When people think of Lowriders the first thing that most people with think of is the ground-scraping stance and the bouncing of Hydraulic competitions. However there is much more to the Lowrider scene than dropping the suspension and one major area is that of Lowrider Arte.

The creation of the Lowrider scene can be traced back to the late 60s and was due to the mixing of several cultures which were the California car culture and the Mexican culture.

Lowrider Arte is not confined to using a Lowrider as the canvas and extends to Tattoos, paintings and most other art forms. The Lowrider Arte magazine is solely dedicated to providing an outlet for Lowrider artists and features articles and tattoos, car drawing and much more.

Serious Lowrider car enthusiasts spend a great deal of time on all aspects of their creation with attention to detail being paramount to their success in Lowrider competitions. During the build the car will be completely stripped and many of the major components of the car will be as detailed including chrome plating and air-brushing. Often the bodywork, door shuts, boot, engine compartment will feature murals and fantastic works of art.

The Hot Rodding culture dates back to the late 1940′s and the end of World War II mainly in southern California. It was fuelled by a period of peace and growing prosperity as well as the enthusiasm of young men returning from war with newly acquired mechanical skills.

After the war there was a plentiful supply of mainly early fords such as Model T’s and Model A’s that became an excellent choice for tuning and improving the performance. At this time in history performance parts weren’t available and these came later with the car tuning pioneers such as Edlebrook, Offenhauser, Weber and many more. At this point for those who didn’t have access to machinery or the know how to improve the engines performance the main option was to improve the power to weight ratio of the vehicle. This was easily achieved by removing some parts such as the wings, running boards etc. To those with the facilities other enhancements were made such as channeling the body over the chasis rails to improve the stability and performing a roof chop to reduce the drag.

Over a relatively short period of time the aftermarket tuning parts industry became big business, with the illegal street racing eventually evolving into the new sports such as NASCAR and drag racing that we see today.

The original drag racing strips were much wider and longer than they are today and were mainly formed from disused landing strips that had been created for war-time purposes. As drag racing became increasingly more popular it became evident that a central body was required to ensure that certain levels of quality and safety were met which led to the formation of the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA). The NHRA was formed by Wally Parks in 1951 in Southern California and today is one of the largest motor sports bodies in the world.

Hot Rod Evolution

In the 1970′s there was a drive to improve the efficiency of cars which led to an overall loss in power for most manufacturer’s cars. Due to the high fatality rates caused by accidents around the 1970′s there was also a drive to improve the safety of all vehicles which mainly required the removal of hard objects from directly in front of the driver etc. All these changes in the main stream motor industry forced hot-rodding to evolve as well with cars hot-rods being safer and more fuel efficient. This new stream of hot-rods are now referred to as Street-Rods and are built to be driven and more family friendly. To oversee these changes a new governing body was formed in a similar vein to the NHRA which was called the National Street Rod Association (NSRA). Where the NHRA’s primary focus is on safety on the drag strip the NSRA’s focus at events with an inspection team that checks everything before the event starts.

The definition of a street-rod is a car that was manufactured in 1948 or earlier that has been modified to meet the owners requirments. The usual upgrades that take place are things like the drive train, interior, audio equipment etc.

To see then entire artciles including hot rod and street rod pictures click here.

A stock Volkswagen Beetle is comparatively underpowered by modern standards and even as early as the 1950′s companies were developing aftermarket performance product for Volkswagen owners that wanted a little more power. After a short period of time Beetles began entering drag racing competitions and holding their own on the strip.

In the 1960′s enthusiasts (particularly in California) started to emulate these drag racing cars by stripping of all the chrome, upgrading the wheels and tyres and modifying the front suspension to give a nose down appearance. This style became the foundation of the Cal Look that we see today although it has evolved over time.

Today the Cal Look has become incredibly popular mainly due to the relative inexpensive of the Volkswagen Beetles and the cost involved in creating an eye-catching Cal Look example. There is a myriad performance parts available compared to those available in the 1960′s and unleashing large amounts of power from the flat-four engine is fairly achievable on a modest budget.

One of the main features that identifies the Cal Look is the smooth body where most or all the exterior trim etc has been removed. This can be traced back to its drag-racing roots where reducing the curb-weight of a car is a key ingredient in achieving a good time on the drag strip. The steel wheels are also usually replaced with lighter alloy wheels with popular choices being Porsche Empi 5 or 8 spoke wheels. The choice of 5 or 8 spoke is mainly determined by the age of the car they are being installed on because older Volkswagen’s had 5 studs whereas the later one only have 4 studs.

