Rapper Snoop Dogg's tired-looking Chrysler New Yorker sits in the Montclair car shop its hood raised waiting for a paint job.
The color? Not your everyday blue, brown or black.
With extreme cars, from tires to trunks and everything in between, nothing is ordinary. Especially paint jobs.
In this case, it'll be an exotic orange shade mixed with a hint of pearl and metal flaking across the roof, said Mario's Auto Works manager Albert De Alba, sounding like a master chef describing the daily specials.
The family-run shop has souped up six cars for Snoop and hundreds more for other customers, including themselves turning ordinary cars into head-turning works of art.
"We push it, push it and push it to infinity,' said De Alba, 34. "There is no limit.'
Such is the case with extreme cars. The possibilities are limitless, minus the price tag.
Some do it to show off on the streets. Others do it for themselves. But all have created a car culture built on taking things to the next level.
Although lowrider Chevrolet Impalas have dominated the car scene for decades, grandpa's Cadillacs from 1993-96 are gaining respect among lowrider enthusiasts.
Known as big-body Cadillacs, the cars are popular because they are affordable, selling for $4,500 to $8,000, and luxurious with power seats and power mirrors.
Also, buyers are finding them in mint condition because previous owners, often seniors, took such great care of them.
"We call them modern-day, luxury lowriders,' De Alba said.
While some go low with tires, others are going higher. In fact, the higher the better when it comes to sport utility vehicles and pickups, said Steve Cottell of Wheels-In-Motion in Pomona.
Typical truck or SUV tires are about 22 inches in diameter. Enthusiasts go for tires at least four inches bigger than the norm, with some reaching 38 inches in diameter.
Cottell said the trend toward bigger tires started in the late 1990s and then exploded. And then came spinners hubcaps that spin, giving the effect of the whole wheel moving when it's stationary.
Although spinners are fading, doors that swing up like a Lamborghini on such cars as Nissan Altimas and Chrysler 300s are quietly creeping in, keeping specialty door shops busy.
"It's all about getting props on the streets and seeing whose vehicle looks best,' Cottell said.
Window-tinting experts see a constant demand for blackouts, but most people opt for a medium tint to avoid getting pulled over by police who want to see inside.
Graphics in tint, such as flames cut out in a chrome look, were hot at one time, but that has slowed, said Kent Singleton, owner of Ontario's Tint Masters The Original.
Still, many say the added darkness to windows provides a mysterious edge to the car and its driver.
On his 1995 Chevy Extra Cab pickup, Kris Tafoya has "suicide doors,' which open from the leading edge. The 31-year-old customizer installed a sheet metal dashboard to create a thinning effect.
"That's the modifications that people in the show scene are going for,' said Tafoya, who owns Ludikrs Kustomz. "You have to stay with the times and keep doing what people want.'
Tafoya's Rialto shop specializes in custom air-ride suspensions, otherwise known as hydraulics, giving cars their bounce. Seven cars sit in his shop, waiting for hydraulics and other work to be done, such as changes to headlights and grills.
Simply swapping headlights from one make to the next can change a car's appearance, "So it looks different from the next guy's,' Tafoya said.
De Alba, who has worked at his father Mario's shop since high school, said when he's not working on cars, he's thinking about them. Everything gives him ideas tattoo magazines, truck shops, even shopping at Home Depot.
"I go to Home Depot for something for my house and see something there and say, 'Hey, I could use that for my car.''
Cars, motorcycles and bicycles that De Alba created from the ground up with his three brothers and father have been featured in magazines, TV shows and the Petersen Automotive Museum.
Even his baby's stroller was converted to a low-rider.
Standing in a room half-full of car trophies, Mario De Alba, 59, who grew up in Tijuana, Mexico, said he had to sell his 1951 Chevy lowrider to pay for the paperwork to come to the United States when he was 19. Once he arrived, finding work was tough because he didn't have a trade.
After serving in the Army in the late 1960s, De Alba began working on cars and stuck with it to earn a living. Now his family operation is under consideration for a reality TV show.
"I told myself, 'Stick with it, and one day you'll be the master,'' Mario De Alba said.
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