-Low riding was always known as a man's sport.
-I could see all my life growing up,
you know, was men with cars.
-But women have their own jobs now.
They have their own source of income.
They can spend it how they want.
That's right, baby!
-Everybody was like, "Oh, is that your daddy's ride?
Is that your man's ride?"
Somebody told me that they still believe
that women and lowriding belong in the passenger seat.
-I can get my own car.
I can drive my own car. I can build my own car.
And that's exactly what I did.
It's what makes me happy.
As long as I'm doing what I want to do for myself,
that's lowriding.
So if you ever notice me cruising
and you look at my driver side of my door,
my name's right there.
It says, "Sonia." It's mine.
♪♪
-Growing up, some girls want a closet
full of shoes and clothes,
I've always wanted a garage full of tools and cars.
My name is Angel.
I'm the president of the Dueñas Car Club.
We're an all female car club out of the Bay Area.
We currently have eight members.
Lowriding is hydraulics, custom paint jobs, wire wheels.
It's a lowrider, so of course, most of the time
it's slammed to the ground, you know, lay frame.
I really don't know any other, really, cultures
that go cruising for fun. You know what I mean?
You see all the cars, you see people hanging out,
you know, nodding their heads, like, "What's up?"
You know, all the music, the hydraulics.
-Hey! That's a good one, right there!
-I had always, like, since I was younger,
mentioned that it would be --
it would be dope, it would be awesome
to have an all-female car club.
Hey, guys. -Howdy, girl!
-So this is, uh, my voice of reason,
my other club member sister.
Sarah! -Hi!
I'm the secretary of the club. So, I try.
-This is also my cousin and our club member Prescina.
-Hi.
-This is my good friend, club member, uh,
Elizabeth, Cheche, Liz, all of the above.
-All of the above, yeah.
-She's like the -- the fun girl in the club.
-Yeah, I am. I really -- I really am.
-I had been in a couple of other car clubs previously.
Lowriding, it's, you know, primary more men.
So sometimes we're gonna bump heads.
One of the clubs that I was in,
it, um, really didn't let me voice my opinion as much.
Anybody will tell you I'm very outspoken.
So, you know, that was hard for me
not to be able to voice my opinion.
After leaving the last club
and talking with my girls and stuff
and kind of just saying,
"Why don't we get an all-female car club started?"
Because the majority of the time
I'm always cruising with them anyways,
even when I was in a different club,
they would still cruise with me and stuff.
And we're always together, so it just -- it fit.
-I want my daughter to see that woman can do it, too.
She sees a lot of, you know, men --
she'll see a lot of men driving their cars,
but you know what? Women can have it, too.
-I think the hardest thing for us
was coming up with the name.
We had a dog for 12 years, a pit bull.
My grandma thought, you know, Dueña, land owner,
lady landowner, female owner, was a good name for her.
Nobody knows that except for just our group of friends.
But now everybody knows.
This is my dream garage so far.
I have one car, I have some tools that I'm working on.
So hopefully one day
I'll have a bigger garage with more cars.
Here's my memory board and some things that motivate me.
I have pictures, of course, of my mama and the car
before she passed away.
Over here you see my beautiful car, the '65.
It's a work in progress.
My car was hit almost two years ago.
We were stopped to make a left turn
and the gentleman didn't see me.
He was too close and he cut it on the side
and messed up the quarter panel.
It's all gutted and stuff.
After the paint job, we got it back.
So we're working on putting it back together.
So really, my favorite thing about my car, the '65,
has to be the quarter panel here.
It's kind of like hips, kind of sticks out on the car,
and it has these two little body lines here
that curve here and right here.
I think this is beautiful.
My car runs so good. He really is a champ.
And he yes, he's purple and he's a he.
Um, his name is "Saturday Love."
So now moving forward with my car,
I want to add graphics in the back, a mural of my mom.
My car, the second build is dedicated to her.
So this is the back window --
original back window that came with the car
that we're gonna be putting in today.
I'm hoping that as long as my wallet can afford it,
that, you know, it's gonna be pretty badass.
I feel like it's really coming together
now that it has windows.
When I got my car, there wasn't really
a lot of women out there cruising and stuff.
We were either a passenger or, you know,
we were helping getting things together
for shows and stuff like that.
I think that women should have a role model.
So with Sonia, initially,
I started following her on Instagram, you know,
and I was just like, "Wow," like, "Who is this woman?"
And then I seen she had a Monte.
-Social media, Instagram, I mean,
it's -- it's just taken this far in the lowrider community.
It was her Impala that caught my --
it was a purple Impala.
-You know, I looked over. She looked at me.
You know, it was cool, you know. "Hi," whatever.
And then she was like, "Wait, I know you."
And I was just like you, "You do?!"
I was like, "She knows me?! She knows who I am?"
No, it was cool, you know?
And then we just kind of clicked.
I love her style.
