New Lowriders set drives on down to San Diego March 13

By Scott Tiffney

To celebrate the lowrider car culture popular in working-class Mexican-American and Chicano communities throughout the American Southwest, the United States Postal Service on March 13 in San Diego, Calif., will issue a set of five nondenominated (78¢) Lowriders forever commemorative stamps in a pane of 15.

The U.S. Postal Service will host a first-day ceremony at the Logan Heights Library, 567 S. 28th St., for the new stamps at 11 a.m. Pacific Time. Gary Barksdale, chief postal inspector for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, will serve as the dedicating official for the event.

Although free and open to the public, the USPS encourages those wishing to attend the outdoor first-day ceremony, with up to four guests, to register online at www.usps.com/lowridersstamps.

The stamps are designed by USPS art director Antonio Alcala from photographs by acclaimed lowrider photographers Humberto “Beto” Mendoza and Philip Gordon. The cars are oriented facing right (back to front) on each stamp and include the inscription “Lowriders” in a gray stylized Old English font in the upper right with “forever/usa” underneath in a color mimicking the car’s paint scheme.

Automotive artist Danny Alvarado added original pinstriping for each design in the upper right corner and on all four sides of the pane selvage. On the stamps, the color of the pinstriping matches those of each car, while on the pane selvage the pinstriping is gray as is the pane title “Lowriders.”

“Working-class Latin-Americans turned to customizing production model automobiles as a hobby that would help build a sense of self and community,” Alcala told Linn’s. “Some of their customizations became ‘standard’ approaches within the community: adjusting suspension systems to ride low to the ground, one-of-a-kind paint jobs with pin striping, etc. Basically, they elevated a standard production car into a rolling work of art.”…

Post offices wishing to hold an event for the Lowriders stamps are required to use a pictorial dedication postmark consisting of a circular datestamp centered and in front of “Lowriders” in a stylized Old English font with two horizontal lines above and below the word.

“The word ‘Station’ or the abbreviation ‘STA’ is required somewhere in the design because it will be a temporary station,” the USPS said. “Use of any image other than the … special pictorial image is prohibited.”

Two pictorial first-day cancels for the Lowriders stamps are being offered by the Postal Service, one in black and the other in color. The black postmark is applied free, up to a quantity of 50, to most collector-submitted covers. There is a 5¢ charge for each additional postmark over 50.

The black postmark features the same design as the dedication cancel without the circular datestamp and first day details above and below the horizontal lines. The color postmark is the same but with a horizontal break through the word “Lowriders.” The top of the design is in gray and the bottom powder blue.

The color postmark can be obtained by collectors on envelopes made from laser-safe paper. There is an order minimum of 10 envelopes with a fee of 50¢ per postmark.

Both postmarks are also applied to first-day covers manufactured and sold by the Postal Service. All requests for Lowriders first-day cancels must be postmarked by July 13, 2026, and sent to: FDOI Lowriders Stamps, USPS Stamp Fulfillment Services, 8300 NE Underground Drive, Suite 300, Kansas City, MO 64144-9900.

Additional Lowriders issue products are available at the online USPS shop at https://store.usps.com/store/home.

Technical details for the 2026 Lowriders forever commemorative stamps were not available at the time of publication and will be presented in a future issue of Linn’s.

To read more about the new Lowriders stamps, subscribe to Linn’s Stamp News.

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