A car shop in California USA is creating custom lowrider cars that defy gravity. With just a flick of a switch, 3,000 pounds of metal bounces up and down eight feet in the air. Alex Tuason, 25, builds these cars at his fathers shop, Hoppos Custom Suspension Works in Ontario, California. Alex removes the coil springs from the car and replaces them with hydraulic cylinders. The hydraulic system is switch operated and controlled with a remote or dial on the dashboard.
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MotorTranscript
00:00 00;01;10;12 00;01;14;22 COMM: With just a flick of a switch, 3,000
00:06 pounds of metal bounces up and down, 8 feet in the air.
00:11 00;01;14;22 00;01;20;22 25-year-old Alex Tuason creates these
00:14 custom lowrider cars that defy gravity at his father's shop, Popo's Custom Suspension
00:21 Works.
00:22 00;01;20;22 00;01;29;22 ALEX TUASON: We specialise in
00:24 aftermarket suspension, particularly hydraulic and air suspension.
00:28 00;01;29;22 00;01;35;02 COMM: The lowrider community emerged in
00:31 the US in the 1950s.
00:33 00;01;35;02 00;01;40;02 ALEX TUASON: We are actually a small,
00:36 tight-knit group of family, everyone knows everyone, whether you're from Canada, Alaska,
00:41 I mean there's guys that are lowriding everywhere, but overall, I mean, it does look like a bigger
00:46 scene than it really is.
00:47 00;01;40;02 00;01;50;02 The reason they got their name Lowriders is because they would
00:50 actually be driving solo, scraping up their body, and then from there it eventually grew
00:55 into the culture that we're in now, aftermarket hydraulic pumps, making the cars go up and
00:59 down at a flick of a switch, so it evolved big time.
01:03 00;01;50;02 00;02;00;02 Alex removes the coil springs from the car and replaces them with
01:07 hydraulic cylinders.
01:09 The hydraulic system is switch operated and controlled with a remote or a dial on the
01:14 dashboard.
01:15 00;02;00;02 00;02;05;02 Building one of these cars cost customers anywhere between $2,000
01:21 to a few hundred thousand dollars and can take years to complete.
01:25 00;02;05;02 00;02;10;02 I personally know some guys that probably have close to $200,000
01:29 to $300,000 into a car.
01:31 It always starts off, you know, wheels, paint, upholstery, undercarriage, hydraulic setup,
01:38 and then from there you start going into detailing everything you just bought.
01:41 So you buy a stock set of rims and then, hey, this looks nice, but let me do something great.
01:46 You've even seen a couple guys that are currently building Impalas with like Ferrari motors
01:51 and stuff like that.
01:52 So it gets crazy.
01:53 00;02;10;02 00;02;22;02 These heavily customized cars are clearly designed to stand out and
01:58 Alex welcomes the attention.
01:59 00;02;22;02 00;02;29;02 Being West Coast, you'd think they would kind of be used to it because
02:03 West Coast is like, you know, car culture central right here.
02:06 You know, it never gets old for people.
02:08 They see it rolling down the streets and you'll still get a thumbs up every once in a while.
02:12 It's pretty cool, you know, you get that reaction, especially you put all that money into the
02:15 car.
02:16 00;02;29;02 00;02;39;02 Alex has been in the car business all his life, helping his father
02:19 around the shop since he was a child.
02:21 00;02;39;02 00;02;45;02 I've been doing this since I was in diapers, honestly.
02:24 I grew up around it in the shop, around the cars.
02:28 Eventually you grow into grab the tools and help this and help that.
02:32 My dad's been a big influence in my life as far as the car scene, but full time, full
02:37 time I've been into it about seven, eight years now.
02:41 00;02;45;02 00;02;50;02 And he plans to follow in his father's footsteps and run the shop
02:45 in the future.
02:46 00;02;50;02 00;02;54;02 My dad owns the company.
02:47 Of course, he's shown me the right steps, what to do in order to get to the next level
02:51 and not only building a car, but in the business aspect too.
02:54 So eventually he's going to hand down the business to me.
02:58 When you build one of these, you build it for yourself.
03:03 It's fun driving a lowrider, man.
03:04 You can't, there's nothing really else I could describe it.
03:07 You know, you got to get in one and see the reaction for yourself.
03:10 [00;03;00;00] [Music]
03:10 [00;03;10;00]
03:15 (dramatic music)