Flowerish

The History Of Lowriders

admin — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 06:01:24 +0000

To quote the band War, “the lowrider is the one to meet”. For almost one hundred years, lowriders have been not only the one to see, but the one to meet. Stemming from an old Mexican ritual called paseo which made horses the utmost symbol of prestige, lowering stock cars to almost sidewalk level and customizing them dramatically has evolved into the same sort of symbol of status.From Mexico to Los Angeles to Chicago to the rest of the world, the art of customizing a stock car into a lowrider has been an evolution. In the 1940’s lowriders only graced the streets on Sundays. As their popularity began to grow lowriders not only became more plentiful but they became the vehicle of choice for anyone who wanted attention and accolades and cruised the highways on a daily basis.George Barris became the early face of lowriders by combining his creativity with his passion for cars and developing one of the first businesses to customize lowriders for sale. George and his brother, Sam, used their expertise in body work to straighten fenders, bolt on accessories, and use paint schemes that were unheard of during that time. Lowrider creations from the Barris brothers flourished into a very lucrative business. George used his business sense to introduce lowriders to Hollywood which resulted in not only the use of lowriders in many well known movies such as High School Confidential, but it also helped him “become the person” to contact when Hollywood stars wanted to transform their personal vehicles into lowriders.The original lowrider artists focused mainly on customizing Chevrolet cars because they were less expensive than other manufacturers’ vehicles at the time. Today, any brand, make, or model vehicle is fair game to become a lowrider. The art of creating a lowrider has also evolved well beyond using heavy weights and chopping springs to bring the body close to the ground. Modern lowriders feature hydraulics which not only raise and lower the car, but also make it hop, and tilt it from side to side.By today’s standards, the modifications the Barris Brothers made famous with their business Kustoms of America, look pretty minor. Today’s lowrider can feature triple dipped chrome accessories, gold plating, spectacular paint schemes, twin side pipes, spot lights, and everything from wire wheels to spectacular spinners. The same pride which motivated early Mexican horse owners to sacrifice their own necessities in order to put more glitz into their horses, still drives modern day lowrider owners to spend a small fortune to craft a vehicle which is a tremendous source of gratification.Exploding from early Mexican-American Sunday cruising to become rap video stars and the utmost way to display cool-status with a car, lowriders have come a long way from their modest beginnings. Back then it only took a little effort and a little time to create a lowrider vehicle which would turn heads. Now lowrider enthusiasts spend thousands and thousands of dollars along with countless hours of body work and modifications to create their show-stopping lowrider masterpieces. The methods may have changed, but the madness is the same the lowrider is the one to meet!

Article Source: www.iSnare.com

Before You Pick Up That Spanner…

admin — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 06:01:24 +0000

You’ve found and bought your restoration project, it’s in the garage and you are itching to get cracking. Enthusiasm abounds and you just want to get stuck in. A long weekend and you will have most of it apart. In three months you will be driving your dream on the open road. Unfortunately it doesn’t always work out like that. Three months turns into three years and the remove parts and the chuck in a box approach to the strip down now has you confused about what goes where. Worse, there’s a growing pile of parts you don’t recognise.We’ve all done it, not necessarily with restoration projects, even repairs and modifications that take a long time can cause similar chaos.So let’s back up to just before you brought your project vehicle home and do some planning and organising. A full restore requires a lot of space, up to three times the size of the assembled vehicle, depending on how much of the original vehicle will be restored or reused. For a car, interior trim takes up a lot of space and needs to be stored in a dry location to prevent the trim rotting. Body panels that are to be reused need to be stored where they won’t be damaged and new panels need to be dry to prevent rusting.If possible invest in good quality racking for your garage or workshop. The amount of racking required depends on the vehicle and number of parts you will keep either for restoration or re-fitting, but being able to store parts in an orderly fashion will help you as the part you need is always in the bottom box.Next you need something to store the parts in. For small parts you can use plastic lined paper bags (paper, so you can write on the outside), or plastic food bags and a roll of labels. The parts bags then go in a larger container. The size of the container depends on the storage space available, but could be stackable plastic containers, cardboard boxes or archive boxes, which have the advantage of a lid. It’s worth having a think at this point how you will group the parts in these containers or boxes finding them easily in the future depends on coming up with a reasonably straightforward and logical storage plan now.The parts bags and boxes will need to be labelled, again so that you can identify the part later in the project without too much head scratching.The workshop manual should have a detailed diagram of the wiring loom, including the colour scheme. If you are in any doubt you can use tie on tags, available from office supply companies, to identify what should plug into the loom at what points. This is a useful technique if the wiring diagram isn’t clear even if you are planning to replace the loom as you can transfer the tags from the old loom to the new loom.If you are keeping the interior trim get hold of good quality plastic bags, large enough to seal the trim in, packing tape is ideal for sealing and joining bags together for large items such as the seats.Work out how you are going to catalogue the parts and the digital photographs you will take during the strip down. This is probably the most crucial step, as there is no point having parts nicely labelled and stored and hundreds if not thousands of digital photographs if you can’t work out what any of them are. Some sort of cross reference between the photograph and part is desirable although labour intensive if carried out manually.With the garage organised and armed with a digital camera you can start stripping your vehicle. Take pictures of the part in place, mounting points and any aspect of the removal that is tricky or could be forgotten - for example having a part that could be replaced a part upside down, and then only being able to discover this when more of the car is assembled, causing delays as a section of the car is dismantled in order to rectify the problem. Check the photographs are OK before taking the part off; photographic software allows you to zoom into the photographs to see the detail, but if the photograph is blurred or out of focus you won’t be take advantage of this.Organising your restoration project before and during the strip down phase takes time and commitment, but the time invested will benefit the project during the restoration and assembly phases and may retain your sanity as you complete the engineering jigsaw you have created. In addition you will have a detailed record of the restoration of your dream vehicle and not too many bits left over.

Article Source: www.iSnare.com

A Car Brake Repair Primer

admin — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 23:01:24 +0000

The security of your car is vital, whether it is a Mercedes or a Mazda

Defensive Driving Schools: An Overview

admin — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 22:01:24 +0000

Attending defensive driving school is a great way to brush up on the skills to operate a motor vehicle with advanced techniques to avoid a potential accident or a situation where one could possibly occur.Defensive driving is based on the premise that you, the driver are actually a very good and safe driver that must be alert and able to react to the dangerous driving that others are engaging in. The goal of defensive driving is to create a proactive driver to avoid dangerous road situations or the poor conduct of other drivers. Specific techniques and basic rules are used to achieve a safer driving experience.Defensive driving school, sometimes called traffic school, is often taught by a traffic officer at a classroom in a municipal building. The goal of the school is to provide experienced drivers with advanced skills and knowledge to become a safer driver. Changes in technology and the economy have allowed for private enterprise to take over the task of offering defensive driving courses, in accordance with the state standards.Anybody can take defensive driving courses to brush up on skills or to qualify for discounts on car insurance premiums. Most often individuals are referred to defensive driving courses after being ticketed for a moving violation or having been in an accident. Depending upon the laws of the municipality, the documented completion of a defensive driving course can allow for a dismissal of the ticket. Defensive driving courses improve drivers

Hello world!

admin — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 19:24:23 +0000

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