- Just like a lowrider is a unique expression of yourself,
so is anybody's professional choices.
You can be as creative as you want to be.
You can make it unique to yourself.
That's what lowriding is all about.
As long as you're working hard, doing the right thing,
opportunities will find their way to you.
(upbeat music)
Lowriders are not people who are out looking
to cause trouble.
We put way too much time, energy and investment
into a car to ever even want to risk doing what was seen
in a lot of the movies you saw in the '90s.
Today's modern Lowrider is somebody
who takes pride in their vehicle
and wouldn't want to do anything to risk their car,
or their community, or their reputation.
(upbeat music)
I've got a 1951 Chevy Styleline Deluxe.
It is an Aqua Ice Opalescent so it's got a lot
of pearl and metallic in the paint.
The roof is blue and white.
Also has a lot of pearl and metallic.
I have 14 inch 1962 Chevy Impala wheels
that are powder coated red, with '59 Lancer hubcaps.
And I have fat whitewalls on there.
I wanted it to look like a traditional bomb,
but with a little bit of a twist.
That's why I went with the metallic color that's still
similar to the colors used of the era,
but with a more modern paint job.
The engine is original 216 straight six.
It has a split manifold with a straight pipe out the main
and a glass pack on the split.
It's completely rebuilt and painted.
I put a Borg-Warner T-5 transmission.
The transmission's from an early '80s S-10 pickup.
Paired up with a 1956 Bel Air rear end.
I wanted to accessorize it because, for me,
a bomb needs to have every rare accessory you can find.
So, the interior is white and gray.
It was done with the stitch pattern of a 1961 Impala.
I just really like the clean look, and once again,
wanted to be a little bit different.
Something classic and just a little unique.
(jazzy music)
I think my favorite part of the car is the grill.
The grill on the car is from a 1953 Corvette.
That Corvette grill is just kind of like
the piece of jewelry that finishes it off.
The one thing that makes it stand out.
I just wanted something that would really dress it up.
Accessorize the car a little bit more.
Just be a little bit different.
I wanted to save part of that history,
so I did mask off the original serial number badge
just so there's a bit of history of what that car
originally was like out of the factory.
So, it took me about a year to get it assembled
and on the road.
Once I got it all assembled and put together,
the next phase was to get it painted.
Get the chair redone, get the chrome done.
And I actually took the car down to Mexico,
to Tijuana to get the work done down there.
When I took the car down to Mexico,
I had an opportunity for it to really make an impact
in the bi-national community down there.
I had a unique opportunity where the work
was actually done at a rehab facility.
And guys who were there were able to work on the car.
They were able to learn skills that they can use
out in the real world.
And at the end of the project they had something
they could stand in front of and be proud of.
I was born in Santa Barbara, California.
My dad's from Michoacan, Mexico.
My mom was born in Santa Barbara.
They met when my dad came to the United States.
When my dad came to the United States,
he moved in with his older brother.
And my grandparents lived next door.
Eventually my dad fell in love with the girl next door.
And soon there after, I came along.
Growing up I had my parents around.
My grandparents were around a lot.
I have two sisters.
So, it was just a big extended family.
My dad worked a lot as a kid to help support our family.
My mom still lived at home when I was a kid.
I spent a lot of time with my grandparents.
And my uncle lived there, as well.
And he was in Nightlife Car Club.
And I was just fascinated by the cars,
the car shows, everything.
And I tagged along every chance I got.
He showed me the ropes about lowriding.
He helped me start building model cars.
My first model car was a '53 Bel Air.
I built a little '59 Impala, '64 Impala.
Whatever cars were available at the model shop
that could be turned into a lowrider.
I wanted to buy it, build it, fix it, paint it.
Put wire wheels on it.
Those were really my intro to lowriders
was building model cars.
I wanted to build a lowrider bike.
And it was the 1976 Schwinn Stingray.
When I got the lowrider bike frame, my dad came home
and said "no, you're not doing this".
And I don't want you to go down that road.
And I negotiated with him and said
"look dad, if I do good in school,
can I keep the lowrider bike and fix it up?".
And eventually he agreed and so that was the carrot
that kept me focused on school.
But in order to pay for it, because bike parts,
chrome, paint, all that stuff was expensive, I had to work.
And my grandpa owned a grocery store, so starting
in about fourth grade I asked my grandpa if I could
start working part time in order to save up
to pay for the lowrider bike.
And I ended up spending thousands of dollars on it.
And all of that came from working after school,
working weekends, just to save up as much money
as I could to be able to fix up the lowrider bike.
So, when I was in high school, lowriding was life.
I was so into just cars and fixing it up
and wanted to just have one.
And I started with a 1952 Chevy pickup.
And bought a '49 dump truck for parts.
And I had a '49 five window cab.
Eventually sold all that to buy an '85 Cutlass.
But my favorite was my first bomb.
The the 1950 Chevy Deluxe Powerglide.
It had all the accessories.
Visor, bumper guards, skirts.
It was just my pride and joy.
That's what I worked for and lived for
when I was, you know, 16, 17 years old.
So, when I applied to colleges, no one in my family
had gone to college so I was kind of just doing it blindly.
