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Lowrider
A lowrider or low rider is a customized car with a lowered body that emerged among Mexican American youth in the 1940s. ''Lowrider'' also refers to the driver of the car and their participation in lowrider car clubs, which remain a part of Chicano culture and have since expanded internationally. These customized vehicles are also artworks, generally being painted with intricate, colorful designs, unique aesthetic features, and rolling on wire-spoke wheels with whitewall tires. Lowrider rims are generally smaller than the original wheels. They are often fitted with hydraulic systems that allow height adjustable suspension, allowing the car to be lowered or raised by switch. From 1958 to 2023, the California Vehicle Code made lowriding illegal, which was ultimately criticized as unnecessary and discriminatory toward Chicano and broader Latin American culture. Origin and purpose Lowrider car culture began in Southern California, in the mid-to-late 1940s, and grew during ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chicano
Chicano (masculine form) or Chicana (feminine form) is an ethnic identity for Mexican Americans that emerged from the Chicano Movement. In the 1960s, ''Chicano'' was widely reclaimed among Hispanics in the building of a movement toward political empowerment, ethnic solidarity, and pride in being of Indigenous peoples of Mexico, Indigenous descent (with many Nahuatl language in the United States, using the Nahuatl language or Chicano names, names). ''Chicano'' was used in a sense separate from ''Mexican American'' identity. Youth in ''Barrioization, barrios'' rejected cultural assimilation into Mainstream culture, mainstream American culture and embraced their own identity and worldview as a form of empowerment and resistance. The community forged an independent political and cultural movement, sometimes working alongside the Black power movement. The Chicano Movement faltered by the mid-1970s as a result of external and internal pressures. It was under state surveillance, infi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cruising (driving)
Cruising is a social activity that primarily consists of driving a car. Cruising is distinguished from regular driving by the social and recreational nature of the activity, which is characterized by an impulsively random, often aimless course. A popular route (or "Arterial road, strip") is often the focus of cruising. Cruising can be an expression of the freedom of possessing a driver's license. "Cruise nights" are evenings during which cars drive slowly. A cruise can be a meeting of car enthusiasts at a predetermined location, organized predominantly through the internet (in recent times) but also largely through mobile phone, word of mouth or simply by a cruise being established enough that it becomes a regular event. United States History There is no clear-cut date when casual driving turned into cruising along a specific route, although it generally began in the years after World War II with youths of Mexican heritage driving lowrider, lowriders in Southern California, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Car Hydraulics
Car hydraulics are equipment installed in an automobile that allows for a dynamic adjustment in height of the vehicle. These suspension modifications are often placed in a lowrider, i.e., a vehicle modified to lower its ground clearance below that of its original design. With these modifications, the body of the car can be raised by remote control. The amount and kind of hydraulic pumps being used and the different specifications of the subject vehicle will affect the impact of such systems on the height and orientation of the vehicle. With sufficient pumps, an automobile can jump and hop upwards of six feet off the ground. Enthusiasts hold car jumping contests nationwide, which are judged on how high an automobile is able to bounce. Origin Lowrider automobiles originated from the California custom car community. Hydraulics first came on the scene after the 1958 California lowered vehicle law went into effect. The first documented custom car with Hydraulics was in 1958 when Jim L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mexican-American
Mexican Americans are Americans of full or partial Mexican descent. In 2022, Mexican Americans comprised 11.2% of the US population and 58.9% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexican Americans were born in the United States. Mexicans born outside the US make up 53% of the total population of foreign-born Hispanic Americans and 25% of the total foreign-born population. Chicano is a term used by some to describe the unique identity held by Mexican-Americans. The United States is home to the second-largest Mexican community in the world (24% of the entire Mexican-origin population of the world), behind only Mexico. Most Mexican Americans reside in the Southwest, with more than 60% of Mexican Americans living in the states of California and Texas. They have varying degrees of indigenous and European ancestry, with the latter being of mostly Spanish origins. Those of indigenous ancestry descend from one or more of the over 60 indigenous groups in Mexico ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Height Adjustable Suspension
