Lowrider (magazine)

Lowrider was an American automobile magazine, focusing almost exclusively on the style known as a lowrider. It first appeared in 1977, produced out of San Jose, California, by a trio of San Jose State students. In 2007, it was published out of Anaheim, California, and part of the Motor Trend Group. The magazine was closed in December 2019.

Lowrider focused on all aspects of lowrider culture, from cars to music and fashion. It also covered political and cultural issues related to Chicanos, and funded an annual scholarship program. The magazine also released a series of music videos through their label, Thump Records.

Lowriders monthly circulation was less than 56,000 at the end of 2011. In 2000, the magazine's monthly circulation was more than 200,000.

Publication history
Lowrider was founded in the mid-1970s by San Jose State students Larry Gonzalez, Sonny Madrid, and David Nunez, "who sought to present a voice for the Chicano community in the Bay Area." The first issue debuted in January 1977. 

Essentially self-distributed, the magazine struggled until the November 1979 issue, when it began pairing bikini-clad women with lowriders on the cover each issue. 

An early artistic contributor to the magazine, David Holland, split with Lowrider to found his own Teen Angels Magazine in 1979, with the first issue published in 1981.

In the early 1980s, Lowrider also featured cartoonist David Gonzales' monthly comic strip The Adventures of Hollywood, which eventually morphed into the Homies line of toy figurines.

Even so, after being taken over by its printer, Lowrider folded in December 1985.

The magazine was revived in June 1988 by original co-founder Larry Gonzalez along with brothers Alberto and Lonnie Lopez. They moved the magazine's headquarters to Fullerton, California (closer to the heart of lowrider culture), and began featuring customized trucks on the cover.

As the magazine increased readership through the late 1980s and early '90s it spun off other titles, established a merchandising division, and began sponsoring multi-annual lowrider shows which took place all over the Western U.S.

Lowrider Publishing Group was acquired in 1997 by automotive periodicals conglomerate McMullen Argus Publishing, which was itself acquired in 1999 by PriMedia. In 2007, Lowrider was taken over by Source Interlink Media, now known as TEN: The Enthusiast Network.

Cover models
Women featured on the cover of Lowrider over the years include Alexis Amore, Anjanette Abayari, Jami Deadly, Staci Flood, Sunny Leone, Ashley Massaro, Nina Mercedez, Candice Michelle, Cherie Roberts, and Arban Severin.

Offshoots 
 Roll Models: The Lowrider Magazine YouTube Channel which features driver profiles
 Lowrider Arte: quarterly magazine featuring the art of lowrider culture
 Lowrider Bicycle: established 1993, it is marketed to preteens and young teens who customize their bicycles
 Lowrider Euros: Volkswagen and Toyota lowriders; eventually merged into Lowrider Edge
 Lowrider Truck: lowrider pickups; eventually merged into Lowrider Edge
 Lowrider Japan: Tokyo-based Japanese-language version, published under license
 Lowrider Edge: "New Age Custom" lowrider cars, bikes, and trucks

References

External links
 

Automobile magazines published in the United States
Defunct magazines published in the United States
Magazines disestablished in 2019
Magazines established in 1976
Magazines published in California
Monthly magazines published in the United States
Motor Trend Group