Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Ron Aguirre, your legacy lives on.

Ron Aguirre passed away on Thursday May 26, 2011. I didn't know him personally. Many of my friends did. I wish I could say more about who he was as a person, but I respectfully leave that to those who knew him well. To Ron's family and close friends he was much more than the owner/builder of one of the coolest custom cars in history. But for the sake of homage and in keeping with what we do on this site, I'd like to thank him for the impact he left on the custom car and lowrider world. His legacy is one that began in the 50's and will not soon be forgotten. There's always fodder for debate in the car world. Was Ron's X-Sonic the first on hydraulics? Was it the second? Who else was doing it at that time? Who did it even before him? It goes on and on. And honestly, it doesn't really matter much. Pat Ganahl said it beautifully in Rodder's Journal #50. "First car with Hydraulics? First bubbletop? How about the best custom Corvette ever."

Pat, we agree.

Thank you Ron Aguirre. Your legacy lives on.







3 comments:

  1. marcomanJuly 15, 2011 at 11:34 AM

    So glad you did this on Ron. If it was for him we wouldn't have several magazines, especially Lowrider Magazine. Told the editor he should do someone on Ron and all he do was like a quarter page on this legend. Ugh!
    I knew Ron and he will be sorely missed but at least he's at peace. Thank you Ron for you good nature and talent my friend!
    ~M~

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  2. mporter88April 28, 2012 at 9:13 PM

    Hi. I was pretty close with Ron in his last years and he told me the story about putting those hydraulics in his car. He was in high school here in Socal...or soon after...and there was a cop who would hang around their hang out spot so he could bust the guys who had dropped their cars too low. The gauge was the ticket book. If the ticket book couldn't stand up under the car then it was too low. SO Ron rigged the car with hydraulic bottle jacks so the cop would see the car sitting low in the parking lot...then as he drove out of the lot he had his buddies jack the car (dont know what car it was...but it was before the x sonic) up a few inches. The cop pulled them over, started to write the ticket, went to slide the book under the frame...and it cleared it by 3 inches! I dont know if the police appreciated the innovation...but Ron took it from there and made a career out of it.
    He was a good dude. Helped me come up with the BBQ sauce recipe on my site www.fieldgradespit.com.
    Later.
    MP in Hollywood.

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