Height adjustable suspension is a feature of certain automobile suspension (vehicle), suspension systems that allow the motorist to vary the ride height or ground clearance. This can be done for various reasons including giving better ground clearance over rough terrain, a lower ground clearance to improve performance and fuel economy at high speed, or for stylistic reasons. Such a feature requires fairly sophisticated engineering. Height adjustment is most often achieved by air suspension, air or oil compression used for the "springs" of the vehicle when the pressure is varied, the vehicle body rises or lowers. Factory systems for cars The first instance of a production vehicle with adjustable (rear only) suspension was on the Citroën Traction Avant, 1954 Citroën 15CVH. This vehicle featured a self-leveling suspension, self-leveling, height adjustable hydropneumatic suspension. Since that time, these systems have appeared continuously on Citroën models, including the Citro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mexican Americans
Mexican Americans are Americans of full or partial Mexican descent. In 2022, Mexican Americans comprised 11.2% of the US population and 58.9% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexican Americans were born in the United States. Mexicans born outside the US make up 53% of the total population of foreign-born Hispanic Americans and 25% of the total foreign-born population. Chicano is a term used by some to describe the unique identity held by Mexican-Americans. The United States is home to the second-largest Mexican community in the world (24% of the entire Mexican-origin population of the world), behind only Mexico. Most Mexican Americans reside in the Southwest, with more than 60% of Mexican Americans living in the states of California and Texas. They have varying degrees of indigenous and European ancestry, with the latter being of mostly Spanish origins. Those of indigenous ancestry descend from one or more of the over 60 indigenous groups in Mexico ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Custom Car
A custom car is a passenger automobile, vehicle that has been altered to engine tuning, improve its performance, change its aesthetics, or combine both. Some automotive enthusiasts in the United States want to push "styling and performance a step beyond the showroom floor - to truly craft an automobile of one's own." A custom car in British usage, according to ''Collins English Dictionary'', is built to the buyer's own specifications. Custom cars are not to be confused with coachbuilder, coachbuilt automobiles, historically rolling chassis fitted with luxury bodywork by specialty auto body builders. History Some of the earliest examples of modified cars were cars modified for Auto racing, racing or off-roading. The coachbuilding industry is considered part of custom car history, as companies and individuals built custom bodies to be fitted to early cars and inspired later customizers. Hot rod, Hot rods were an early type of custom car first popularized in the United States, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chevrolet Impala
The Chevrolet Impala () is a full-size car that was built by Chevrolet for model years 1958 to 1985, 1994 to 1996, and 2000 to 2020. The Impala was Chevrolet's popular flagship passenger car and was among the better-selling American-made automobiles in the United States. For its debut in 1958, the Impala was distinguished from other models by its symmetrical triple taillights. The Chevrolet Caprice was introduced as a top-line Impala Sport Sedan for model year 1965, later becoming a separate series positioned above the Impala in 1966, which, in turn, remained above the Chevrolet Bel Air and the Chevrolet Biscayne. The Impala continued as Chevrolet's most popular full-sized model through the mid-1980s. Between 1994 and 1996, the Impala was revised as a 5.7-liter V8–powered version of the Chevrolet Caprice Classic sedan. In 2000, the Impala was reintroduced again as a mainstream front-wheel drive car.The editors of ''Consumer Guide'' In February 2014, the 2014 Impala ran ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Car Club
A car club or automotive enthusiast community is a group of people who share a common interest in motor vehicles. Car clubs are typically organized by enthusiasts around the type of vehicle (e.g. Chevrolet Corvette, Ford Mustang), brand (e.g. Jeep), or similar interest (e.g. off-roading). Traditional car clubs were off-line organizations, but automotive on-line communities have flourished on the internet. Traditional car clubs Car clubs have been a form of gathering car aficionados for many years that focus a passion for a certain type of car or driving activity. Historically, car clubs refer to off-line entities, typically organized as non-profits and run by volunteers (who were most often elected). Some clubs were large enough to be run as a paid business with salaried employees; in the 1960s, some were sponsored by car dealers. Many car clubs charge membership fees in exchange for benefits, such as publications and events. The publications typically contain phot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whitewall Tire
Whitewall tires or white sidewall (WSW) tires are tires having a stripe or entire sidewall of white rubber. These tires were most commonly used from the early 1900s to around the mid 1980s. Background The use of whitewall rubber for tire has been traced to a small tire company in Chicago called Vogue Tyre and Rubber Co that made them for their horse and chauffeur drawn carriages in 1914. Early automobile tires were made of pure natural rubber with various chemicals mixed into the tread compounds to make them wear better. The best of these was zinc oxide, a pure white substance that increased traction and also made the entire tire white. However, the white rubber did not offer sufficient endurance, so carbon black was added to the rubber to greatly increase tread life. Later, entirely black tires became available, the still extant white sidewalls being covered with a somewhat thin, black colored layer of rubber. Should a black sidewall tire have been severely scuffed against ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
