LRM: Share with us your first lowrider experience.
Danny: My first lowrider experience was in the summer of 1982 in Livingston, California, the town I grew up in. My car was a '63 Impala that was primer brown. I saved money from working summer jobs and would work on my '63 at home with my brother's help. I lifted the front of the car and ran four batteries to one pump and had 520s with original hubcaps. I used to cruise the main street in the next city, which was Merced, California, with my friends and then-girlfriend Alice, who I've now been married to for 25 years.
LRM: Was there anyone in your family who was into lowriding before you?
Danny: All my brothers were into cars, but my brother Santos was into lowriding and he exposed me to it when I was in junior high in 1978. My older brothers, Luis and David, were into hot-rods.
LRM: What type of car did he have?
Danny: Santos had a '64 Impala that was Root Beer Brown with blue pearl. He had Cragar rims with triple pipes on the side. He also had an eight-track stereo. It didn't have hydraulics, but it had a three speed on the floor.
LRM: What lowriding experiences stand out in your mind?
Danny: I remember when he [Santos] would pick me up after school, which I thought was really cool because he was six years older than me. Once he knew that I could drive he would tell me to get ready to go out and we would go out on the weekends. He would let me drive him and his friends from party to party. Sometimes we wouldn't get home until 5 or 6 in the morning.
LRM: That must have been fun cruising with him, plus he got to have a designated driver. What did you get for your first car?
Danny: My first car was a '63 Impala that my dad bought for me. I was a senior in high school. It didn't have a motor or transmission when I first got it. Before the year was over though I was driving it to school, and it was still stock.
LRM: Any interesting or crazy stories while building any of your cars?
Danny: One time I had a pretty serious accident when I was replacing the exhaust on my '63. I lived out in the country, so it was all dirt. I didn't have a cement pad or anything stable to work on. I jacked the car up to shake the exhaust loose and the car fell on my head. Thankfully the car pushed my head into the dirt and I was next to our dog pen. I was kicking the pen to get help and my brother Santos heard the dog barking and came running out and saw me under the car. He was so scared that he lifted the car up by himself and my dad pulled me out. The seam of the car landed right at the front of my ear and cut it. The doctor thought I had damaged my hearing, but it didn't. I just have a scar from the stitches, but it's barely noticeable.
LRM: It sounds like you were really lucky. The man upstairs was certainly looking out for you. Is there anyone else besides him you'd like to thank?
Danny: I'd like to thank my wife, Alice, who puts up with me working on the truck all the time as well as other people's cars in our backyard. Without her support my truck would not be where it is today. I will always be a lowrider until I die, just like my brother Santos who passed away three years ago. May God bless him for looking after me.
By Reinaldo M. Robinson
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