00:00With just a flick of a switch, 3,000 pounds of metal bounces up and down, 8 feet in the
00:10air. 25-year-old Alex Touisson creates these custom lowrider cars that defy gravity. At
00:18his father's shop, Poppo's Custom Suspension Works.
00:21We 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. Everyone knows everyone, whether
00:39you're from Canada, Alaska. I mean, there's guys that are lowriding everywhere. But overall,
00:44I mean, it does look like a bigger scene than it really is. The reason they got their name
00:49lowriders is because they would actually be driving solo, scraping up their body. And then
00:54from there, it eventually grew into the culture that we're in now, aftermarket hydraulic pumps,
00:59making the cars go up and down at a flick of a switch. So it evolved big time.
01:0306- Alex removes the coil springs from the car and replaces them with hydraulic cylinders.
01:09The hydraulic system is switch-operated and controlled with a remote or a dial on the dashboard.
01:15Building one of these cars costs customers anywhere between $2,000 to a few hundred thousand dollars
01:24and can take years to complete.
01:2506- Alex Jones- I personally know some guys that probably have close to $200,000 to $300,000
01:30into a car. It always starts off, you know, wheels, paint, upholstery, undercarriage, hydraulic
01:37setup. And then from there, you start going into detailing everything you just bought. So you
01:42buy a stock set of rims and then, hey, this looks nice, but let me do something great.
01:46You've even seen a couple of guys that are currently building Impalas with like Ferrari
01:51motors and stuff like that. So it gets crazy.
01:5306- These heavily customised cars are clearly designed to stand out. And Alex welcomes
01:59the attention.
02:0006- Being West Coast, you'd think they would kind of be used to it because West Coast is
02:04like, you know, car culture central right here. You know, it never gets old for people.
02:08They see it rolling down the streets and you'll still get a thumbs up every once in a while.
02:1206- It's pretty cool. You know, you get that reaction, especially you put all that money
02:15into the car.
02:1606- Alex has been in the car business all his life, helping his father around the
02:20shop since he was a child.
02:2106- I've been doing this since I was in diapers, honestly. I grew up around it, in the shop,
02:26around the cars. Eventually, you grow into grab the tools and help this and help that.
02:32My dad's been a big influence in my life as far as the car scene. But full time, full time,
02:38I've been into it, about seven, eight years now.
02:4106- And he plans to follow in his father's footsteps and run the shop in the future.
02:4606- My dad owns the company. Of course, he's shown me the right steps, what to do in order
02:50to get to the next level. And not only building a car, but in the business aspect too. So,
02:55eventually, he's going to hand down the business to me.
02:5806- When you build one of these, you build it for yourself. It's fun driving a lowrider,
03:05man. There's nothing really else I could describe it. You got to get in one and see the reaction
03:10for yourself.
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