Born in East Los Angeles and raised within the friendly confines of Santa Fe Springs, California, Pete Caldera, a.k.a. "Brochas", has long been immersed in the culture and groomed to become a true lowrider. Pete was influenced at an early age by his neighbor, Angel, who was a member of New Movement Car Club. Angel dazzled the young boy with the way he used to paint his lowrider cars in his own backyard. Pete got a bird's eye view into all aspects of paint, from preparation to finishing. He spent countless hours watching Angel and his assistants wet sand and block the lowriders, preparing them for Angel's magical touch.
When Pete reached the age of 12, Angel decided to give his would-be understudy-in-training a job as a helper. Initially, his duties were to clean the prep area by picking up trash, with the promise that eventually he would move up to sanding the cars to get them ready for paint. Angel was a master of laying down flake and pearl paints. In fact, Pete credits him with the technique he currently employs today in his paint jobs. By age 16, a determined Pete was working full time at a body shop where he mastered the skills of bodywork, painting, color-matching, clear coating and glass finishing. With his skills polished and his passion for customizing grew deeper, Pete knew it was time to finally work on a car of his own, so he saved up what he could to set his dream in motion.
At the age of 18, he purchased a '67 impala that he fixed up beautifully using an all-original style and finishing the job off by color- matching and painting the body in the original factory burgundy. Looking for a new project, he decided to sell the car to his nephew. When it was time for a color change, Pete went back to the car and gave it an impeccable blue with blue pearl finish--a paintjob so clean it gave him instant recognition within the lowrider circuit. It seemed Pete's careful study of his mentor finally paid off.
After a few years of non-stop painting, Pete decided to take a break from it. He focused on his growing financial responsibilities which stemmed from the increasing needs of his family. In order to better support them as economic times grew harsh on the painting circuit, he was forced to do what he needed to do. Pete eventually found work as a construction worker. Although he was working long hours, he still managed to spend time with his family and work on his friends' cars on the weekends.
While his family continued to grow in size and paying bills remained his first priority, Pete never gave up on what he really loved doing. In '93 he felt the car painting business calling him back, and Pete made the risky decision to quit his construction job and resume painting lowriders again, using his back yard as his shop.
The move paid off as Pete's outgoing personality and his attention to detail earned him the opportunities to work on many well-known cars including "Gold Digger," "Tattoo You" and "American Woman." He has painted cars for notable car clubs ranging from Lifestyle, Stylistics, Fantasy Life, Dukes, and Classic Oldies. Pete's philosophy of treating all the cars he works on as if they were his own, has rewarded him with many return customers. After working out of his house for a few years, he opened a shop in Whittier, California, where his newest creation was born.
The '73 Chevy Caprice was purchased from a neighbor for a measly $800. His original plan was to just fix it up enough to where he could sell it for profit. His plan did not get the chance to run its course, however, as his eldest son Ruben talked him into making the Caprice a pristine and show-ready lowrider. Using his roots in the '70s as inspiration, Pete utilized his background as a painter and gave the car an old school color scheme. He painted the car an elegant candy burgundy wine color, then flaked the top to add different candy patterns, completing the old school look.