- Season Five episode eight.
- I remember my daughter saying,
"Oh that was such a cool time, dad.
I wish I would have been born
during that time.
Like just to go cruising,
and experience all that."
I think I said like,
"well, what if we got another Lowrider?"
"What if we did it again?"
"What's stopping us?"
(upbeat music)
(instrumental music)
So, we had just gone under quarantine.
And they were like,
"yeah, that'd be really cool."
And I also thought,
wow, this would be perfect.
This would be a perfect thing
to do with my girls,
and to just be part of that
process of building a car.
And really the process of
going out and driving the car.
So, we started our search.
And I remember the whole COVID purchase process.
Bringing it back home.
As soon as I drove home,
the hydraulics were working,
and I told one of my daughters,
grabbed the camera,
grabbed the phone,
videotape this.
I just did a loop around our neighborhood.
Both my girls have never experienced a car,
like hydraulics in a car.
So, first thing we did
when I pulled up was,
hop jumped in the car,
started hitting the switches
and videotaping.
My girl's first experience doing that.
Then right after that,
we wiped down the car,
cleaned it up.
And the first thing that I could think of doing,
which is what we used to do way back.
Is go to IN-N-OUT
and go hang out in the parking lot.
Went through the drive-through,
hidden switches,
ordering our burgers and fries,
parked right out front
because you couldn't sit inside
it was COVID.
So, parked right out front,
locked up the front,
dropped to the back and sat there
eating IN-N-OUT,
like it was 25 years ago.
It was a great moment.
And it took a picture of that
just to remember that.
It's a 1972, Cutlass Supreme,
that started with the original engine.
It still has the original engine,
but we pulled it out,
rebuilt.
They had repainted it blue,
but I wanted it to go back
to original.
With a little bit of a flare,
it came out perfect.
If it was possible to order
a juiced hydraulic lifted car,
from the factory,
we wanted that effect.
And I had promised,
the original owner,
when I had bought the car.
He said, "I need you to do me one favor."
I said, "what's that?"
He said, "you have to change the color of the car.
I can't ever see that car driving around Vegas.
And I don't wanna see it the same color."
I said, "not a problem.
It's perfect."
Because we planned to rebuild the car anyway.
kinda went back and forth.
You know, me with the girls,
and looking at different colors and swatches.
And I think Lowriding for me,
is really a family affair.
Now, I wanted to make sure
that this process was included to my family
and included my girls.
It was either gonna be a gold,
or blue Pearl,
and went with the blue ice.
So, it is a Jaguar,
90s Jaguar blue, with ice blue Pearl line.
So, the interior,
as we were kind of figuring
out the theme of what we wanted to do,
we were tossing around white,
and we ended up coming out
with a camel and tan interior
with blue stitching,
you know, brought the outside of the car in.
We knew that,
once we went with blue,
and we went with the tan interior
that we had to have
some gold and Chrome little,
We got to throw a little gold on the car.
Golden Chrome, Zenith wire wheels.
The other thing was
as we built the car,
there was something really important to me
for the car to be built in Las Vegas,
and built out in Las Vegas.
City where we lived.
We lived there for 13 years,
and I didn't want to
do what I guess maybe,
the natural thing to do
which would be go to LA.(chuckles)
And build it out in LA.
I wanted to make sure that
it was a Vegas built vehicle.
(upbeat music)
My first car was a Chevy Blazer,
88 Chevy Blazer.
Somehow, I came across a car club.
Was all Blazers called "Quiet Storm."
I was 16 years old,
and I pulled over
to talk to them
and ask them questions about their Blazers.
They're the ones who introduced me
and got me into Lowriding.
Really.
I was able to hang out with the car club.
But what really,
sort of just locked me in,
was being able to go to the meets,
and then starting to cruise.
There was a level of brotherhood
that I never experienced
and it didn't know,
until then.
And it really,
it just really solidified
my love for Lowriding back then
and in car clubs.
After the blazer,
I had bought a Saturn.
I always wanted to be different.
Being Colombian,
in a mostly Mexican, you know, city.
I always felt a little different.
So, my last Lowrider was a 1993 Saturn, four door.
I said, "I wanna be the first one."
When you know, just really deep
into Lowriding.
just gonna have a Aura Saturn, hopped up
juiced up, you know, on wire wheels.
(upbeat music)
So, my mom and dad came here from Columbia.
My mom was a teacher.
My dad was in the military.
So, she was able to come over with a visa,
and he had to cross the border illegally.
And they already had my older brother and two sisters.
My mom came here with 72 bucks in her pocket.
And had to work to get enough money together
to be able to pay a Coyote.
To bring them over.
They came across the border,
I think she told, me in Arizona.
When my father and my brothers and sisters got here,
my dad got right to work,
as a gardener.
And my mom was a housekeeper.
And then they had me,
which is what I think is
politically now known as an "Anchor baby."
So, if you had an American born child,
you're able to apply for residency.
And so, here's a Colombian family
that wanted to stay here
in the country and have a peace of the American dream.
So, have a kid.(chuckles)
So, they had me,
in 1975.
And they ended up becoming,
both US citizens.
That's my mom and dad getting here.
When I was pretty young.
My parents ended up,
you know, divorcing and splitting up.
And my mom had to figure out
how she was gonna take care
of me and my little brother at the time.
She went back to school,
and then started doing mortgage loans.
And what was tough about that is,
that she was working her butt off.
I don't know what time
she would leave in the morning.
But I know she would come back
pick me up, at around 7:30, take me to school.
And then my aunt would pick me up from school,
and I would stay with her.
And she wouldn't pick me up until like
10:00 at night.
