Ever wonder why lowriders bounce? As in this video by Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Dogg? It's actually not a fad in Southern California. It's been going on for decades.
Ganaraska-Rivers on r/explainlikeimfive tells the story:
"It started like this. In the 'fifties, guys lowered their cars to make them look sleeker, often as part of a customizing process that involved other body modifications.
"But, if the car was too low, you got a ticket. Around 1958 some guy got the idea to put hydraulic jacks on the springs of his car. That way he could cruise low, but raise the car to the legal level if stopped by a cop. The way the cops measured ride height was to try to put their notebook between the ground and the rocker panel; if it wouldn't fit you were too low.
"The first car with hydraulics had a hand pump that took a minute or two to raise. Soon they were building them with electric pumps that raised a car in a few seconds.
"Guys would demonstrate their hydraulic systems at car shows. Of course, they soon started competing to see who had the best system. Some kind of line was crossed when they made a system powerful enough to throw one end of the car in the air hard enough that the wheels left the ground. This led to bouncing the car for height.
"They kept going farther and farther until all the bouncing beat the car to death, at this point they started making cars just for jumping and ignored the usual customizing mods.
"So basically a modification to allow you to drive a lowered car on the street, that got out of hand and turned into a thing of its own."
And now you know. (This is apropos of nothing—just something I thought was interesting and that might be an addition to your already bulging storehouse of cultural knowledge.)
Mike
Original contents copyright 2023 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. (To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below or on the title of this post.)
Featured Comments from:
Ross A: "This is a crazy thing to see. When I lived in Southern California in the mid '70s, you would see these all over. Besides the suspension, they frequently had wheel wells that had been painted white, and tiny Christmas tree type lights mounted in there so the wheel wells glowed. I’d never have one myself, but as a car guy I loved seeing how radical the cars were."
robert e: "'...But a Mazda goes "Hmmm...."' On the other hand, Mazda never had its own hit song:
"Sometimes it's better to have a beat."
Mike replies: In the comments on YouTube, @butchcoolidge4448 says: "One of the greatest grooves in the history of music." <—That. Charles Miller (the singer of "Low Rider") was murdered at a young age in a street holdup, something he surely didn't deserve. Wish he were around today so people could thank him.
BTW, "War" is one of two remarkably bad band names that came about because they were legacies of earlier names: War was originally Eric Burdon and War. The other was The Band, originally (but not formally) Bob Dylan and the Band. Bands are as tough to name as thoroughbred racehorses. The latter have to be original and have to follow all sorts of other Jockey Club rules; that's why you get weird racehorse names like Odor in the Court, Nosupeforyou, Hoof Hearted (say it out loud) and ARRRRR.
jp41: "Learning this backstory was delightful. I think of myself as sort of a car guy, but never knew of this history of how low riders came to be. Glad the car modified in the video is from the '80s and not the '50s–'60s. Another gold nugget TOP article."
I just watched an episode of Super Turbo Story Time, on the Motortrend channel, where they told this story.
Posted by: John C Longenecker | Friday, 28 April 2023 at 10:24 PM
Where I grew up the hoof hearted joke doesn't work as hoof is pronounced like good (a relaxed u, I think).
Posted by: BugManDan | Saturday, 29 April 2023 at 11:58 AM
I had a Citroën for many years which had the famous hydropneumatic suspension, which is height adjustable, superbly comfortable and provides incredible stability to the car. Once I hit something going down the motorway at 80mph which blew out a front tyre and even then the car remained perfectly balanced and easily controllable till I stopped. I miss that car.
Posted by: jeremy t | Saturday, 29 April 2023 at 02:04 PM
Because they can.
Posted by: Christopher Kleihege | Saturday, 29 April 2023 at 04:46 PM
Thanks, Mike, for the backstory on War and on Charles Miller's tragic death. I had no idea War was ever connected with Eric Burdon, or that there were rules for naming horses, which must make it a bit harder than naming a band.
There was no excuse for the band "Them", which was apparently deliberately taken from the 1950's nuclear horror movie about giant ants (a pretty good movie, actually, with a remake now in the works).
Posted by: robert e | Saturday, 29 April 2023 at 07:43 PM
Learning this backstory was delightful. I think of myself as sort of a car guy, but never knew of this history of how low riders came to be.
Glad the car modified in the video is from the 80's and not the 50-60s.
Another gold nugget TOP article.
Posted by: jp41 | Sunday, 30 April 2023 at 04:08 PM