Stereotypes exist for a reason. White people eat macaroni & cheese and can’t dance - guilty as charged. Black people eat watermelons and fried chicken - from my experience, true. Of course, Mexicans love soccer and lowriders.
There are several schools of thought. Some think that Mexicans love lowriders because it puts them right at boob and ass height when passing pedestrians. That way the driver can cruise around and check out chi-chis without being obvious or noticed.
Number two: Mexicans love low-riders because when they pack their whole family into the car, the car bottoms out from the weight.
Also, some think that Mexicans drive low riders so they can pick up change that they drive by and because they’re too short to get into any other kind of car.
Sociologist believe lowriding is a modern incarnation of the traditional Mexican paseo (promenade), an ancient social ritual in which the unmarried adolescents of the village coyly circled the town square, boys on one side, girls on the other. East LA Cholos adapted this ritual for the automobile age, and begat a brand new American tradition –cruising the strip. When you ‘scooped the loop’ or ‘dragged main’ or ‘cruised the strip’ back in high school, you were participating in an echo of that South-of-the-Border courtship rite.
Of course, more than anything lowriders are like peacock feathers. They provide a canvas for guys to show off and let everyone know how cool they are and as we know, hot chicks dig cocky guys (see picture -> ).
Personally they’re not for me. Don’t get me wrong. I respect how much pride and effort goes into the cars: The customizing and the amount of Tecate and tequila consumed while customizing, is very impressive.
The paint jobs are truly works of art. The portraits, detail and realism are amazing. I guess if you honestly consider your car to be a canvas, then perhaps the lowriders are justified; however, I’d have nightmares about parking under pine trees or getting bird poop on my car. Check this paint job out. It’s incredible!
Then there’s jumping. If you like jumping, buy a pogo stick. If you like cars, buy something that goes fast. After seeing this video clip, there’s no way in hell I’m ever going to watch one of these things without being 300 feet away behind some bulletproof glass.
Back to the topic, perhaps the most popular is that Mexicans love lowriders because they can pick cabbage and drive at the same time. However, this is totally absurd and disrespectful to the Mexican-American/Chicano culture. Everyone knows they pick strawberries.
