1930's & 1940's Low Riders

The early 1970s is considered by many to be the inception period of the culture we all know and love, Lowriding. This was also an important time in the life of Tony Valadez for that very reason. He was there in the beginning, growing up in Orange County and feeling the urge to ride slow and low. He hung out with the older guys in his neighborhood, who would take him along to cruise all of the hot spots in Orange County. Tony and his group of friends would cruise Santa Ana, Anaheim, Stanton, and Buena Park, and on Sunday nights, they even ventured out of Orange County to cruise the legendary Whittier Boulevard in East Los Angeles with the masses of Lowrider enthusiasts.



As he got older, Tony dreamed of owning his own Lowrider, so he decided to make that dream a reality by dedicating a whole summer to working and saving up enough money to buy one. Sure enough, he bought a 1958 Chevy Impala and immediately lowered it and put on some Astro Supremes. Tony cruised in the ‘58 for a couple of years before he sold it to buy a 1961 Chevy Impala, which also rode on Astro Supremes. After high school, he sold the ‘61 and bought a 1973 Impala, but this time, Tony installed Cragars on this car.



In the mid-1970s, Tony met his first wife, and started a family. Around the same time, Tony’s friend, Jerry Palomino, told him about a 1947 Chevy Fleetline that he saw for sale near the freeway in Corona, California. Intrigued, the duo drove out to find the owner, and Tony ended up buying the car from him. The ’47 was complete and in stock condition, and since Tony deemed it worthy of an amazing restoration, he decided to sell off his ’73 Impala to get the money he needed to make it happen. With a child on the way, Tony had to put the build on hold, although he was able to transform the car into a personalized daily driver with rims and a lowering job in the meantime. After the birth of his son, the cost of raising a family took a priority over building the Fleetline, and Tony realized that he would have to sell it. Although he regretted letting it go, his growing family was his priority, and Tony made the necessary sacrifice.



As the years went by, Tony’s first marriage dissolved. Eventually, Tony remarried and around the same time, he started to look for another Bomb. He found a 1954 Chevy which he loved, but right before he was about to commit to buying it, he backed out as he had his heart set on building another ‘47 Fleetline.

The search for another Fleetline was on, and Tony searched swap meets, car shows, and online with no luck. His search discouraged him, but Tony pressed on, finally finding one about four years ago. Henry, from Old Memories SGV, had a black 1947 Chevy Fleetline for sale. An excited Tony bought the car immediately, lowered it, and put some fog lights on it as well. Within a month, Tony’s Fleetline was in good shape, and he took it to a show, where he met two guys who also had Fleetlines. The two men turned out to be Jim Ramsey and Bob Morgan, proud members of the HB Gabachos Car Club. Jim and Bob told Tony about the club and invited him to roll with them to shows. After a couple of months with the HB Gabachos, he knew he had to step his game up to be at the same level of his fellow club members.



Tony started to redo the car, setting a reasonable goal of working on one major item per year. During the first year, Tony had all of the car’s chrome parts refinished and shined up. The following year, he redid the interior, and in the years after that, the air bags and engine compartment were redone. In 2011, Tony began acquiring all of the rare accessories for the Fleetline; a difficult but necessary task for all Bomb collectors.

Tony’s wife, Doreen, jokingly named the Fleetline “Morticia” after a conversation they had one night after Tony had been in the garage working on the car. She commented to Tony that the car had become his girlfriend, since he spent more time with it than her. The only “Morticia” that Tony knew of was the character from the television show, “The Addams Family.” On the show, Morticia was always dressed in black and was sexy, just like the Fleetline, so the name stuck.



Reviewing his car on paper for this feature opened up the floodgates to a lot of Tony’s Lowrider memories, and he is humbled to think about how much Lowriding has meant to his life. Although he sold his first Fleetline and took time off from Lowriding to raise a family, the decision to buy and restore this one gave him the feeling that he had never left. In fact, he just picked up right where he left off; cruising the streets of Orange County, California.

Tech Specs


“Morticia”

Owner: Tony Valadez

Vehicle: 1947 Chevy Fleetline Aerosedan

Club: HB Gabachos

City/State: Garden Grove, CA

Paint: Henry Acensio from Henry’s Custom Body & Paint in Garden Grove, CA., sprayed the Black Lacquer.

Interior: Jesse Flores, from Flores Upholstery in San Pedro, CA., added the Hampton Coach Kit.

Audio: Tony installed the Alpine Audio System by himself.

Engine: 1954 Chevy 235c.i.d with Dual Carbs, Fenton Intake Manifold, and Wayne Valve Cover.

Transmission: Three-Speed Chevy.

