries
have plunged 36 percent to 14,067.
Taurus deliveries are off 25 percent this
year in an overall large car market that has
shrunk 12 percent.
The Taurus debuted in 1985 but was dropped
in 2006 in favor of the Five Hundred sedan.
Former Ford CEO Alan Mulally revived the Taurus
name for the 2008 model year.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has already pared
the Dodge Dart small car and Chrysler 200
midsize sedan from its U.S. product portfolio
to better focus on light trucks.
The move to drop car nameplates comes at a
time when U.S. consumers are increasingly
shunning sedans and coupes in favor of crossovers,
pickups and SUVs.
Last month, Ford disclosed plans to pad its
product portfolio with more light trucks,
and add more hybrid and pure electric vehicles.
Ford late last year began telling suppliers
it is ending North American production of
the Fusion midsize sedan, which Automotive
News reported in December.
As we have said, by 2020 trucks and utilities
– including their electrified versions – are
going to be almost 90 percent of our volume.
Passenger cars, including Fiesta and Taurus,
remain an important part of our lineup,”
Ford spokesman Mike Levine said in a statement
Wednesday, in response to a question about
the Fiesta and Taurus.
Ford’s Lincoln luxury brand last week unveiled
a production preview of the all-new Aviator
crossover that’s expected to be built at
Ford’s Chicago Assembly Plant next year,
which also builds its sibling Explorer crossover
and the Taurus.
Last month, GM unveiled a revamped luxury
Sierra pickup, intensifying the battle among
the Detroit 3 for fat profits at the top end
of a highly lucrative segment.
Chevrolet Impala
Audiopedia:
Marcos Gaitan - LOWRIDER Roll Models Ep.23
Lowrider Roll Models:
- I really had no other choice.
I just kept moving forward
'cause I didn't really
know what else to do.
That's the only thing I've ever known
like the back of my hand.
I had to follow that to
find my way back to society.
I have a 1966 Chevrolet Impala.
It's got a 327 engine that
been bored out one time.
Built the entire engine myself.
I have a 350 turbo
transmission with a shift kit,
handlebar carburetor and manifold.
I have a beefed up radiator
made to look stock.
I have a sunroof, shaved door handles,
dechromed parts of the car.
Sansiba sheened warren ring in the center
of the steering wheel
made out of aluminum.
Full custom interior with a waterfall
that's handmade out of metal.
Full stereo.
I have four bucket seats,
handmade, custom upholstery,
all in suede and marine vinyl.
Full trunk, upholstered, etc.
A lot of chrome on every
single piece on the car.
I have 13-inch 88-spoke Dayton wire wheels
with a two prong knock up.
Running 520 premium sport tires on the car
with thin whitewalls.
I'm running two pumps, front and back,
just for a lifted laying.
I have four batteries.
I have eight-inch cylinders
all the way around,
and two switches.
The name of my car is Psychotic Pineapple.
It's named after a punk rock band out of
northern California.
The car is done is a old
flake, not the largest flake
but just one below it, so
it has sort of a slightly
different sparkle.
And it's all done in
caddies and see throughs,
and it's 14 shades.
And there's like a canopy top
on the roof that slides down,
and it changes pink from green to orange,
and then it turns into another
color, just flows through.
There's a pineapple on
the trunk in pinstripe.
Between the color combination
and the pineapple kind of
giving it a 1950's look, but
the car is really sort of a
late '60's, early '70's custom feel.
(industrial rock music)
The first time I seen a low
rider I believe it was 1974,
and it was a '65 Impala
with Cregor rims, deep dish,
and it had low profile tires,
and that car stopped me
dead in my tracks.
I mean it was like mesmerizing,
and it was something that
just clicked inside me, and
after that I was hooked.
I mean it was just a basic car.
I have always liked cars my entire life,
and I had wanted a '66 Impala
since I was in high school.
So I called a friend, and he goes,
"I know somebody who's got one."
And knocked on his door and said,
"Hey, I know you have that car",
and he says, "It's not for sale."
And then I offered him some money,
and I got the car for $2,500.
Took me 10 years to build it.
The car is really an expression of myself,
just like most cars are an
expression of their owners.
My car is really like
a piece of art to me.
