A question for the old time California car guys

[Ghoste]

Around when did you first start to hear the term "low riders" come into vogue?

[RECHRGD]

Well, the term was common in the 60's.  I don't know if it was around earlier than that.  Back then it was strickly a hispanic community thing.  Bob

[Ghoste]

Common in the early 60's?

[RECHRGD]

Common in the early 60's?

I started driving in '64 and it was common then.  Bob

[Ghoste]

Okay thanks.  I asked because I heard it used in a movie that was set in SoCal in the early 60's and I found myself wondering if it was period correct dialogue.  Apparently it was and my faith in the internet is restored.

[John_Kunkel]

I never heard the term used to describe a car/person/culture until the mid seventies but I didn't associate with Latinos. 

[68X426]

I got my license in 1972 and _{low rider} was the most common of descriptions, for both the cars and the owners. I suspect it goes back at least to the 1940s and the Zoot Suit era in SoCal.

[Ghoste]

The 40's?  Wow, I would never have guessed.

[SFRT]

Pachucos in Cuidad Juarez and El Paso where sandbagging cars as early as the 30's. After a while they figured out how to heat the springs... it then spread to Wiltshire area of Los Angeles during ww2.

I remember using the term lowrider in the mid 1970's.

[Ghoste]

Mid 70's was when I first heard of it personally, but I'm a loooong way from Cali.

[Ponch ®]

like some of the guys already said...the scene has been around since the 40s/50s, but the term went "mainstream" some time in the late  60s/ early 70s.

[ChgrSteve67]

I was born in 1967 like my Charger so all I can contribute to this thread is making some of you feel really old.


But I have had some dealings with the DUKES lowrider club said to be the oldest around.

From Wikipedia
The earliest were clubs were started following the 1940s, though the reputedly oldest lowrider club is the DUKES c.c., founded in the '50s.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowrider_Club

[PocketThunder]

I got my license in 1972 and _{low rider} was the most common of descriptions, for both the cars and the owners. I suspect it goes back at least to the 1940s and the Zoot Suit era in SoCal.

I had to google what the hell is a zoot suit.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Zoot_suits.jpg