SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) - The California Automobile Museum is proud to announce the opening of our new exhibit “Rucas y Carruchas: Ladies in Lowriding” on Saturday, January 20!

This new exhibit, spearheaded by our Exhibits Manager, ShaVolla Rodriguez, will focus on Lowriders, the Lowrider and Chicana cultures, and the women who have taken their places as owners, builders, designers and drivers of these beautiful vehicles.

An undated photo of a classic lowrider. Photo courtesy of the California Automobile Museum

“Lowrider describes both the car and the owner all at once, both individually and combined. Invested monetarily, emotionally and even spiritually, the Lowrider as a person is so deeply devoted to the craft, the culture and their vehicle, that they become one with their car. Likewise, the car is an extension of their owner, and much more than a vehicle, the car is anthropomorphized into a being that is the recipient, like a lover, of the owner's hard-earned money, attention and affection. The car is showered with fine clothing and jewelry, polished and caressed, gazed upon for hours, dressed up outside, inside, and underneath, and taken out to show to the world how much has been invested into their Ranfla. The Lowrider is a person, a car, a culture, a lifestyle, a fellowship, even a religion, all in one word. An extension of oneself, of the barrio, of Chicanismo; to Lowriders, Lowriding is life.”

-Professor Patrick Fontes