Everybody says that, but I really put
all my DNA into the car.
I just couldn't part with my own blood.
I was born and raised
in San Jose, California.
I think I was born a gear head.
I was born to like thing that move.
My parents, Joe and Marcy,
they both lived in Arizona,
and they were born there.
And both their families
migrated to San Jose,
to follow the fields, to follow the crops.
And they both met here in San Jose.
My dad had already got
his first, you know,
custom car, lowered to
the ground and everything,
and then they met in
front of this night club.
After that, you know,
they started the family,
they got married, they got
married in that custom car.
I have an older brother, Robert,
younger than me is my
younger brother, Marty.
Then I have my younger sister,
everybody would call her Pelona.
My dad had been a barber his entire life,
and at one point he had
his own barber shop,
and he would always cut our hair.
My mother was a seasonal cannery worker
and that was also one of the industries
that was large in San Jose at the time.
As a child I really wasn't into sports,
I was the guy that you
didn't want on your team,
'cause I didn't know anything.
It was just this love of cars,
which turned into art, 'cause I was just
obsessively drawing cars and vehicles,
or motorcycles, or something.
That love of cars and vehicles,
that got me into college.
It's been a long haul for me,
as far as being an artist.
When I finished college,
I wasn't sure what to do,
as I was doing picture
framing, working sort of,
slightly related to the arts.
There are some unfortunate times,
I ended becoming homeless.
I still had a job, luckily,
I wasn't sure what to do,
so I stayed at work on a
little couch for a few days.
Moving home was failure to me.
I just refused to do that.
I was determined to
continue making my art.
Eventually I stayed with a friend and then
I started to do what I do now.
I started doing artwork for
people, I started small and,
I got there and from there
I jumped into a warehouse,
a 4200 square foot warehouse.
And it was all about the art,
I couldn't give up on making my art.
I don't know if you would call it a dream,
it was mostly a desire, or a
path that I was meant to take.
I couldn't imagine doing anything else.
(low beat music)
Technically I do two things in art.
I have my personal art,
which I'll show in galleries
from time to time and if
you would go to a show
and see my work they'd be all cars,
but they're really stories of my life
and preserving the Lowrider culture,
preserving Chicano culture,
and kind of combine those two.
My personal art, I paint
on wooden canvases,
I just like a firm surface
and I tend to paint,
as far as the subject matter,
I couldn't get away from the
lowriders my entire life,
I finally gave in to it.
So I paint the lowriders and then
I overlay them with various
objects that reference
parts of my life, parts of
cultures I wanna preserve,
and tell a story.
Over the years I mainly
display them in galleries
and various, you know, small museums, etc.
I often, these days, wait
until I get a commission,
which people call up and say,
"Hey, I want one of your
paintings", you know,
"Can you paint it for me?".
And of course, all that money
goes straight back into my car
or my new car, a 1971 Grand Prix.
I'm from Hightone Car Club,
out of San Jose, California.
I am also the president of the Club,
and the Hightone name is
a reference to my father.
When he grew up in the fifties,
he would refer to people
that looked really nice,
really nice hair, or
had a really sharp ride,
they'd say, "Oh, that's really high tone".
You know, something really nice,
really sharp going down
the street, it's hightone.
My parents were pretty proud,
they supported me doing any kind of art.
My mom died just before I got married,
'cause she had liver cancer,
but a little over a decade
later, my father passed.
And that hit me just as hard.
I painted a big painting that
week before he was buried,
his car that they got married
in this '56 Chevy that's lowered with a,
the Appleton lights and show pipes,
and I put his big signature on it,
and we had it next to his casket.
And I realized I was just like him.
I didn't know that until he died.
When there's a lot of
people that, you know,
come to me and tell me about their art
and I would love to do what I do,
I tell them, just keep drawing, I go,
that's all I ever did, was I
just drew every single day.
It's almost like I didn't have a choice,
it was just part of my DNA to keep going.
I would just say never
give up on your dreams.
It's really important,
they see what I've done,
I know that they're gonna say,
"Hey, look at him, he's just like us,
"he looks like my uncle,
he looks like my dad,
"and I'm gonna be like that one day."
I want all this young people to know that
if I can accomplish my goals,
and my dreams, they can too.
