Espanola's car culture is rolling into the spotlight in its singular low 'n slow way.---
Liquid Sunshine, a customized 1976 Chevy Impala convertible, posed for the cover of Lowrider magazine this month, showing off its "Daytona Sunset" finish paint, hydraulics, and insignia for the Española chapter of Prestigious Car Club.
The car's owner, Fred Rael, named it after a song by the 1970's band Parliament Funkadelic.
"The color reminds me of when you see the sun setting in the clouds," Rael tells SFR.
For the Lowrider story titled "Viva New Mexico," Liquid Sunshine's bikini-clad car babe sports a Mariachi-inspired sombrero. The feature is the culmination of a project that began with Rael's 1989 purchase of the car—one of many that have inspired his customizing efforts over the years. His first was a 1971 Super Beetle that, after a custom paint job and the addition of high-performance rocket wheels and skinny 5.20 tires, landed in the pages of a Volkswagen magazine. Rael was hooked. In 2005 his pin-striped, champagne-colored 1964 Chevy Impala convertible got a nod in Lowrider.
"I've always liked the way lowriders look, and the style," Rael says. "To me, it's more interesting to look at a lowrider than any other type of car—especially when they're sitting low on the ground."
Lowrider cars represent a perfect nexus of Rael's interests: lowriders and 1950's and 1960's culture. In the 1980's and 90's Rael owned a '50s diner in Española called "Ol' Diner."
"I like the old stuff," he says.
Rael was born in northern New Mexico, moved to Los Angeles briefly as a child and came back to Española. The lowrider culture has been entrenched there as long as he can remember.
"When I moved [to Española], there was a large presence of lowriders, in the 60's or late '50s," Rael says. "I think it just caught on—people would see them and they would like it and want to be a part of it."
Although Rael's son Anthony is a chip off the ol' (engine) block—among his lowriders is a '64 Impala convertible—Rael thinks the lowrider culture of Española is waning, due partly to lack of interest among the next generation. Rael thinks Facebook and Twitter must be a bigger draw for most of the Valley's youngsters.
"It used to be you couldn't go to town at any time of night or day and not see lowriders," Rael says. "You don't see that as much anymore. I think the cars still exist, but as we get a little older we have our homes and our families and our careers to think about, and we have less time to be out there cruising."