Exhaust: Dual Straight Piped Exhaust with Glasspacks.

Suspension: Laid Out Kustomz in El Monte, CA., added the Air Bag set up.

Chrome: All of the vehicle’s chrome plating was done by Sam Barragan, from Buena Park Chrome, in Buena Park, CA.

Wheels: 16-inch Artillery Wheels.

Tires: BF Goodrich 16-inch Silvertowns.

Accessories: Dual Visor, Lighted Vanity Mirror, GM Fan, Tissue Dispenser, Sherill Compass, Turn Signals, Gold Mirror, Cat Eye Lighter, Banjo Steering Wheel, Red Head Flashlight and Hat Holder.



article original:

http://www.lowridermagazine.com/features/1202_lrmp_1947_chevrolet_fleetline_aerosedan/

J'suis pas un fana de Low Rider, loin de là... mais celui-ci est magnifique avec cette teinte noire qui lui donne un côté inquiétant et surtout cette grosse casquette qui prolonge assez bien le galbe du toit

Family. It's an important ingredient in the lowrider community. Hydros and wire wheels are the heart of lowriding, but family is the backbone of any lowrider. Without their love, support and inspiration, most builders would be lost souls driving around in pretty cars with no one to really share the tragedy and triumph with. And because of family, sometimes a project takes a little longer than planned. Things like school clothes, Christmas presents and unexpected expenses can have a builder dipping into his car funds.



Marco Rodriguez is a happily married man with four children. For this reason, Marco, through necessity, became a do-it-yourselfer with his '47 Chevy Fleetline, "Siete Juice." During the two-year process of building this car, Marco learned about upholstering, stereo installs, polishing, engine work, bodywork and installing air-ride systems. Doing all of these things himself kept the cost of the project down considerably and allowed Marco to do things as he could afford to make them happen.



But let's regress for a moment and go back to the beginning for Marco. It all started at the age of 14 when Marco took a ride in his cousin's slammed Dodge on whitewalls. From that day forward, Marco was a fan of bombs and by 15 he had his first one. Over the years, he's owned a few bombs, including his '41 Chevy, "El Asesino," which was a centerfold car in 1995. Marco bought this '47 a couple of years after that car was featured, but put it away for awhile until he had the time and money to get started on it.



With a project of this magnitude, there are always people who help you along the way and, in this case, furthered Marco's knowledge base. "Big Rick" Chilton and Carl "Candy Man" Hernandez both played a large part in giving Marco help. The bodywork was handled by Marco with pointers from Candy Man. After getting it smooth, Marco stepped back and thought about the color he wanted to have the car painted. Even though he got a lot of flack about it from club members, Marco decided to go with a color other than the usual black. The two-tone orange paint job was laid on by Candy Man and is quite the eye-catcher.

Much of the car's undercarriage was also painted and the wire wheels were color-coded to match. A two-compressor air-ride system is located in the trunk and found Marco once again honing his building skills. He also reupholstered the interior with a Hampton Coach mohair kit.



Just about every part of the car was touched by Marco's hands and, in the end, this bomb build wound up being a very rewarding experience for him. There's nothing like being able to say that you did it yourself, and having family there to see it happen and help out makes it all worthwhile in the end. Cruising down the boulevard with the wife and kids is what it's all about anyway, isn't it?

Siete JuiceOwner: Marco RodriguezVehicle: '47 Chevrolet FleetlineCity/State: San Leandro, CaliforniaClub: Oldies C.C.-East Bay

Engine/Drivetrain: A '55 Chevy 235-c.i.d. "inline 6" was completely rebuilt by Wayne and features an Offenhauser dual intake, "beehive" oil filter, aluminum radiator and Fenton headers feeding into a stainless steel dual exhaust system. Additional work was performed by owner.



Body/Paint: Marco handled the bodywork and Carl "Candy Man" Hernandez in Napa, California, laid down the tangelo and sunset pearl paint.



Interior: An original Hampton Coach mohair interior with felt lining was installed by the owner.



Sound System: The juice gets flowing through a Kenwood head unit; Memphis Audio EQ, amps and speakers; two 12-inch subs, four tweeters and four 6-inch mids.



Suspension: The owner installed an airbag setup with some fabrication done by Carl Hernandez. Firestone bags, Viair compressors and a chrome 5-gallon tank along with electronic Parker valves give Marco's bomb the moves.



Tires: 5.20 Premium Sportway

Wheels: 14-inch Zenith wires

article original: http://www.lowridermagazine.com/features/0805_lrmp_siete_juice_1947_chevrolet_fleetline/

rrrrggg j'adore ces garages US.