00:04With 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 Touasson creates these custom lowrider cars that defy gravity. At
00:18his father's shop, Hoppo's Custom Suspension Works.
00:23We specialize in aftermarket suspension, particularly hydraulic and air suspension.
00:29The lowrider community emerged in the U.S. in the 1950s.
00:34We are actually a small, tight-knit group of family. Everyone knows everyone, whether
00:38you'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.
01:04Alex 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.
01:17Building one of these cars costs customers anywhere between $2,000 to a few hundred thousand dollars
01:23and can take years to complete.
01:26I personally know some guys that probably have close to $200,000 to $300,000 into a car.
01:31It always starts off, you know, wheels, paint, upholstery, undercarriage, hydraulic setup.
01:37And then from there, you start going into detailing everything you just bought. So you buy a stock
01:43set of rims and then, hey, this looks nice, but let me do something great. You've even
01:47seen a couple of guys that are currently building Impalas with like Ferrari motors and stuff like
01:52that. So it gets crazy.
01:54These heavily customized cars are clearly designed to stand out and Alex welcomes the attention.
02:00Being West Coast, you'd think they would kind of be used to it because West Coast is like,
02:04you know, car culture, central right here. You know, it never gets old for people. They see it
02:08rolling down the streets and you'll still get a thumbs up every once in a while. It's pretty cool,
02:13you know, you get that reaction, especially when you put all that money into the car.
02:16Alex has been in the car business all his life, helping his father around the shop since he was a
02:21child.
02:22I've been doing this since I was in diapers, honestly. I grew up around it, in the shop, around the
02:26cars.
02:28Eventually, you grow into grab the tools and help this and help that.
02:31And my dad's been a big influence in my life as far as the car scene. But full time, full
02:38time,
02:38I've been into it about seven, eight years now.
02:42And he plans to follow in his father's footsteps and run the shop in the future.
02:46My dad owns the company. Of course, he's shown me the right steps, what to do in order to get
02:50to
02:50the next level and not only building a car, but in the business aspect too. So eventually,
02:55he's going to hand down the business to me. When you build one of these, you build it for yourself.
03:02I'd say it's fun driving a lowrider, man. You can't, there's nothing really else I can describe
03:07it. You know, you got to get in one and see the reaction for yourself.
03:13I'd say it's fun driving a lowrider, man. You can't, there's nothing really else for you,
03:15where you know what you're doing. You know, I'm in the business of $4,000,
03:15And I'm in the business of $5,000 in the business of $4,000.
03:15And I'm in that business. I'm in that business, it's a market of $4,000,
03:18So, let's get in the business of $4,000.
03:18So, let's get in the business of $4,000.
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