Sunday Driver: Documentary Profiles Lowriding Subculture

Rockstar, the company famous for the Grand Theft Auto video game series, sometimes like to flex their creative muscles beyond just games. With the help of a documentary filmmaker, Carol Strong, Rockstar released a DVD documentary called Sunday Driver about the lowriding subculture of Compton, CA.

Lowriders have been a prominent part of several of their Grand Theft Auto releases and this lowrider documentary is a natural evolution of their brand and a treat for their existing gaming audience.

NERD NOTE: A lowrider is a car or truck which has had its suspension system modified (usually with hydraulic suspension) so that it rides as low to the ground as possible. The word is also used to refer to those who drive or own such cars.

Sunday Driver is a smooth ride, at times evoking laughter, intrigue, and sadness from its viewers. Throughout the course of this documentary, you’ll find yourself quite easily forgetting that some of these colorful, humorous characters were once criminally violent gang-banging members of the notorious West coast street gang called the Crips. Low riding, however, has literally and figuratively been their vehicle away from such civil clamor and confusion and this documentary serves well to convey just how far these few surviving men have come full circle in their respective lives, enjoying a more peaceful existence.

Documentary filmmaker, Carol Strong, provides an intimate look at some of the key figures and innovators of this remarkable subculture with an unusual candid eye. It isn’t long before you realize the depth of low riding history, as told by the members of the oldest African-American low riding club known as the “Majestics”, and the conditions that spawned this life-style.

reveals some of the triumphs and tragedies of each of these unique individuals and the codes they live by. Brotherhood, camaraderie, loyalty, and dedication to their craft are a few of such codes. This film succeeds emphatically in portraying a clear and vivid glimpse of the human spirit comprised within these self-proclaimed Lowriders.

NERD NOTE: The Majestics lowrider club was founded by Kevin Smith in 1972. They now have several chapters across the United States, and in Japan, Canada and Australia.

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Here are some of the things you will see in the documentary film, Sunday Driver:

• 1950s and 60’s model cars rebuilt to perfection
• Triple-dipped chrome & gold plating on almost every metallic surface including the trunk
• Perplexing hydraulic systems akin to an arcade flight simulator
• Intricate, painstaking paint jobs & design
• ‘Hoppers’ ‘catch a coil’ by making their cars jump to dangerous and structurally damaging heights for competition and money
• Cruising old school style on Crenshaw Boulevard with bumpers nearly kissing the pavement by the narrowest of margins

Do You Know The Low Rider Song?

The band WAR wrote a popular song about the low riding culture. Here are the lyrics:

All my friends know the low rider
The low rider is a little higher
Low rider drives a little slower
Low rider is a real goer
Low rider knows every street yeah!
Low rider is the one to meet yeah!
Low rider don’t use no gas now
Low rider don’t drive to fast
Take a little trip
Take a little trip
Take a little trip and see
Take a little trip
Take a little trip
Take a little trip with me

Sunday Driver is a relevant, definite must see, whether you’re a passive car aficionado, Lowrider fanatic, Grand Theft Auto fan, or a student of cultural and social anthropology.