She kind of has a pachuca look --
a woman who dresses a certain way,
kind of like back in the 40s.
-I've always been around lowriders.
I grew up with them.
My first memory of cruising would be my Tia Brand.
She used to take us cruising.
We actually used to go to church.
After church, we would hit the boulevard after.
We would take the long way home.
Forgive me, Jesus, but we would go to church
just to be able to go cruising after.
So it was fun. It was good times.
This is why I'm so buff.
A lot of the O.G. ladies, they still pomp --
they still tease their hair.
And that's my pompadour.
I've owned my Monte Carlo for roughly 14 years now.
That's just the car I've always wanted since I was 12 years old.
[ Car whirs ]
I've been lowriding for roughly around...
well, technically all my life,
because my dad, he -- I used to cruise with him.
That's where I started,
my father and my tias and my mom.
But as far as me owning a car,
I've had my own car for roughly going on maybe 15 years.
My favorite feature on my car, I would have to say, is my top.
I have a candy patterned top.
It's just something that ever since I got that top,
it just really stamped it
and it sealed the deal for myself with the car.
I have a lot of features that I love,
but that one is definitely one that stands out.
Spending money on these vehicles, it's --
it depends on how hard you want to go.
-It gets pretty pricey, especially when it comes to
car parts and cars in general now.
You never realize how many parts there is
to putting a car together until you take it apart.
There's the new chrome grill.
I mean, that's beautiful. I have more chrome.
Who doesn't love chrome? Everybody loves chrome.
So new chrome parts and stuff that are still wrapped up
that I'm working on getting on the car someday,
hopefully sooner rather than later.
-The builds, the engines, the parts, the labor...
-It's a lot of pieces to think about --
50 plus pieces just on moldings.
I was thinking about getting new windshield wipers,
or do you think you could polish the --
-I've got those. You dropped them off to me.
-Did I? Okay, good.
That's part of the whole 52 damn pieces.
-For myself with my car, I would say I roughly have about
[Groans]
maybe $25,000, maybe, give or take.
Yeah. That's a lot of money. [ Laughs ]
♪♪
The Stockton Super Show is in our city,
so of course, we want to be there
to represent our club.
-What are you doing back there? Hiding?
You don't want to help clean up?
-UntouchableS Car Club started in 1996.
We currently have 28 members.
And with that, there is six female members.
-Dueñas are out here today
just to check out the scene and check out the cars.
We get to see other members and car clubs,
other people who are on the lowrider community.
So it's a good time.
So lowrider culture is, well, number one,
being a close family.
Tell us what you like. -I like that one right there.
-The green one? -Yeah.
-Of course! He's my nephew,
'cause that's a 65, just like what I have at home.
This is Sonia's car. It's beautiful.
Hey girl. -What's up?
-Hi. -Oh, it's so good to see you!
-How are you?
-We do feel more competitive
because it's always been a man's sport.
Absolutely. Been a man's sport.
So for us to actually be behind the wheel
instead of the passenger side,
um, we -- we feel more -- we have to push harder.
We have to prove ourselves more.
But more importantly, it's the love of the game.
-We have men to compete with, we have women to compete with.
So why not, you know, unite with each other
so that we can be a force to be reckoned with.
There's gonna be more of us now.
We're gonna get better and keep shining.
-I don't go for the points or to get a plaque.
More importantly for me is to share my car
as being a female lowrider and see the spectators come,
especially the young kids,
whether it be a little boy or little girl,
and just say, "Wow," like, "Look at that car."
Alright, let's do this.
We don't leave nobody behind.
Lowriding to me is having passion and pride
in what you do with your vehicle and you as a person.
So Dueñas Car Club and Angel, what they're doing, it's great.
I'm proud of those women.
I look at them and they're building their own cars
and they have a great foundation.
They have a great support with the community.
-Leading by example, though,
I think is the most important thing you can do.
If you have someone, you know,
who raises somebody else to believe certain things,
I think it's changing.
We have more supporters than we do non-supporters,
and people are starting to see that, you know,
we belong in this community. We've been there.
Why not give us a front row for a little bit?
Why not let us shine for a little while?
-I'm very proud of Angel. They did a great job.
-Lowriding is a feeling.
-It just makes you just like, "Yeaaah." You know?
It's -- I can't even explain it.
But lowrider, drop it, make sure it's low,
and then you cruise and you go slow.
So this is the best part of ending the night of cruising,
is this right here.
It's just a release of pressure.
You let go of all your stress and your angers
and it's -- it's a -- definitely a time of peace.
And it just -- it feels so good and calming.
Whether you want to have your own vehicle
or in the passenger seat,
I mean, lowriding is just -- it's -- it's great.
This gives me that... [Sighs heavily].
This is where I exhale, count my blessings,
and enjoy the beautiful view of the city I live in,
especially on a night like this.
Perfect time to go cruising.
♪♪