My name is Marcos Gaitan, I am an artist,
and I love Lowrider Roll models.
1951 Chevy Styleline Deluxe by Rafael Perez - LOWRIDER Roll Models Ep. 44
lowridermagazine:
- Just like a lowrider is a
unique expression of yourself,
so is anybody's professional choices.
You can be as creative as you want to be.
You can make it unique to yourself.
That's what lowriding is all about.
As long as you're working
hard, doing the right thing,
opportunities will find their way to you.
(upbeat music)
Lowriders are not people
who are out looking
to cause trouble.
We put way too much time,
energy and investment
into a car to ever even want
to risk doing what was seen
in a lot of the movies
you saw in the '90s.
Today's modern Lowrider is somebody
who takes pride in their vehicle
and wouldn't want to do
anything to risk their car,
or their community, or their reputation.
(upbeat music)
I've got a 1951 Chevy Styleline Deluxe.
It is an Aqua Ice
Opalescent so it's got a lot
of pearl and metallic in the paint.
The roof is blue and white.
Also has a lot of pearl and metallic.
I have 14 inch 1962 Chevy Impala wheels
that are powder coated red,
with '59 Lancer hubcaps.
And I have fat whitewalls on there.
I wanted it to look
like a traditional bomb,
but with a little bit of a twist.
That's why I went with the
metallic color that's still
similar to the colors used of the era,
but with a more modern paint job.
The engine is original 216 straight six.
It has a split manifold with
a straight pipe out the main
and a glass pack on the split.
It's completely rebuilt and painted.
I put a Borg-Warner T-5 transmission.
The transmission's from
an early '80s S-10 pickup.
Paired up with a 1956 Bel Air rear end.
I wanted to accessorize
it because, for me,
a bomb needs to have every
rare accessory you can find.
So, the interior is white and gray.
It was done with the stitch
pattern of a 1961 Impala.
I just really like the
clean look, and once again,
wanted to be a little bit different.
Something classic and
just a little unique.
(jazzy music)
I think my favorite part
of the car is the grill.
The grill on the car is
from a 1953 Corvette.
That Corvette grill is just kind of like
the piece of jewelry that finishes it off.
The one thing that makes it stand out.
I just wanted something that
would really dress it up.
Accessorize the car a little bit more.
Just be a little bit different.
I wanted to save part of that history,
so I did mask off the
original serial number badge
just so there's a bit of
history of what that car
originally was like out of the factory.
So, it took me about a
year to get it assembled
and on the road.
Once I got it all
assembled and put together,
the next phase was to get it painted.
Get the chair redone, get the chrome done.
And I actually took
the car down to Mexico,
to Tijuana to get the
work done down there.
When I took the car down to Mexico,
I had an opportunity for
it to really make an impact
in the bi-national community down there.
I had a unique opportunity where the work
was actually done at a rehab facility.
And guys who were there were
able to work on the car.
They were able to learn
skills that they can use
out in the real world.
And at the end of the
project they had something
they could stand in
front of and be proud of.
I was born in Santa Barbara, California.
My dad's from Michoacan, Mexico.
My mom was born in Santa Barbara.
They met when my dad came
to the United States.
When my dad came to the United States,
he moved in with his older brother.
And my grandparents lived next door.
Eventually my dad fell in
love with the girl next door.
And soon there after, I came along.
Growing up I had my parents around.
My grandparents were around a lot.
I have two sisters.
So, it was just a big extended family.
My dad worked a lot as a kid
to help support our family.
My mom still lived at
home when I was a kid.
I spent a lot of time
with my grandparents.
And my uncle lived there, as well.
And he was in Nightlife Car Club.
And I was just fascinated by the cars,
the car shows, everything.
And I tagged along every chance I got.
He showed me the ropes about lowriding.
He helped me start building model cars.
My first model car was a '53 Bel Air.
I built a little '59 Impala, '64 Impala.
Whatever cars were
available at the model shop
that could be turned into a lowrider.
I wanted to buy it, build
it, fix it, paint it.
Put wire wheels on it.
Those were really my intro to lowriders
was building model cars.
I wanted to build a lowrider bike.
And it was the 1976 Schwinn Stingray.
When I got the lowrider
bike frame, my dad came home
and said "no, you're not doing this".