And she'd do that every day.
While she was, you know, trying to put food
on the table and be successful.
So, I wasn't a watched a whole lot.
So,as I grew up,
I became a little rebellious
and maybe hung around the wrong people
during some of that time.
The guys that I hung around,
they didn't really care about the future.
Right.
They didn't.
I had to figure that out too.
But they didn't care about what was happening next.
It was kinda like smile now cry later
type of focus, I guess.
But it wasn't uncommon
to take things that wasn't yours,
you know, do the wrong thing.
It was like, I was in a little bit of a double life.
I don't know.
I had the friends
that I probably shouldn't have been hanging out with,
that were the wrong influence on me,
but I had no real oversight,
mostly because my mom was working so hard.
And then I had the Lowriding guys that were different.
And so, I didn't spend a whole lot
of time in school.
To the point where,
they kicked me out,
and I didn't finish high school.
My mom actually, ended up kicking me
out of the house and saying,
"you know what, you're too much
you're gonna go live with your dad."
Cause he lived far away.
And so, I, like any rebellious, young kid,
"fine." I know "I'll leave."
I think the pivotal point for me,
during that time was,
getting caught at the wrong place,
at the wrong time,
with the wrong people,
and getting arrested.
And then getting my car taken away,
and going to jail.
Not long.
I didn't go to the big house.
So, it did show me the wrong path.
I hadn't talked to my mom for like two months, at least.
And she called me out of the blue and said,
"I have a proposition for you."
I have a tough mom, by the way
"I have a proposition for you.
I can get you in to the business I'm in
and you can, you can join here.
And I can, I can teach you."
And I said, "no, thanks.
I don't wanna work with you.
I don't want anything to do with you or your business."
But my girlfriend, Valerie said, "no, you should
give it a shot.
You should try."
Initially, I didn't even pay attention.
I was kinda trying to figure out
how not be angry,
but get a job and start something, right?
Get a career going.
Within that year,
I started to see what she was doing.
She had placed herself,
in East LA, doing mortgage loans,
for Hispanic families
that she felt would benefit
from helping them get into a house.
She knew that home ownership did something
for our family,
and help her become successful.
Owning a home,
and having that equity in a home,
allowed her to achieve that.
I didn't even realize it,
that she was helping so many people
achieve generational wealth,
in the Latino community,
starting out on East LA,
by just helping them get into their first home.
And when I felt that for the first time,
it was where like it snapped in.
And I said, "wow, I can't believe we're doing this."
And she had kinda like
let me just go to figure it out,
and kinda run along.
And then finally, she told me,
"you see this is what we're doing.
We're helping our people build wealth.
We're gonna help our people achieve more.
And that's what you're gonna do.
Now, your path is going to be to help
more Latino families,
helping building that wealth,
by helping them get into homes.
What we're doing for them.
They're not even gonna realize it right now.
They're gonna realize it in 10, 15, 20 years.
When they see all this equity in their home,
and they are able to start businesses,
send their kids to school,
upgrade their house,
make investments,
whatever they're gonna do
we're gonna be part of that."
And she wanted to make sure that,
I was part of that.
Once I realized what we were doing.
- What do you think is the American dream?
- Wow, that's a great question.
I think the American dream is,
happiness with yourself,
family and leaving some sort of legacy
or generational wealth to your future.
I think the American dream is people coming
to this country,
and doing more than they could have ever done
in their country of origin.
And then, more so, leaving something
for those that are coming after them,
for their kids and their kid's kids.
That's what I think the American dream is.
(upbeat music)
As I just got more passionate,
about what we were doing,
and what my mom and I were doing,
and in home ownership.
I found this organization called NAHREP.
The National Association
of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals.
That was back in 2002.
It felt more empowered,
to be able to push harder,
do more, get bigger,
help more families
not just in my little community,
but outside my community.
In 2007,
my wife and I had partnered with a gentleman
that I met through that organization.
He looks to Herrera.
And we started our own company
in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Right as we did that,
the entire economy crashed.
It was the great recession.
And Vegas was ground zero.
And for the crash
of the mortgage industry and housing.
Yeah, we went from not being able to finance
a copier to save our lives.
Today, we have about 60 branches,
in 40 States,
with 500 employees.
And now we have about three to four brands
that we work under.
All of them, helping people with home ownership.
I think my girls may have felt like
I felt with my mom when I was little.
Because,
they would get picked up from school,
and brought with their backpacks,
blankets, everything to the office.
Cause we would work till 9:00, 10:00,
11:00 at night, every day.
And so,
we would get a little section,
in the office,
where they could lay down their blanket,
and go to sleep.
Until we woke them up
when it was time to leave
and get them home.
So, yeah, a lot of hard work,
a lot of grinding.
And I definitely learned that
from my mom's hard work.
I think at the end of the day,
you have to follow your passion.
And sometimes it's hard to find those things.
I think there's definitely a path for everyone
that gets very passionate.
And I mean, to the point of being obsessed at something.
Like we were and like we are,
and if you are passionate
obsessed about something
and you just keep at it
and nothing can stop you,
nothing can take you down.
Because there's definitely more forces
that will try to take you down
than try to lift you up.
And so, if you can follow a passion,
like what I found,
like me and my wife found.
Not only can you be fulfilled in life,
but you can be pretty successful at it too.
And buy Lowriders, you know,
Now we're gonna work on our second Lowrider.
So, follow your passion no matter what.
Don't let anybody stop you.
My name is Jason Madiedo,
I'm CEO of Panorama Mortgage Group,
and I am a "Lowrider Roll Model."
(upbeat music)