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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00:00COMM COMMS With just a flick of a switch, 3,000 pounds
00:07of metal bounces up and down, 8 feet in the air. 25 year old Alex Toison creates these
00:15custom lowrider cars that defy gravity at his father's shop, Popo's Custom Suspension
00:21Works.
00:22ALEX We specialize in aftermarket suspension, particularly hydraulic and air suspension.
00:28The lowrider community emerged in the U.S. in the 1950s.
00:33We are actually a small, tight-knit group of family.
00:36Everyone knows everyone, whether you're from Canada, Alaska.
00:40I mean, there's guys that are lowriding everywhere,
00:42but overall, I mean, it does look like a bigger scene than it really is.
00:47The reason they got their name Lowriders is because
00:49they would actually be driving solo, scraping up their body,
00:52and then from there it eventually grew into the culture that we're in now,
00:56aftermarket hydraulic pumps, making the cars go up and down
00:59at a flick of a switch, so it evolved big time.
01:03Alex removes the coil springs from the car
01:06and replaces them with hydraulic cylinders.
01:09The hydraulic system is switch-operated
01:11and controlled with a remote or a dial on the dashboard.
01:16Building one of these cars costs customers anywhere between $2,000
01:21to a few hundred thousand dollars and can take years to complete.
01:25I personally know some guys that probably have
01:27close to $200,000 to $300,000 into a car.
01:31It always starts off wheels, paint, upholstery, undercarriage,
01:36hydraulic setup, and then from there you start going into
01:39detailing everything you just bought.
01:41So you buy a stock set of rims and then,
01:43hey, this looks nice, but let me do something greater.
01:46You've even seen a couple guys that are currently building
01:49Impalas with Ferrari motors and stuff like that, so it gets crazy.
01:53These heavily customized cars are clearly designed to stand out
01:57and Alex welcomes the attention.
01:59Being West Coast, you'd think they would kind of be used to it
02:02because West Coast is like car culture central right here.
02:06It never gets old for people.
02:07They see it rolling down the streets and you'll still get
02:09a thumbs up every once in a while.
02:11It's pretty cool, you get that reaction,
02:13especially when you put all that money into the car.
02:15Alex has been in the car business all his life,
02:18helping his father around the shop since he was a child.
02:21I've been doing this since I was in diapers, honestly.
02:24I grew up around it, in the shop, around the cars.
02:27Eventually, you grow into grab the tools and help this,
02:30you know, help that.
02:32My dad's been a big influence in my life as far as the car scene,
02:36but full-time, full-time, I've been into it about seven,
02:39eight years now.
02:41And he plans to follow in his father's footsteps
02:44and run the shop in the future.
02:46My dad owns the company.
02:47Of course, he's shown me the right steps,
02:49what to do in order to get to the next level,
02:51and not only building a car, but in the business aspect, too.
02:54So eventually, he's going to hand down the business to me.
02:58When you build one of these, you build it for yourself.
03:02It's fun driving a lowrider, man.
03:04You can't, there's nothing really else I could describe it.
03:07You know, you got to get in one and see the reaction for yourself.