Ron Aguirre Essay

Ron Aguirre was a Mexican-American inventor from Rialto, California. He is best known for being the first individual to install hydraulic pumps on a car in 1959. The purpose of this was to raise and lower the ride height at the driver’s convenience. The first vehicle to receive this customization was Aguirre’s 1956 Chevrolet Corvette, which he called the ‘X-Sonic’. Aguirre’s innovation was, and still is, a predominate feature associated with Mexican culture. Another feature of Mexican culture is lowrider cars, which are specifically designed to cruise as low and slow as possible. “Bajito y suavecito” was the motto of the lowrider clubs started by the Chicano youths. The goal of doing so was to show the Mexican pride of the young Chicanos who customized their cars in this fashion and, according to journalist Ted West in 1976, to “express the refusal of a young Chicano American to be Anglicized.” Unfortunately, a California law passed in 1957 forbade cars to ride at a lowered height. This law was the California Vehicle Code 24008. The regulation also called for popular cruising strips in Southern California to be shut down. Ron Aguirre was able to find a way around this prohibition. With his idea of …show more content…
Initially, the hydraulics on Aguirre’s Corvette were controlled by a hand pump that was placed on the center console. When the hand pump failed to raise the height of the car evenly, he converted to twelve and twenty-four-volt pumps, along with cylinder lines and equalizers. Now, the car rose and lowered automatically with the flick of a switch. With the help of his father, who was a welder, Aguirre was also able to improve the car so it moved up and down easier and smoother. This was an extreme advancement for the Mexican-American community, considering the first lowriders were made by filling trunks with sandbags and cutting spring