Joey Hernandez has been an avid lowrider enthusiast since his days of being a teenager in the concrete breeding ground of custom car culture; East Los Angeles. Growing up near the legendary intersection of Downey Road and Whittier Boulevard, Joey remembers gasping in awe when he first laid his eyes on these one-of-a-kind, custom lowriders cruising up and down Whittier Boulevard every weekend.
As an eager and impressionable youth, catching such up close views of these cruisers on his own simply wasn't enough for Joey. He also had the privilege of going to car shows with his brother-in-law Jesse, and Jesse's car club Techniques, which made it very easy for Joey to get bitten by the lowriding bug. As a teenager, Joey joined Techniques Car Club Los Angeles and bought his first car, a 1972 Impala, from a fellow club member. Life's responsibilities gradually took him from a boy to a man. Joey got married and became the proud father of a beautiful daughter, Erica. However, even though family was his first priority, his passion for lowriding could not be denied.
Happy with his family life, he continued his obsession, building different cars and even a mini truck, to represent the car club and express his hard work and love of the lowriding culture. In September 2007, at the Techniques 35th anniversary party, tragedy struck Joey and his family when his 1983 Grand Prix caught fire and burned to the ground. The setback did not stop Joey, in fact it did the opposite; it pushed him to take a new car to the next level. Joey pressed on, eventually finding the suitable replacement for the Grand Prix in San Diego, CA. Fate found Joey staring at an impeccable 1979 Lincoln Continental Mark V, with a purchase price of only $1200. He immediately seized the opportunity and purchased the drivable and perfectly kept classic from its original owner.
The car was disassembled, and the first order of business was a color change from the factory blue paint. The Lincoln was sprayed a black pearl with red flake to continue with the same color scheme as the Grand Prix. During the build of the Continental, tragedy would once again strike the Hernandez family, this time in the form of something much worse. Joey's beloved wife Socorro passed away from a stroke just two days after Christmas, on December 27th, 2007. She was just 46 years old. As a tribute to Socorro, a heartbroken Joey and his daughter Erica decided to continue on with the build of the Continental and use Socorro's favorite colors, black and red, as the symbolic inspiration of her memory throughout the car. After All in One & Munoz Auto Service finished the body work, the car was sent to Speedy in East LA so he could take care of the chrome, the customized Techniques blinkers, interior panels and LED accent lights. Speedy finished off the one-off pieces with a Techniques trunk emblem to replace the Continental emblem, giving a little personal flair and a sense of pride to Joey's classic.
Once the exterior was complete, Joey took the Continental over to Anthony at Top Stitch to freshen up the interior with leather and suede in black and red. Joey & Anthony also added just the right amount of wood grain accents to the interior, giving the car an elegant maturity. Joey's brother, Robert, handled the audio portion of the interior with Pioneer components. The hydraulic set up was the next order of business for the Mark V. Under the expert guidance of Angel Duarte, Joey installed one whammy pump, 6 batteries, 4 switches, and 6 solenoids in the Continental's trunk. The trunk was then finished off with the same materials and color scheme used through out the car. The engine and suspension was also outfitted with plenty of chrome and paint accents to keep the car show judges busy. To cap off the exterior attitude of this beauty, the finishing piece was added to the adjusted suspension in the form of 14"100-spoke wheels with red accents.