9 Amazing Photos From Lowrider Magazine, the Pioneering 70s Mag Covering Chicano Activism + Dope Cars

By  Yara Simón

1201-lrmp-39-o+35-years-of-lowrider+1978

It was $4,500 that started Lowrider Magazine in 1977. Lorenzo Gonzales, David Nuñez, and Sonny Madrid – who passed away recently on June 22 – set out to change what it meant to be a lowrider. “What Sonny wanted to do was change the image of the lowrider, so people could see they were normal, hard-working individuals like everybody else,” Sonny’s sister, Gloria Flores, said to the New York Times.

The founders did this by showing that the Chicano community was layered. The issues might have shown cars and women wearing bikinis on the cover, but inside, there were stories about police abuse and the media’s misrepresentation of Mexican-Americans. In honor of Sonny and these men’s hustle (seriously, they used to sell them by hand at car events and parties), we’re looking back at some of the coolest moments from the ’70s.


1977

1

This is the first issue of Lowrider Magazine.


1977

2

iIssue No. 7 was 25 cents more than the first one.


1977

3

1201-lrmp-10-o+35-years-of-lowrider+1977No feathered hair here.


1978

4

This was the zoot suit special, which I imagine is much like the September issue of Vogue.


1978

5

This was the zoot suit special, which I imagine is much like the September issue of Vogue.


1978

6

This was the zoot suit special, which I imagine is much like the September issue of Vogue.


1979

7


1979

8

For Texas.


1979

9

Lowrider was there before it was cool.