Pueblo Chicana featured in Lowrider Magazine

Pueblo native and East High graduate, Vanessa Torrez, was recently featured in a special edition of Lowrider Magazine highlighting women in lowriding.  She was selected based on her work as an artist and up-and-coming custom automotive painter.

Like so many lowrider lovers and fabricators, Vanessa was born into the lowrider lifestyle. Her dad, Macario “Mackey” Torrez, began building lowriders as a teen.  His crown jewel, a 1969 purple Chevy Impala, is etched in Vanessa’s childhood memories.  She remembers when other kids spent their weekends camping or playing sports, her family was cruising the “Mighty Fine ‘69” to car shows in Pueblo and around the state. 

Vanessa and her siblings, Taciana and Macario, each had a project car since early childhood. The plan was to have them each build the cars together with their dad guiding them along the way. 

Unfortunately on May 5, 2021, the Torrez family experienced a horrific garage fire.  The ‘69 Chevy, along with Vanessa’s 1948 Chevy pickup, were completely destroyed.

After the news of the fire was spread on social media, an outpouring of love and support was showered upon the Torrez family. A Go Fund Me received donations from fellow lowriders across the nation. Only a lowrider could fully comprehend the loss of countless hours and money that goes into these beautiful rides. Thankfully, the garage has since been rebuilt and the custom lowrider assembly line is  hopping. 

After high school graduation, Vanessa had fallen in love with oil painting and dreamed of a career as an artist. However her mom, Denise, insisted she add graphic design to her degree as a fallback plan. With her graphic design degree in hand, Vanessa decided to pursue her dreams in California and moved there in 2016. 

Vanessa is now a graphic designer for an ad agency with big clients such as Netflix and Disney.

Being alone in a new big city can be daunting.  Vanessa found that she was most comfortable spending her days off at car shows and cruises.  She also spent her free time painting a collection of beautiful masterpieces that reflected her lifelong experience of being immersed in the lowrider scene. She began participating in community art shows throughout Southern California.

In 2023, Vanessa’s mother was diagnosed with cancer. Since Vanessa’s job was remote, she was able to return to Colorado to support her mom and family. Just prior to returning home, Vanessa had taken an airbrush course and was dabbling in automotive painting. Once back home, she channeled her grief into practicing these mediums and began spending her evenings and nights in her dad’s shop painting candy patterned panels.  The ease in which she learned this new medium was phenomenal.

Once again, Vanessa’s following on social media took notice. She received an invitation for a sponsorship from Paint Huffer, a custom paint company that many car builders use to create the beautiful paint jobs on custom cars. Meanwhile, some of her California lowrider mentors were approached about a special edition of Lowrider Magazine that was being planned in honor of Women’s History Month in March 2024. They were asked of any female lowriders they could recommend, and several  mentioned Vanessa. 

The special printed edition of Lowrider Magazine was unveiled at the 2024 Lowrider Super Show in Long Beach, CA, on March 9.  Although the magazine is no longer in print, attendees at the show were surprised with a  free copy of the special edition. In it are several women car builders, pinstripers, painters, and artists from throughout the Southwest. 

Vanessa is very proud to be representing Colorado, and more specifically Pueblo, in this collector’s edition of an iconic magazine. She says she feels honored as a woman in a male dominated field. But for Vanessa, cruising and lowrider art isn’t just a trend, it’s a way of life, a commitment to familia, cruising, and Chicanidad.