Across the globe, you'll find all kinds of niche car groups comprised of people who are all united by a common taste in a specific kind of car modification. There are the people who slam their cars, lowering them beyond belief; there are those who lift their cars and trucks, making them insanely tall; and there's the strange, wide world of Japanese mods, with all kinds of sub-groups that are each one unique. With an absolutely astounding aftermarket, it's no wonder that cars get so much attention from so many different kinds of people across the globe. Modding cars is just as cutting-edge and trendy as any fashion trend, and the number of things you can do to your car has just as much variety. One of the bigger trends that swept through the US not too long ago and is still patronized by a huge number of people is the hydraulic lowrider trend, one of the most loved and hated of all time. If you want to make your car a hydraulic lowrider, it usually involves changing out the entire suspension for a top-of-the-line hydraulic one and decking out your car with pinstriping, sparkling metallic paint, and the tiniest wheels you can imagine, all with one thing in mind: the ability to cruise down the road and drop your ride low to make sparks or lift it way high. While many love this style of car, a lot of people hate it. Let's take a look at some of the most terrible hydraulic lowriders the world has seen.

19 Nice Airbrush

This is a classic, standard example of what you'll get with a hydraulic lowrider. This build has the works, with the tiniest wheels imaginable, spoked rims, every inch airbrushed and pinstriped, and of course, a positive camber for extra bounce and suspension flex when they, you know, do that thing where they make their car pop wheelies over and over and over again or when they make them dance, bouncing on all four wheels. The culture behind and around these kinds of cars is one of the most unique and fascinating of all of the others; it truly is strange and different.

18 Tilt O' Whirl

The pinstriping on this build, which overall, is very similar to the last one, is actually quite toned down comparatively, although the red and gold accents very quickly become overwhelming. But this Crown Vic is decked out, with painted wheel-wells, a positively spotless suspension system, gold spoked wheels of typical size, and the crowning glory: a gold grille, the classiest of all. What I don't understand is why the windows aren't tinted; it would look so much classier. Well, maybe not so much, but it would at least help—a little bit anyway.

17 Maybe Put The Hood Down First?

This orange, almost taxi-colored hydraulic lowrider is pretty garish, with orange accents across the whole thing from the underside to the rims, and, yes, there's pinstriping. But at least it's more understated than the last ones, except, of course, for the massive tilt this thing has, due to raising the suspension of the back driver's side wheel, in turn, tilting the whole car sideways. However, I wouldn't recommend keeping the hood open. Maybe it makes it easier to work on like that. Or maybe the oil drain plug is on that side of the engine, so they're trying to get every drop of old stuff out.

16 What's Up With The Hood Scoop?

This is a pretty outrageous one. The purple and the orange just don't really match or blend at all, and the wheels are the wrong shade of orange to truly match the car. And the '90s Cadillac body is not good-looking at all.

It's like they made it out of a really big cardboard box.

The silliest part is, of course, the giant scoop sticking out of the hood. Is that thing actually real? Did they actually swap out the engine, or is it just there for looks? My bet is that it's just for looks.

15 Un-Cool Blue

Looks we've got another case of the cardboard box body attached to four training wheels. This time, the elongated rectangle, fourteen feet long but somehow with only two doors, is decorated with cool blue air-brushing and pinstripes. The gold and blue go well together actually, but if there's one thing I can't stand, it's airbrushed faces and random collages on a car like this one has. I just don't see the point. But at least these are just in one spot and relatively easy to ignore. These guys look ready to cruise.

14 Scraping The Dirt

Talk about an over-the-top build... We've got pinstripes everywhere, going every which direction in all kinds of different colors, as a mere backdrop to the heavy airbrushing designs across the whole car, concentrated on the roof and the trunk lid and the front hood.

This car has its back end dropped low, as low as it can go.

And I wouldn't be surprised if they had spark blocks installed for cruising the streets at night. This is a true hydraulic cruiser if there ever was one. Nice fox tail, though.

13 I Don't Think You're Doing It Right

I don't think the person who's driving understands what exactly hydraulic lowriders are for, as is pretty clear in this photo. It doesn't look like he quite broke it with the strange maneuver, but I wouldn't be surprised if he popped his tire or unseated it. But at least he has eight spare tires strapped to the top of it, just in case of this exact scenario. But wait... all those tires are way too big to fit on those hopelessly tiny wheels currently equipped. Oh well... I'm sure he'll be fine. Maybe he just needs to raise the hydraulics higher.

12 So Where Do I Get In?

If I'm not mistaken, somewhere underneath all of that—whatever "that" is—we'll find a Chevy Malibu. It's hard to tell, with four open scissor doors in the way, blacked-out lights and a missing grille. I'm surprised that they don't have the hydraulics tilting the whole car sideways, too. But at one point, this was a practical, normal, stock family car. No more is it that, of course, as it's been converted into a fabulously terrible hydraulic lowrider.  The rims don't really match. But it won an award, apparently. Maybe it was just a participation trophy.

