By Levi Quinn

Vintage cars have always had an appealing allure to vintage car collectors. This is because of the fact that these cars have had a rich history that has influenced much of what has happened over the last a hundred years. Such world changing events like the World War 1 and 2 as well as the coming of the industrial age used cars especially, as a means of transportation. Moving 100 years ahead to our time, cars have seen a major revolution. Recent advances have turned cars from what they used to be, means of transportation to full-featured machines that come installed with the latest gadgetry.

Classic car museums however give each and everyone a glimpse into the world of vintage cars. These museums give one a unique and spectacular journey into the automobile evolution as well as its impact to our current period. One of these is the Petersen Automotive Museum. This museum takes one into an entirely new existence that started just 100 hundred years ago when the mass production of cars begun. The museum has a number of exhibits, one of them being the Treasures of the Vault Gallery. This gallery expected to run until mid 2009 contains some of the most important vehicles to ever assembled. Pit Crew docents will highlight the stories that lie behind these exotic automobile collections. Tours are offered to families, car clubs and to social groups on the first Saturday and Sunday of each month. The Art Wall Gallery also part of Petersen, showcases cartoon masterpieces of the lowrider car. The depictions are beautifully done with lifestyle themes that feature skeletons, graffiti and tattoos all done in an urban lifestyle atmosphere.

The museum tries to bring the motor sport community together by organizing events that feature sports cars, automotive art and classics all of which will leave vintage car lovers entertained and having a better understanding of the vintage car history. One of these is the celebration of the 1934 Ford 75th anniversary on early in 2009. This roadster show will display hot rods never before seen as they are unveiled for the first time. An Italian motorcycle collection is also expected to be open in mid 2009. These shows will definitely offer all viewers a closer look into classic cars and their lasting glitter. These events are also excellent opportunities to see cars unveiled that have never been shown the public by private car owners and vintage collectors.

The Northwest Vintage Car & Motorcycle Museum is comprised of vintage trucks and car enthusiasts and is open to various people that either, own a vintage car and those that do not. The museum's newsletter was voted the best automotive division 1 newsletter in the US by the National Association of Automotive Museums. Undoubtedly, this reflects well on the Museum's collections. The museum will especially appeal to car enthusiasts and visitors looking to see cars 25 years old and above. These are just some of the many museums that have kept the vintage line of cars alive.

By Antonio Bici

You've seen lowrider cars in movies, tv shows, and magazines. These cars made history!

Now with the same dauntless courage of those who rocked the world with customized cars, men, women and even kids are expressing their own power and artistic prowess by building a custom lowrider bike. For the present generation, these signature works of art are the new icons of the street. When you look on the streets at lowrider bikes you'll find that many are completely customized and are thus "one" with the artist/owner who made it. The bikes are low to the ground and often have handlebars that are reminiscent of the Easy Rider chopper that was popularized decades ago. Don't be surprised if you are compelled to stop, look and stare.

So what are the origins of this bike? The word on the street is that the bike that spawned this cultural icon is none other than the Schwinn Stingray. If you are "mature" enough to remember the hit tv show called the "Munsters" that came out in the 1960s, you might have seen this pedaling machine. This bike was the inspiration for today's bike designers.

The Schwinn Stingray was wildly successful and became the bike that kids would beg their parents for. Sadly, the world was not yet ready for biking phenomenon and its popularity dwindled over time. At one point they were almost forgotten.

Then came the 1980's. The decade of greed and indulgence would also be the decade when the lowrider bike had new life breathed into it. With this newfound life, this type of bike took off and has steadily been gaining popularity. Now they've reached the point where they are starting to make headway into the mainstream. They've succeeded in rocking the bike world and, in the opinion of many, the lowrider bike is here to stay.

Lowrider bikes continue to gain popularity and as with anything with this much power, clubs have been forming in order to provide a tremendous outlet for people to network, make friends and get ideas on how to build their own low bike. These clubs are also a great place to show off your custom lowrider bike and learn where to find parts and frames.

By David Lamerton

A major increase in the popularity of lowriders can be traced back to the late '70s and was due to the merging of two distinct cultures. These were the California car culture and the Mexican culture.

However, Lowriders have actually been part of the Mexican-American heritage for far longer and it was only in the 60s when Lowriders were recognized as a car customizing classification mainly due to customizers such as George Barris. As far back as the late 30's cars were being lowered either using heavy weights or by chopping the springs.

In the 50s, the American economy was booming which led to the different styles of customization that we see today. Each classification fulfilled a particular need. For example: Hot Rods enthusiasts removed wings and bonnets amongst other things to increase the power to weight ratio whereas those who owned Lowriders were far more concerned with comfort, class and style.

The popular car to modify was a Chevrolet because it was comparatively cheap to repair and looked more stylish than its Ford counterparts. The modifications that were carried out on Lowriders were specifically chosen to be the opposite of those carried out by the mainstream culture. Rather than lowering the front and removing wings Lowriders would be lowered at the back and fitted with fender skirts. Other popular modifications performed on Lowriders were fitting twin side pipes, two spot lights, two aerials and a big red stop light at the back.

The Lowriders movement was not restricted to cars. Due to the expense of owning one of these vehicles people started to modify bikes as well. In 1964 George Barris modified a Schwinn cycle for use in the television series The Munsters. The Schwinn cycle resembled a dragster, perhaps due to the fact that the racing of these bikes was one of the top motoring sports of the time. Before long these bicycles became very popular and began to be modified in a similar way to Lowrider cars. They became heavily chrome plated and the forks were bent to lower them.