Many people do not know this, but there really was a reason why people install hydraulics on their cars.
In the seventies, during the low-rider craze, where people would fix their cars so that they would, well, ride low to the ground. However, because of the obvious safety problems of doing this - like going so low that cool-looking sparks fly from underneath, yet damage the car - the police didn't take too kindly to low-riders. So people installed these hydraulics so that when they saw a police car, they'd press a button and *BAM!* the car would attain the proper height from the ground.
If you look at the demographics of what kind of people would do this - and in general, those who tinker with their car and add strange things like decals and fins - it comes out that the majority are men. And men love to make a sport out of anything. So, naturally, there was competition over who had the more powerful hydraulics on their cars.
Eventually, the original use of hydraulics was lost and we have for no apparent reason very cool cars in rap videos almost doing back flips. Just imagine how cool those hot rods would be if they were low-riders...
And that's the story of the hydraulics mods on cars!