And I don't want you to go down that road.
And I negotiated with him and said
"look dad, if I do good in school,
can I keep the lowrider
bike and fix it up?".
And eventually he agreed
and so that was the carrot
that kept me focused on school.
But in order to pay for
it, because bike parts,
chrome, paint, all that stuff
was expensive, I had to work.
And my grandpa owned a
grocery store, so starting
in about fourth grade I
asked my grandpa if I could
start working part time
in order to save up
to pay for the lowrider bike.
And I ended up spending
thousands of dollars on it.
And all of that came from
working after school,
working weekends, just
to save up as much money
as I could to be able to
fix up the lowrider bike.
So, when I was in high
school, lowriding was life.
I was so into just cars and fixing it up
and wanted to just have one.
And I started with a 1952 Chevy pickup.
And bought a '49 dump truck for parts.
And I had a '49 five window cab.
Eventually sold all that
to buy an '85 Cutlass.
But my favorite was my first bomb.
The the 1950 Chevy Deluxe Powerglide.
It had all the accessories.
Visor, bumper guards, skirts.
It was just my pride and joy.
That's what I worked for and lived for
when I was, you know, 16, 17 years old.
So, when I applied to
colleges, no one in my family
had gone to college so I was
kind of just doing it blindly.
The top two schools I wanted
to get into were either
Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo
or San Diego State.
At Cal Poly I had taken a
field trip in elementary
school and seen their
architecture program.
And I've just always been fascinated
with homes and real estate.
And I applied for their
architecture program.
But I've also had some
teachers who just made
a huge impact in my life.
So, I applied for the teaching
program at San Diego State.
Cal Poly rejected me.
I got letter in the mail that said
that I had not been accepted.
I just accepted that maybe
my counselor was right.
Maybe I wasn't meant to go to college.
Maybe I would just have
to stay in Santa Barbara.
And I was going through a tough time.
And personally there was a lot
of stuff going on in my life.
And I just thought, you know
what, it's just not the time.
All that changed.
I got a letter in the mail and I had been
accepted to San Diego State.
Signed it before I even
showed it to anybody
and mailed it back the next day.
I just, I saw that opportunity and knew
that I had to seize that moment.
And that I had been given that opportunity
to make my dreams come true.
The next steps were kind of just
something we had figure out.
You know, I had to figure
out where I was gonna live,
how I was gonna move down
there, what I needed to do,
what classes I needed to register for.
And as I was figuring
it all out, I realized
that I needed to come up with the money
for my deposit on the dorms.
I asked my dad for some help.
He pointed to the driveway and said
"what about the car you have there?".
And I was faced with a tough decision.
Keeping my bomb, or leaving
it all behind in order
to have an opportunity to go to college.
And after consulting with
friends, with guys from the club,
everybody agreed that it would be stupid
not to go to college.
To sell the car.
And that someday I'd be
able to have another.
And I sold the bomb.
That was last lowrider
I had for a long time.
So, when I go to San
Diego State, I kind of had
let the college admission
process determine my fate.
And I started out as a
liberal studies major.
I wanted to be an
elementary school teacher.
At that moment I also realized that
maybe I didn't want to
start out as a teacher.
I started exploring changing
my major to business.
Maybe I wanted to go
into real estate instead.
And ultimately I sat down with my college
counselor who gave me some good advice.
And she said that out in
the real world they're
just looking to make sure
you have a college degree.
To prove that you're capable of learning.
To prove that you're able
to accomplish something.
And she advised that if I
wanted to get into real estate,
something that didn't actually
require a college degree,
that I just find the
quickest way to graduate,
get out, and get started on my career.
So I did.
I changed my major to sociology.
So, I just found something
that caught my attention.
And it was able to get me to graduate
with a Bachelor's degree.
And I started in real estate
the Monday after college graduation.
(upbeat music)
So, the Monday after I
graduated from college,
I went to go work for a mortgage company.
And I quickly realized
that what was going on
wasn't in my community's best interest.
They were putting people
into subprime mortgages
that they couldn't afford.
And I found myself getting in trouble
for telling people the truth.
A friend of mine gave me an opportunity
to go work at a different company.
And showed me that there
was the possibility
of working with first time buyers.