The top two schools I wanted to get into were either
Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo or San Diego State.
At Cal Poly I had taken a field trip in elementary
school and seen their architecture program.
And I've just always been fascinated
with homes and real estate.
And I applied for their architecture program.
But I've also had some teachers who just made
a huge impact in my life.
So, I applied for the teaching program at San Diego State.
Cal Poly rejected me.
I got letter in the mail that said
that I had not been accepted.
I just accepted that maybe my counselor was right.
Maybe I wasn't meant to go to college.
Maybe I would just have to stay in Santa Barbara.
And I was going through a tough time.
And personally there was a lot of stuff going on in my life.
And I just thought, you know what, it's just not the time.
All that changed.
I got a letter in the mail and I had been
accepted to San Diego State.
Signed it before I even showed it to anybody
and mailed it back the next day.
I just, I saw that opportunity and knew
that I had to seize that moment.
And that I had been given that opportunity
to make my dreams come true.
The next steps were kind of just
something we had figure out.
You know, I had to figure out where I was gonna live,
how I was gonna move down there, what I needed to do,
what classes I needed to register for.
And as I was figuring it all out, I realized
that I needed to come up with the money
for my deposit on the dorms.
I asked my dad for some help.
He pointed to the driveway and said
"what about the car you have there?".
And I was faced with a tough decision.
Keeping my bomb, or leaving it all behind in order
to have an opportunity to go to college.
And after consulting with friends, with guys from the club,
everybody agreed that it would be stupid
not to go to college.
To sell the car.
And that someday I'd be able to have another.
And I sold the bomb.
That was last lowrider I had for a long time.
So, when I go to San Diego State, I kind of had
let the college admission process determine my fate.
And I started out as a liberal studies major.
I wanted to be an elementary school teacher.
At that moment I also realized that
maybe I didn't want to start out as a teacher.
I started exploring changing my major to business.
Maybe I wanted to go into real estate instead.
And ultimately I sat down with my college
counselor who gave me some good advice.
And she said that out in the real world they're
just looking to make sure you have a college degree.
To prove that you're capable of learning.
To prove that you're able to accomplish something.
And she advised that if I wanted to get into real estate,
something that didn't actually require a college degree,
that I just find the quickest way to graduate,
get out, and get started on my career.
So I did.
I changed my major to sociology.
So, I just found something that caught my attention.
And it was able to get me to graduate
with a Bachelor's degree.
And I started in real estate
the Monday after college graduation.
(upbeat music)
So, the Monday after I graduated from college,
I went to go work for a mortgage company.
And I quickly realized that what was going on
wasn't in my community's best interest.
They were putting people into subprime mortgages
that they couldn't afford.
And I found myself getting in trouble
for telling people the truth.
A friend of mine gave me an opportunity
to go work at a different company.
And showed me that there was the possibility
of working with first time buyers.
Showing people financial literacy.
Educating the community to do the right thing.
In 2012 I made the transition
to do real estate full time
and left the mortgage industry behind.
When I finally became a realtor, it opened up the doors
to a lot of leadership opportunities.
I became chapter president of NAHREP,
The National Association of Hispanic
Real Estate Professionals.
I was chapter president.
I eventually got awarded Realtor of the Year.
But I think what really helped things come full circle
is when I had the opportunity to teach.
A local community college was looking
to hire a new staff member.
I had my interview and I got hired on the spot.
So I now get to teach real estate at Cuyamaca College
and help the next generation of real estate professionals
learn the basics so they can get started on their careers.
The students come from all walks of life.
I have students that range from a 16 year old
high school student, to senior citizens who are retired,
to single mothers who are just trying to get ahead in life.
So, now I get the best of both worlds.
I get to help my community buy their first homes
and also educate people at the college level
so they can have a more empowered
future as real estate professionals.
You know, people with lowriders are
making a difference in the community.
I recently ran for public office.
I ran for the community college board.
And I wanted to make sure that as I was out
making connections in the political world,
I had my car parked at every campaign event.
I was campaigning at the La Vuelta Car Cruise
and having conversations with Lowriders
about community college.
About opportunity.
And it was amazing to see how many people
approached me who said that going to a community
college impacted their life because now they
have the skills and the trade that allowed
them to have a successful career.
And it just goes to show that there's some amazing
people out in the Lowrider community doing great things.
And I think just being able to have that conversation
of how they got there allowed me to also just share
with everybody else the positive impact
that Lowriders are making in our community.
Some people just have never been introduced properly
to what lowriding is all about.
How it's all about community and culture.
And I think that as more and more people in the community
continue to do positive things, who happen to own
a lowrider, it's gonna continue to help dispel these myths.
It's gonna continue to help decision makers realize
that this isn't something to be afraid of.
It's something to be embraced.
Never take no for an answer.
If you believe you can do something,
find a way to get it done.
Nobody cares more about yourself than you.
And if you believe you can do something,
if you have a passion and you have a skillset,
I think that you can marry those passions into something
that makes an impact in your community.
As long as you work hard, stay focused,
and stay committed to your dreams.
My name is Rafael Perez.
I'm a realtor, a college educator,
and I'm a Lowrider Roll Model.