A common popular half-way variant on an all-out Cal Look is the Resto Cal Look. These Volkswagens are essentially stock with the exception of a lowered stance and tuned engine. They are often fitted with aftermarket period accessories such as roof-racks, fender-skirts and air conditioning units.

The Cal Look is no longer only popular on Volkswagen Beetle and is now also very popular with Campers, Ghia’s and Type 4′s.

In Stephan Szantai Demon Bugs book he gives many examples of Cal and Resto Cal Volkswagen’s.  To see the entire article together with some Cal Look pictures then click here.

The Volksrod is really a hot-rod that is based on a Volkswagen Beetle but in the style that you may expect from Hot Rods build from Model T Fords or Model A Fords. Some believe that the scarseness of old cars to modify and customise has led to the increased popularity of volksrods while others suggest it could be due to the customising community looking for something a little bit different.

A Volksrod is easily identified as it will usually be in the style of a Rat-Rod and most commonly painted matt black. The wings are usually removed and replaced with wheel hugging mud-guards, to prevent stones from damaging fellow drivers cars.

The front suspension is either moved forward to make the wheel-base look longer with some reworking of the stock suspension and steering components. Another popular modification is remove the stock suspension and steering components and fit the suspension from an early Ford. This popularity of this modification has lead to the creation of several kits that have been made available.

To see the entire article together with some volks rod pictures click here.

A Rat Rod is difficult to define but you know when you see one! They are often based on cars from the 1940′s to the 1960′s but some examples are as recent as the 1970′s. Some Hot-Rods are assembed from a selection of parts usually dating around the 1930′s.

To the people not familiar with Rat Rods these cars may appear unfinished and shoddy but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Rat Rods were originally developed as an alternative to the glossy high-price Hot-Rods which were never driven and trailored to shows. Rat Rods are all about the fun of building and driving them and appearance take second place. The majority of Rat Rods that are seen at the shows will be dented and rusty but importantly they will have been driven there. If a part needs to be replaced then the owner will often fabricate the part themselves of fit a part that does the job equally well. If the Rat Rod is painted at all it is usually matt black or primered and often will have Maltese crosses on the doors and skull accessories such as the gear-shifter.

For the builders of these cars it is all about building a car that performs well both in speed and acceleration as well as handling and braking. For that reason the majority of the ‘comfort items will be stripped away such as headlining, interior trim to give the best power to weight ratio possible. Many of the cars have heavily modified bodies and are often roof-chopped, channelled, lengthened, shortened etc.

The typical choice of engine for a Rat Rod is a V8 which would probably be a Ford Flathead V8 or an early Chrysler Hemi.

To see then entire article together with some Rat Rod pictures click here.

The term Hi-Riser refers to a modified vehicle that has been modified in such a way to that the ground clearance has been increased greatly over the factory standard. This is achieved by adding large oversize wheels with very low profile tyres. The sizes of these wheels are typically between 20-26 inches but with the demand to get bigger and bigger some cars now feature 28 inch wheels and maybe more.

To get such large wheels to fit into the wheel arches the owners of the hi-risers have had to adopt modifications commonly seen on monster trucks and kits are available to give the car the required lift. Particular attention must be paid to the braking system due to the increase diameter of the wheels and the suspension in general which needs to be stiffened to avoid excessive roll when cornering.

Inexpensive automobiles are commonly used to create a Hi-Riser and the model and its age will determine which category the Hi-Riser is in. The most popular models that are used in the creation of a Hi-Riser are the full-size Chevrolet cars such as the Impala, Caprice, Monte Carlo, and Chevelle. A Box is usually a 1970-1990 Caprice or Impala and so called due to their squared off front and rear ends, giving a box-like appearance. A Bubble is usually a 1990 Caprice or Impala and so called because they are rounded at both ends.

A Donk is in a league of its own and is generally created from a mid 1970s Impala, Caprice and Monte Carlo or any mid 1970s ride with a sloping rear end. The stance of a Donk is very important and is slightly different to a Box or Bubble in that the front of the car is slightly higher than the rear, giving a nose in the air appearance. The name Donk has come from the “badonka-donk” noise that the rear suspension makes when it goes of bumps in the road.

Other manufacturers that are commonly chosen for Hi-Risers are Buick, Pontiac and Oldsmobile.