Xavier AKA "The X-Man" is one guy who's certainly heard by many. More specifically, he's heard by tens of thousands in San Diego, California, on station MAGIC 95.5. You can hear X-Man's show monday through friday from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. and his sunday night oldies show from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. He's a strong supporter of the lowriding community in San Diego and can be seen rolling with any of the area's car clubs. Since X-Man is a man who has something to say, we figured we'd let him tell the story of his '63 Chevy Impala SS, "X-Stilo Firme '63."
"I first fell in love with lowriding at the age of six when I was introduced to a Chevy lowrider bomb by a neighbor," X-Man recalls. "He offered to take me cruising with him if I helped him clean his car, so I did and when it was time to cruise, he left without me, bumping those firme oldies. Needless to say, that never discouraged me and my love of lowriders. From that point, my brother and I made a couple of lowrider bikes to cruise the neighborhood on, but the desire to have my own ride would stay with me for many years."
"In high school and college, I started DJing and MCing lowrider events and happenings, and the love grew," X-Man continues. "I even started supporting lowrider car clubs on my radio shows by helping them spread the word about their shows and community fundraisers. They were always doing something positive and I like that very much."
"It wasn't until four years ago when I finally had the money saved up and announced on my radio show that I was looking for a ride," X-Man remembers. "After getting more than 100 emails and checking out the local ones in San Diego and Los Angeles, I took a trip to the Bay Area and found John from Uce C.C. hiding a '63 Impala Super Sport driver. I fell in love and drove it home. I drove it for a couple of years doing what I could to fix things, but finally the engine and tranny died, and I decided to redo the whole car."
With the help from brothers "Pelon" and "Carrot" Romo, the journey into rebuilding a car was on. "Luckily for me, I had many cool lowrider friends who offered to help and teach me how to rebuild my car," X-man admits. "It would be easy for me just to drop it off at a shop and come back a year later, but I wanted to be hands on, so that I can learn and really feel good about driving my car. I connected with Tavo Gutierrez, who offered to lend a hand and help me disassemble the car." Other friends and car club members began pinching in and the project was on.
X-Man thanks them all (see Tech Specs) as well as his understanding wife, Alicia, his mom, "Papa Son" Daniel, David "Laughing Boy," "Beto," Daniel Jimenez, Jose from Groupe C.C., Louie from Nu Wave C.C., "Tito" and Martha at Lemon Grove Autobody, and "all of the car clubs and solo riders from NorCal and SoCal who have supported me throughout the years." So there you have it. The X-Man is the man with a plan and a very clean '63 SS to boot.
X-Stilo Firme '63Owner: Xavier, "The X-Man"Vehicle: '63 Chevrolet Impala SSCity/State: San Diego, CaliforniaClub: No affiliation
Engine/Drivetrain: Louie Ontiveros and the crew at Car Connection in San Diego's Barrio Logan rebuilt the original 283-c.i.d. engine. It was reinstalled by Marcos Arelleno of Amigos C.C. and Jorge Romo from Duke's C.C. Tony at Southland Transmission Center in National City, California, reworked the Powerglide 2 transmission. Bush Power Brakes in National City went through the original brake system. Leo Milla from Duke's C.C. wired the entire electrical system.
Body/Paint: Tavo Gutierrez and the owner disassembled the car at Candy's Autobody in San Diego before "Chico" from Groupe C.C. sprayed PPG Torino Turquoise paint provided by Ray Garcia of PPG. The chrome plating and polishing were done by "Bird" of Majestics C.C. The '63 received brand new nuts and bolts from Tony and Frank at Topeco Products in National City.