Come March 13, the U.S. Postal Service will issue Lowriders, a set of new commemorative postage stamps featuring five iconic, heavily customized cars. The stamps highlight the artistry, style, and 1940s-rooted Chicano culture of the Southwest with designs including a blue 1958 Impala, red 1963 Impala, orange 1964 Impala, green 1987 Oldsmobile, and blue 1946 Fleetline. 

Low and slow: that’s the lowrider. When in motion, these customized automobiles appear to glide over the road surface, only to suddenly levitate and bounce up and down. These new stamps celebrate the lowrider culture that is rooted in 1940s-era working-class Mexican American/Chicano communities throughout the American Southwest.

Lowriders are viewed as rolling canvases of stylized art, meant to be displayed in public spaces. The stamps feature photographs of the different lowriders, richly adorned with dazzling paint jobs, luxurious interiors, and customized to hop, bounce and cruise over the road surface.

The five models that grace the stamps are pictured from top left: a blue 1958 Chevrolet Impala named “Eight Figures”; an orange 1964 Chevrolet Impala named “The Golden Rose”; a green 1987 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme named “Pocket Change”; a blue 1946 Chevrolet Fleetline named “Let the Good Times Roll/Soy Como Soy”; and a red 1963 Chevrolet Impala named “El Rey.”

Antonio Alcalá, an art director for USPS, designed the stamps using existing photographs by Humberto “Beto” Mendoza (“Eight Figures,” “El Rey,” “The Golden Rose”) and Philip Gordon (“Let the Good Times Roll/Soy Como Soy,” “Pocket Change”). Danny Alvarado added the pinstriping on the stamps.

The Lowriders stamps will be issued in panes of 15. As Forever stamps, they will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail 1-ounce price.