"The one thing about our mom was that she was OK with us having a car as long as it was insured," Eddie says. "We all had our jobs, mine just happened to be wheels and tires. I got my first job with a wheel place and I've been doing that just about all my life. I've seen all kinds of cars-hot-rods, customs, and lowriders-so I know what's going on out there all the time. I've been doing it forever and that's how I got my funds for doing my cars." Paul used to work for a telephone company, amongst other things. "Hey, we had to maintain our jobs to have our cars. It's like our cars were like a drug and in order to maintain the habit we had to work for it, which kept us off the streets and away from trouble," Paul says. "For me, my brothers and my uncles helped me out in learning to use primer and doing bodywork."
By this time, the youngest Tovar sibling, Michael, had taken an interest in what his older brothers were doing out in the backyard and the ever-busy family garage. Michael's first endeavor was a '54 Chevy two-door hardtop, which was in Lowrider in 1987 and then featured in February '04, which he found, did all the work on it, and cherried out. "What actually got me going was Eddie, Paul, and Donald. I didn't have my father, so they took care of me," Michael says. "They taught me everything I know today. When I was growing up they'd take me to Whittier Boulevard, to the shows in San Diego, or to some of the other lowrider happenings or RG Canning shows out there. We had bicycles and stuff so these guys would help me out a lot. They kept me going and staying out of trouble while keeping me busy." Being the youngest of the Tovar brothers, Michael grew up always being exposed to lowriders. His brothers entered their cars in different car shows in the late '70s and early '80s. "While my bothers were showing their cars, I'd be showing off my (custom) bike," Michael says. "While at a car show at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, I met Anthony Fuentes of Homie's Hydraulics. Anthony has a three-wheeler and I had a lowrider beach cruiser with a stereo system. Even though we were kids back then, we both took great pride in our bikes and had big lowrider hearts," he says. "Eddie, Paul, and Donald showed me the trades of getting a car together and showing me how to work to get the things I needed to get me and my cars going in the right direction. They kept me busy and out of trouble." One if his first jobs was working at a car wash, then he worked for a landscaping company. "At the time I think I was like 15 years old when I had the '54 and my mother didn't even know I had the car," Michael says. "I had to park it down the street for a bit and then finally brought it home and heard about it from my mom for a while."
As much as they like working on their cars, the Tovars really love attending to the details on the cars. "The way we like our cars is they have to be detailed out, have a nice paintjob, a nice set of tires (either 5.20 or 5.60), and laying on the ground," Michael says. "That's my style and I think my brothers' styles as well." When tearing down and reassembling, the guys pay attention to every detail. Every nut, bolt, and screw is scrutinized before it goes back on their cars. "Our dad was only 39 when he passed away. He didn't leave us with much, but he did leave us with a garage full of tools, so that's where we got started. When anything broke down we went to that garage. We built all of our cars out of that little garage that our dad left us. We didn't know very much and as we mentioned our uncles taught us bodywork. My uncle Gilbert taught me welding and from my dad teaching me the mechanics of engines and motors, assembling them, and putting them back together again the family just became into lowriding. They're a little older than us. They used to cruise Bellflower and Whittier Boulevards. My uncle Freddy, my uncle Raymond, and my uncle Gilbert used to go out there in their cars. Back in their day, they used cement bags to lower their cars. We had an uncle Raul who used to channel his cars as well. He had a brand-new '54 Chevy at the time. Like I said, we couldn't afford to take our cars to go have them painted or have brakes put in, so we learned right here in our garage. Then if we couldn't do it or couldn't finish the job we would ask someone to help us finish the job. Usually they'd end up figuring it out by themselves." Eddie took college courses in brake and alignment and body shop. He'd be working on something and the other brothers would soak it up and learn from him. "Believe it or not what helped in achieving our style was a welder-a MIG welder. Things changed for us big time. We got our cars and our style by using the welder in ways we'd only dreamed about until then, so as soon as we got that welder it was on," said Eddie.
Being able to graft rear ends and front clips made their customizing world that much bigger and better. When they hit the car shows and happenings many thought the brothers were a car club, although it might have had to do with the fact that they had enough pride to show their name as a traditional car club plaque. So who was the one who thought it would be cool to have it chrome-plated and shining in their rear windows? The youngster of the group, Michael. Michael remembers getting ready for a show in the late '80s and recalls sitting at the table with his daughter drawing out the design, cleaning it up, and then heading out to Burbank where the plaques were created out of a cardboard template. The day the plaques were done, Michael called the family together and gave them each a plaque, which they all now proudly fly.
As for the Tovar style, the brothers say that it was Paul's brown and white '57 Chevy Bel Air that was ahead of its time. It had the Tovar taste all over it and help defined their impeccable use of factory styling cues along with their devotion to details. "To this day people talk of its chrome chassis and clean bodywork," Michael says. It ran a Continental kit before anyone ran a kit on their car, it looked like it just rolled from the showroom floor, just off the ground," Eddie says. Paul remembers having the car in his mom's driveway, her asking him if after putting it all back together again whether it would start, and then it making them both smile. That car was also the first car to be featured in Lowrider magazine in December '79.
Believe it or not, the Tovars don't have any pet peeves when they look at someone else's car. They can appreciate other individual's style-whether it be a hot-rod, muscle car, or motorcycle-the Tovars can and do like other types of cars for the simple fact that they've grown up as car guys. You may find them one weekend at an all-Chevy show or at the Grand National Roadster Show, it doesn't matter, they just feed on the custom car culture. They modify the trends to fit their needs and style. They do appreciate the attention to detail on any car. "The details will make or break you," Eddie says. "You have to have everything clean, super clean."
Is there a next generation of Tovars around the block? "It's in the blood stream," Michael says. "It's like a disease and we can't shake it off, we're going to die with it. It's our high." There are always new trends and fads, but one thing that can never go away is an original car. You can always come back to that original car. That's the Tovar style.
But then there's Michael's open-air, candied, flaked-out bomb that may have pushed the Tovar envelope way past any mailbox. In other words, even the Tovar style can be bumped up a few more notches. They all share the same vibe and the same respect for those who work and fix up their cars. As one of them mentioned, "Who wants to see the same cars at one time at a show? Boring. So the variety that's out there is welcomed, never shunned, and if you have nothing nice to say about someone's ride, don't say anything at all."
Donald's '46 Chevy Fleetline is very similar to one of his pop's Chevys. A true clone of his dad's ride, he's literally working from an old photo of his dad's car. Then there's Paul's "Sedan Delivery," which is in the works as well. Add to the mix whatever the next generation of Tovars will be contributing and there is little doubt that we won't be seeing those timeless rides for years to come. "You know that's one thing about the Tovars, we're family. It's a bomb and a family deal, we take care of each other. To be there for one another is the way our grandparents raised us," Eddie says. "We stick together because family is number one to us. We'd like to thank our wives for being more than understanding, which without them this wouldn't mean as much nor be as fun." Michael says, "My mom was the backbone of the family. She supported us in the lowrider life. I would like to dedicate this article to my mom and dad."