Showing people financial literacy.
Educating the community
to do the right thing.
In 2012 I made the transition
to do real estate full time
and left the mortgage industry behind.
When I finally became a
realtor, it opened up the doors
to a lot of leadership opportunities.
I became chapter president of NAHREP,
The National Association of Hispanic
Real Estate Professionals.
I was chapter president.
I eventually got awarded
Realtor of the Year.
But I think what really
helped things come full circle
is when I had the opportunity to teach.
A local community college was looking
to hire a new staff member.
I had my interview and
I got hired on the spot.
So I now get to teach real
estate at Cuyamaca College
and help the next generation
of real estate professionals
learn the basics so they can
get started on their careers.
The students come from all walks of life.
I have students that
range from a 16 year old
high school student, to senior
citizens who are retired,
to single mothers who are just
trying to get ahead in life.
So, now I get the best of both worlds.
I get to help my community
buy their first homes
and also educate people
at the college level
so they can have a more empowered
future as real estate professionals.
You know, people with lowriders are
making a difference in the community.
I recently ran for public office.
I ran for the community college board.
And I wanted to make
sure that as I was out
making connections in the political world,
I had my car parked at
every campaign event.
I was campaigning at
the La Vuelta Car Cruise
and having conversations with Lowriders
about community college.
About opportunity.
And it was amazing to see how many people
approached me who said
that going to a community
college impacted their
life because now they
have the skills and the trade that allowed
them to have a successful career.
And it just goes to show
that there's some amazing
people out in the Lowrider
community doing great things.
And I think just being able
to have that conversation
of how they got there
allowed me to also just share
with everybody else the positive impact
that Lowriders are
making in our community.
Some people just have never
been introduced properly
to what lowriding is all about.
How it's all about community and culture.
And I think that as more and
more people in the community
continue to do positive
things, who happen to own
a lowrider, it's gonna continue
to help dispel these myths.
It's gonna continue to help
decision makers realize
that this isn't something to be afraid of.
It's something to be embraced.
Never take no for an answer.
If you believe you can do something,
find a way to get it done.
Nobody cares more about yourself than you.
And if you believe you can do something,
if you have a passion
and you have a skillset,
I think that you can marry
those passions into something
that makes an impact in your community.
As long as you work hard, stay focused,
and stay committed to your dreams.
My name is Rafael Perez.
I'm a realtor, a college educator,
and I'm a Lowrider Roll Model.
etrailer | Trailer Wiring Harness Installation - 2003 Chevrolet Impala
etrailer.com:
The Truth About GM’s Huge Layoffs and Why You Should Be Mad About It
Scotty Kilmer:
Rev up your engines,
today I'm going to tell you the truth about
GM's plan to layoff a bunch of workers and
to shut down a bunch of US factories,
well if you remember a few years back they
got the big bailout because the said they
were going bankrupt so the government gave
them a bunch of money, and oh to save American
jobs and now their just leaving anyways, so
what's the truth behind what's really happening,
now I've read and watched a bunch of these
reporters these experts saying, oh market
forces you have to follow the market forces
blah blah blah,
but here's the truth and to understand it
you need to a little about history,
now I learned to drive on a Chevy biscayne
it's kind of like an Impala, it's a big American
car, back in the 1960's when they made solid
cars that everyone in the world knew, hey
they were good cars and they lasted a long
time,
back then everyone said, oh the Japanese cars
are piles of junk what are they making,
well guess what, they kept making better and
better cars as time went on from Japan,
while the quality of the American cars starting
going down and down,
to give you an example, the Impala used to
be a great car, in the 60's everybody wanted
an Impala they were very popular cars their
pretty well built, they could last a really
long time, but not so recently the Impala
was one of the models that their going to
stop making,
basically the didn't build them all that well,
I had customers with them and every single
person that owned one when they finally got
rid of it said, I'll never buy another one
of those pieces of junk I had more problems
with the transmissions and the engines and
the old ones didn't used to have very many
problems,
so these experts that talk about market forces
is forcing them to shut down these factories
and layoff people, that's basically a lot
of bs,
they were just making the cars poorly and
they were making models that people didn't
want like the Chevy Cruze, which not only
was it a model that people didn't really want,
it was really poorly made, I had a customer
with one, he's been through 3 automatic transmissions
