CORPUS CHRISTI — “We love custom painting,” Juan Leal said. “We love the traditions. It’s in our blood.”
On an abnormally hot October day in Corpus Christi, Texas, Juan was in the even hotter garage of his shop popping the trunk of a 1993 Cadillac he called ‘The Reborn.’
Reborn sparkled blue, pink and purple paint with silver and gold accents throughout.
Every inch of the Cadillac is designed and customized with color, even the wheels and engine.
“I started building this car 10 years ago and I’m still at it,” Juan said.
Images of women, angels, Jesus and even the famous Harbor Bridge grace the low rider.
“Pretty much you dress you the whole car,” Freddy Leal said.
“But it starts off as a silver metal plate,” Juan said. “Then we build it up color by color, metal flake and stuff like that.”
Juan owns Top Quality Tint and Graphics on the 4500 block of Ayers St. near Sunnybrook Road.
“When we moved down to Corpus, my brother started his own paint and body shop…” Juan said. “…They bring em’ here first to design them and then we send them to my brother Freddy to finish the paint job.”
Freddy owns Leal Bros. Custom Painting on the 4500 block of Kostoryz.
“We’re known as the home of the low riders and do world-wide custom paint jobs,” Juan said.
Juan, Freddy and their siblings are second-generation low riders.
“My dad’s been into low riding since 1974 he built his first low rider,” Juan said. “To this day he still has a low rider.”
The Leals originally grew up in Odessa, Texas where their dad was a painter.
They said before they knew what low riders cars were, they painted bikes with their dad.
The brothers said they would enter them in shows.
“We were upset,” Juan said. “My dad said ‘I don’t even wanna take em down.’ You should see some of the bikes that are in here. They were like high-end class bikes and ours were just beginners.”
They soon stepped up their game and evolved to painting and designing slower and lower rides.
“He started noticing these low rider cars,” Freddy said.
Low riders originally drove into the Southern California scene in the 1940’s and 50’s when Hispanic men returned home from WWII.
“We like to stand out from the other cars,” Juan said
Instead of hot rods, those veterans wanted a car to display their Chicano culture.
“Most of the cars we do, it does have stuff that has something back with their family like Latino or Mexican heritage,” Freddy said.
Many, if not most low rider cars, are painted, upholstered and etched with symbols of their owner’s Mexican roots.
Symbols from religion, to family, pop culture are also a common theme.
“They like to name them after a family member or something that they went through,” Freddy said.
Later, came detailed images of money and women.
“On the trunk of this one we have Shakira and J.Lo just to try and keep it in the Latino image you know what I mean,” Freddy said as he pressed a button that slowly opened the trunk of a 1982 Lincoln Mark five.
In the same car, Freddy flipped some switches that signaled it to bounce up and down in the parking lot in front of his paint shop.
It drew plenty of attention from the after-work traffic along Kostoryz as countless cars honked their horns.
“You have to have hydraulics,” Juan said . “Hydraulics makes the car.”
The Leals said films and music sometimes show lowriders in a bad light.
“A lot of people think lowriding, they think we’re gang banging and stuff like that,” Freddy said. “Well, it’s not really like that.”
Freddy, who’s also the president of the City Style Car Club, said it’s the opposite.
“We do Christmas, Halloween, trunk or treat,” Freddy said. “We do a lot of benefits to help people. And we try to keep it family-oriented and give back to the community and try to do stuff for them too. It’s not just about business.”
“Without the low rider its not a parade,” Juan said. “They ask us to hop the car.”
The week of their KRIS 6 interview, the brothers showed off their rides in the King High School Homecoming Parade.
From parades to the show room floor, they love to turn heads.
“We were three time world champ,” Freddy said. “The most expensive car I’ve ever worked on is called double trouble. It’s a 57’ Chevy convertible. That car’s probably worth a million dollars.
The Leals said Low riding is an expensive and competitive sport but its also a great was to network.
They’ve met and customized cars for people from across the country.
“Chicago, Vegas, Dallas you name it,” Freddy said.
Lowriders may get a bad rap but they’re just artists happy to share their passion with the world.
“I take pride in my work and I like doing what I do because it’s fun and it’s not all about a trophy or you winning,” Freddy said. “It’s just to show off what you can do with a paint job.”
