A 1961 Chevrolet Impala is cool on its own. But this yellow lowrider was made famous by Tupac in the music videos for the 1996 song “To Live and Die in LA." The crew of the Hoonigan channel put an unusual spotlight on the car, focusing on its ability to do tricks.
Normally, Hoonigan is all about living life a quarter-mile at a time or performing Gymkhana-type things. Their custom builds usually go fast and make loud noises, like that diesel Camaro they made. But a 1961 Impala is kind of the opposite of that. Lowriders do, however, put on an interesting show, and they called in an expert to educate us.
Introducing owner Long Beach Lloyd and his buddies at the Plata o Plomo, who brought along a whole bunch of these bouncing cars.
The story goes that Lloyd bought the car before the crisis, so he had lots of time to mess around with it. After doing a restoration, he decided a 61 Impala that just drove around wasn't enough, so the conversions began.
Since the last time we saw it, the original 283 cubic inch (4.8-liter) motor was swapped out for a more powerful Chevy 5.7L/350 BluePrint crate, so she's making about 365 hp, just enough to do a mini-burnout in the parking lot. After building a super-powered donk, the Hoonigan crew naturally want to talk the Impala owner into making a 1000 hp monster out of his car.
He went through the entire suspension and modified it for hydraulics. It's got 13-inch gold Dayton wheels and a yellow folding soft top to match the body. It's become a work of passion, a real addiction that he frequently shows off on the streets of California.
So where does the "expert" part come in? Well, Lloyd is here to tell you that hoppin' is hard on a car, so you've got to have a fully-wrapped frame to add rigidity. And there's a certain skill to it, just like using a swing.
You can see the excitement build in the crew as they realize the hop is a complex process and there are many tricks involved. Is the next Hoonigan car going to be a lowrider?
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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