11 Is It Supposed To Look Like Leather?

I'm really not sure what that airbrush design between the cream-colored stripes is supposed to be exactly. Is it supposed to be flames? If it is, they've got the color quite off from what flames look like. That looks more like a leather couch. Or maybe iced coffee. Or it could be melted chocolate and toffee. Or maybe it's just supposed to look like wood. Who knows? But in any case, it isn't exactly working, although the balance between colors and overall loudness is pretty mild compared to some of the tackier airbrushed cars on this list.

10 Is That The Hulk's Lowrider?

I don't think I've ever seen a brighter color green in my life, not anywhere on this planet. I'm not sure how they even managed to get such an even, opaque color of neon green. Talk about intense. Talk about in your face. Still, his build is a welcome relief from the rampant pinstriping and airbrushing prevalent in these kinds of builds. Not sure why the trunk is open when the back is lifted up, though. To me, it makes sense to lower the back as far as it can go to get things in and out easier.

9 Your Truck's A Little Bit... Crooked...

Truck-bed dancing is quite the rage within this community of car modifiers.

Instead of just installing the hydraulics onto the suspension, they install it to the truck bed, so it can lift and twist and bend, like a dump truck on psychedelics.

That's right—it's a real thing, and things can get pretty crazy. Things are pretty mild in this picture, though—the calm before the storm. It's mostly terrible because of the completely clashing airbrush designs. They're done in really bad taste, to be honest. To each his own, though, as they say.

8 Where'd The Rest Of It Go?

It looks like a Kleenex box, a flattened and squashed rectangle. The owner of this build went above and beyond with his modifications, taking the top half of his mini truck completely off, a step past convertible. He even shortened his windshield considerably. All to make it a true box with wheels. That graphic across the whole car is really truly terrible; there's no doubt about that. Pair that with the gold wheels and non-gold accessories and trim, and we've got a one-two hit against this build. It's pretty terrible. Hopefully, at least, the back dances.

7 What's Drawn On The Side?

I don't really have any hint of a clue as to what on Earth is painted on the side of this hydraulic lowrider. From what I can make out, I see a girl in a sombrero with a gun and what looks like some kind of pastoral scene with maybe a picnic? And a figure on a rearing black stallion? Still doesn't give us any clue as to what's going on or what's being depicted. Or why on Earth you'd feel it necessary to have this painted on your car and not hung in your house or something like that.

6 Raise The Posterior

Not sure why the photographer chose this as the flattering angle. To me, it looks really awkward. I feel inappropriate just looking at the car when it's like that. It seems indecent. That skyline is nice... and the pier is beautiful... But let's not even talk about the strange geometric patterns across the sides of this thing. Primarily orange, with bright yellow and dark green accents, they don't match at all, not with the orange and not with the maroon. Careful on that slope, too. Don't accidentally tip your car over into the water. Or do—I guess that would be fine with me.

5 Where Exactly Is The Car?

There's so much going on in this shot, too much to even comprehend at first look. If we start with the two front seats as our center point, we can piece together the rest: two seats, steering wheel, windshield, crooked hood revealing the engine bay. Okay, going backward, two seats, chassis with four turnable rear wheels, a truck bed lifted sky high. There's nothing on this car that hasn't been radically modified. It's really impressive that someone would put this much work into a build. It's basically a Transformer.

4 Slipping A Tire?

This car is looking quite precarious tilted the way it is. It definitely looks in motion. Perhaps they're turning right while their car is tilted upwards the same way. That's a dangerous thing to play with. It all of a sudden becomes really easy to unseat a tire, bend a wheel, pop a tire, even tip over completely. It's impossible to turn fast if you're propped up at all. It's probably not even a good idea to turn even a little bit. Or to do it while moving. But it sure does look cool, tilted, leaning, back bumper scraping along the ground.

3 More Of An Indoor Car Then...

Talk about living in luxury. Not only does this person have an amazing velvet luxury couch in his truck bed; he also has the ability to, at any point, tip anyone out that might be annoying him. Plus, you can have up to three drinks at a time.

Talk about high class.

They've even got the entire back panel of the cab airbrushed with some sort of painting containing two people kissing, a pile of rocks, some legs, and two masks. And that's only on the first half of the mural. Hopefully, it doesn't rain. I wonder if it has a topper.

2 Not My Kind Of Taxi

If I had to ride in this taxi—and I'd actually love to ride in this taxi—it would be quite a fun ride actually. But if the hood popped open every time we bounced or changed heights, I might be a little worried. That's what this hood looks like it's doing. Otherwise, I don't know why it would be popped open so little. It's not like you can see the engine. This build, apart from being canary yellow, is pretty understated. The only pinstriping I see is inside the wheel well, surprisingly, which is a very good place for it.

1 I Think You Sprung A Leak

Looks like there's something gone wrong with this car. They're still working out the kinks and bugs of their hydraulic build, as is clear from the giant puddle of oil and/or hydraulic fluid underneath the car. Either that or they just got finished with a pretty intense session of wheelie-popping or aggressive jumping. Broke some sort of fluid line, no doubt. Better make sure everything's turned off and your engine doesn't seize up, guys. Or don't—it doesn't really matter to me what happens to it. Who needs oil anyway?

Sources: lowrider.com, roadkill.com, miaminewtimes.com