Maria Leon sits in the driver seat of a light gold 1989 Lincoln Town Car that she gifted to her husband two years ago. Growing up in Raleigh, Salvador Leon had mentioned to Maria how he wanted to fix up a car of his own to start lowriding.
Lowriding is a car culture, significant within Mexican-American culture, that involves customizing cars with hydraulics in order to move them up and down. To spectators, this might seem intriguing, but to Maria this is a way of life. Maria is a member of the Lowyalty Car Club, Alamance County’s lowriding car club.
Maria and Salvador have four kids together. When it comes to the daily task of taking their kids to and from school, the only answer Maria gets is the Lincoln. Maria laughs just thinking about her son’s reaction.
“To drop him off, to pick him up, he wants to get picked up in a lowrider,” Maria said.
Despite having the Lincoln for two years now, Maria and Salvador joined Lowyalty a month ago. With four kids, Maria said they wanted something fun to do with the kids.
“We really have felt like we have been supported in every way, where everyone is helping and where we just feel very welcomed,” Maria said.
Maria said that whenever a fellow lowrider needs help working on their car, another member of the club is willing to jump right in and help. For example, one of the club members, Manuel Ambriz, helped Salvador fix their ball joint. Maria said he didn’t do it expecting compensation, but because he knows Maria and Salvador would do the same for him if he needed help in the future.
Ambriz has a Zacatecas license plate on his 1996 green Cadillac Fleetwood. For him, the green color of his car pays tribute to his parents, who are from Zacatecas, Mexico. Coming from an immigrant and first-generation family, Ambriz said hard work and family are two values instilled in him. He said Lowyalty gets that.
Since he joined in 2023, Ambriz has appreciated how the president of Lowyalty, Oscar Flores, understands that Ambriz is — as he puts it — “business first.”
“So that’s one thing that really brought my attention, was that he understands that if I have a priority, that I’m going to go there first,” Ambriz said.
Ambriz said he feels like he is a part of the Lowyalty family. Not only has lowriding brought him closer with other riders, but also his own family, including his daughter.
“She’s only seven, but she enjoys it,” he said. “She’s like, ‘When I grow up, I want to have one.’”
Flores said his mission for Lowyalty since he started his presidency three years ago has been to break down stereotypes that come with being Latino and lowriding.
Laws against lowriding have existed in California have existed since the 1980s and are due to a false stereotype that lowriding was associated with gang violence. It wasn’t until October 2023 that California signed a bill prohibiting anti-cruising legislation. However, stereotypes continue to circulate, even all the way in Alamance County.
“We are trying to prove that we are not bad people or that we sell drugs,” Flores said. “All of our members are hardworking, work every day and make sacrifices to have the cars that we have.”
To combat the false stereotypes, Flores is performing more community outreach. In August, Lowyalty participated in a “cruising back to school” event in High Point, where they showcased their cars to the local community in order to raise school supply donations.
Flores currently drives a pink and purple 1952 Chevrolet 3100 lowrider pick-up that he named “Sexycana,” in which he has invested a total of $50,000. On the back of the vintage pickup is a plaque with “Lowyalty” on it. Sexycana is for his daughter who is currently in college at Appalachian State, so in the meantime, he’s taking her for a spin. Flores has been the president for three years, but a member for 17 years saying that his wife and kids have been his rock throughout his entire lowriding career. He says lowriding is his life.
“We are focused on lowriding, but we are also family,” Flores said.
Novice car club member Marco Aguilar said lowriders are not bad people. He said they are just out riding for a good time. Aguilar drives a blue 1997 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme with pink stripes. He added the pink stripes to his car for his two daughters. Aguilar grew up with lowriding in Michoacán, Mexico and speaks Purépecha, a language native to Michoacán. Despite immigrating to the United States, having to learn English and then Spanish, when he gets in the car, he said it feels like “paradise.”
“It is a good feeling,” Aguilar said. “The good feeling that we all have in common.”
For these lowriders, cruising isn’t just a hobby, but a way of life. In June, Lowyalty celebrated their 20-year anniversary. Flores said he has no plans on ending his term of presidency here.
“We will continue to be a club representing North Carolina wherever we go,” Flores said.