Taking Flight

A Stunning '63 Impala That Was Built by Accident—literally.

- Beto Mendoza

As a kid, Juan was no stranger to being around nice cars. Whereas most kids grow up looking at beat-up daily drivers and mom’s soccer van, Juan’s dad always had something nice—and something custom— sitting in the driveway.

Looking back at his childhood, he remembers cleaning his father’s rides with his brother, but even more profound was how his father kept them involved in the decision making process—memories forever ingrained in their memory.

But ask Juan about his first memory of lowriding and he’ll be the first to admit that while his dad and uncles were into lowriders, VWs, and mini-trucks, his first vivid recollection of getting hooked into lowriding was when his mom brought home an issue of Lowrider magazine. “Once I flipped through the pages of Lowrider, it was game over,” Juan exclaims with a grin.

Now whether he got hooked because of the models or the cars is beyond us, but it’s safe to say that regardless of what initially got him hooked, we’re glad that he’s now a part of the family. But what made him decide to get a '63? Well that all began when he was a teen in the ’90s, and he used to watch his friend’s older brother cruising a convertible '63. “Every day he would go past our house and all I would wish was that one day I could have one just like it.”