that went out completely in the first 75,000
miles of driving that car, that's just crazy,
and look at another one of their failures
that their not gonna making anymore,
the Chevy Volt, hey they tried to compete
with the Toyota Prius and they failed massively,
the cars were garbage compared to what Toyota
was putting out, so they can talk about market
forces all they want, a lot of the problem
is they were making vehicles that were either
poorly made or people didn't want to buy them
because they didn't like the way they looked
or the way the handled,
and unlike the Japanese like say a Toyota
Corolla, they started out with a basic car
and they keep improving it over decades, GM
was like, oh that model didn't work we'll
get rid of that one and try something else,
it's much better to build something and perfect
it over time than to just say, oh that didn't
work lets try something else and see if that
works,
some of their ideas are, oh we'll go to just
a bigger vehicle, SUVs and trucks that make
a lot of money, well talk about short sighted
again, now just because gas is cheap they
think, oh we'll sell these giant vehicles
for a bunch of money, well guess what people,
gasoline is a limited things, the price is
only going to go up and it will probably happen
relatively soon, and then all those big cars
people are going to not be driving those anymore
and then they'll be in a even bigger mess
than they already are,
and as far as I'm concerned, GM's idea of
shutting down these factories down in the
US and laying off all these Americans, hey
that has to do more with them making a profit
in China not the US,
realize that from the last data I could find,
the Chinese produced 24.5 million cars and
at that same time period the US produced 4.1
million cars, a big difference,
and as for GM itself, GM sells 70% more cars
in China than they do in the US, and these
cars are all made in China,
so if things continue like this, I wouldn't
be surprised that if someone in the US wants
to buy a GM car in the near future, it's going
to be made in China not in the US,
even though we taxpayers bailout GM the last
time, their big thank you is, bye we'll see
you in China,
they didn't seem to say, oh the market is
forcing them to do that when they took all
that taxpayer money, you know their giving
these promises about US jobs and stuff but
as soon as they see a way to make their cars
in China, sell them in China and probably
import those Chinese ones over to the US,
hey those guys are basically laughing at the
average American,
and it's bad enough they were making cars
that had faulty ignition switches and then
they cheated and changed the parts numbers
so they think, oh people aren't going to figure
out that we made these bad ignition switches
that some people were killed in wrecks because
the cars stopped running,
you know their not interested in telling the
truth about the problems that they have, but
taking taxpayers dollars and then shutting
the factories down years later anyways and
moving all the stuff to China, hey all I got
to say is, you can vote with your dollars,
don't buy their products, nobody is going
to force you to buy one of their products,
at least not yet, hey take Toyota for example,
they make a bunch of them in the US and they
have for decades, you might end up driving
a Japanese car around that's made in the US,
where if you buy a GM it's going to be a Chinese
made car, the world is upside down on that
one,
so it's really a double edged sword when you
think about why GM is laying off all these
workers and closing all these factories down,
they've often made poorly designed and built
cars that didn't last so their base that used
to be, oh when I was a kid people would say,
oh I buy a new GM car every 3-4 years, well
that base is gone and then they want to make
them cheaper so their going to move all their
production to China where they can make them
cheaper,
now the Chinese factories are all modernized
so they have less labor that they have to
deal with, but from what I read about them,
they have really good quality, for example,
buicks are like the real popular car for the
upper level management guys to ride around
in a Buick in China,
kind of like it used to be in the 1950's in
the US, a little time warp there,
so basically, the real problem is greed, they
want to make their cars cheaper so they can
make more profit and eventually they want
to make the most profit by building their
cars somewhere else where they can make them
cheaper and in the modern factories more efficiently
than in the old factories in the US, my hometown
Niagara Falls had the same fate itself, when
I was young, there were factories everywhere
building all kinds of stuff but they were
old factories, first they moved the factories
over the Mexico, then they even moved them
further to the East because it was even cheaper
there than it was in Mexico,
so if you think about it as a career, hey
you probably wouldn't want to get involved
in either building cars in the US or working
for the company that builds them because you'll
find that your job will probably vanish in
the near future, so if you never want to miss
another one of my new car repair videos, remember
to ring that bell!
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