Now 20 years into the business, Twin Cities is one of the leading lowrider shops in the metro. “It went from just playing around to now I want (the car) to hop.” And, I mean, that escalated really quick,” he remembers. “Started off with the old Lonas and Sons ‘Kansas City special,’ where everybody knew to go growing up. But he knew exactly where to go to learn. īefore getting into the business, Shugrue had no expertise in hydraulics. “I just kind of ran with it from there, ” he says. “Back then, that was kind of really unheard of and really impressive.” "Fifteen years ago, I went out there and they had the hop competition going on and, I mean, they were clearing some big inches,” says Shugrue, who is white. They’ve also helped develop builders who aren’t Latino, like Joe Shugrue, owner of a two-shop operation called Twin Cities Customs, on east Truman Road. Their cars have appeared in a Kansas City Chiefs Monday Night Football halftime show, and they were the first to host a lowrider show at the American Royal’s Hale Arena, in the early 2000s. The brothers have made plenty of inroads throughout the metro since then. It's a lifestyle and it's a calm, peaceful lifestyle.” “We wanted to show that this is a positive, family-oriented, good thing to be in. “We fought against the stereotype … that every lowrider is a gangster or drug dealer,” Tim says. But Tim says, when they first got started, people had a different idea about what the lowriders culture stood for. “You're basically an artist when you get that car,” Chris says.īuilding these works of art is a way for the Lona brothers to showcase their ingenuity and Latino pride. KCUR 89.3 Tim Lona's 1985 Chevy station wagon dances at a car show in 1998. Those are things you're not supposed to do.” “Or have it hop 20, 60, 70, 80 inches off the ground. “To make a car that goes on three wheels - that's crazy,” he said with a grin and a laugh. Chris Lona relishes every opportunity to do just that. Since no two lowriders are the same, each car starts out as a blank canvas for Chris and Time Lona to showcase their creativity. A set of 14-inch, chrome- or gold-spoked Dayton rims finish the classic look. They’re often painted in bright colors and busy patterns that feature Mexican American themes.
Like many lowriders, Lona custom builds feature high-powered hydraulics that allow cars to hop 20 inches or more off the ground, and reinforced chassis that can handle the weight of a bouncing car. “I was one of the originators of car-dancing, and that got really popular,” Tim says, referring to the practice of controlling the hydraulics from outside the car while making the tires bounce independently or in unison like a tap dancer.
They built thousands of lowriders for local and regional clients. “So we put our stamp on lowriding here in the Midwest,” Tim says.ĭuring the height of their run, the shop competed in shows in Florida, Texas and Illinois. "We were the only full-time lowrider shop, and we did all the shows - we represented Kansas City all over the nation,” says Tim.Īt one point, the Lonas came out with their own product line, called Wicked Hydraulics, that was sold all over the country and in Japan, Europe, Australia and Canada. They marked the transition with an adapted name for the shop: Lona and Sons Hydraulics. KCUR 89.3 Tim and Chris Lona inside their hydraulic and custom car shop located off 31st Street and Southwest Boulevard in Kansas City's Westside neighborhood.Īlthough the elder Lona’s original idea was to service cars in the neighborhood, the brothers wanted to take the shop in a new direction.
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