Minneapolis Street Sighting: Chevrolet Impala Custom

When scouting the city for featureable cars, I tend to look for certain kind of cars not featured; one of the (sadly) most notable new trends in my area is to make a classic car into a donk. Yes, I realize that the term "donk" mainly applies to full-size Chevrolets on bigger wheels that may or may not required lifting the car. Some of them look great when done right; being done right means no obnoxious lift, no themed paintjobs, and not crappy wheel choices--and please for the love of god, plan your audio install before you carry on with the execution.

I know most car people completely despise donking or anything related to that nature; I am on the fence. If the car is done right, it looks decent if not good. On the other hand, most of the cars I see done up in donk treatment in real-life end up looking terrible; be it overly tacky paint and excess chrome, or just terrible wheels combined with an atrocious color--whatever the case may be, most of the cars done in this fashion near me look like crap.

I never liked the 1974-1976 Chevrolets; the styling is a tad off, if you will. I don't mind the back-end, but the front is where it all goes wrong. For starters, I never was a fan of this fascia, and the headlight placement looks awkward, especially when in conjunction with the grille; it's almost as though GM hacked this together late one Friday night and called it good.

Second, the rear quarter window looks absolutely ridiculous; it's almost as if (again), GM couldn't decide if this was going to be a two-door or a four-door. The two side windows appear to be a similar size. Not quite what I expect when I hear the term two-door coupe. Aside from the odd proportions, I think these look okay; not my favorite by any means, but definitely not ugly--well, ugly by me, but some people like them.

Since I described everything I don't like about this model year in general, let me break it down for this particular car; okay, obviously the owner of this Impala put a slight smidgen of effort into his customizing skills. However, despite trying hard to be conservative with his modifications, the overall effect is less than sweet.

The paint color is gorgeous; I love this car, and even with the pinstripes, this car could've been really nice; even the white vinyl top looks at home here. I also dig the "Impala" badge placement, and I appreciate the fact that he kept most of the stock trim. 

Now for the bad--and thankfully, it's mostly related to the car's styling, and not necessarily the modifications themselves. But there are a few low points here I'd like to point out. While I dig the pinstriping, the nomenclature airbrushed on the front encdap is a bit lame. Yes, we know it's a 1974; we can tell from the grille. If you have to put the year of your vehicle on the vehicle itself, you are not a car enthusiast. Second of all, the wheels aren't that nice. Yes, the diameter is alright, but the wheel style is just...boring. If I were going to put wheels on this, I'd do something from the Forgiato line--and those probably cost more than what was spent on this entire car. Ouch. Lastly, I don't like the stock exhaust--and that probably means nothing was done under-hood, either. Not necessarily what I'd call a "running-ass-donk" as they're often described.

While I am not really a fan of this bodystyle, and some of the modifications bring this poor car down even more, this is a good start; it just needs a bit of massaging to be a true "street king". Or he could have bought a 1971 or 1972 and had a better looking car to start with.

Minneapolis Street Sighting: Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale two door

I love Oldsmobiles; I can't help it. Obviously, some of the more modern Oldsmobiles do absolutely nothing for me (I'm looking in your direction Acheiva, Aurora, Alero, etc but the older cars interest me quite a bit. I have a strange fascination with cars of the Malaise-era and no one did it better than GMs as far as the domestic cars go. Big engines with decent performance potential, a wide selection of bodystyles, and parts interchangeability made the GM vehicles of this era last exponentially longer than their Ford or Mopar counterparts.

I have always liked the Delta 88 lineup of Oldsmobiles, especially the two-doors. The car looks badass, and even the name sounds cool. I don't care for the 1990s Delta, but the RWD ones are too cool; obviously I dig the 1970s ones most, but the 1980s two-doors are pretty close on the coolness scale. Unfortunately, not many are left stock. Here (as well as the deep south), these cars succumb to the donking trend more often than not, so finding a nice one is getting increasingly hard.

But that's exactly what occurred this past summer; out of nowhere, it showed up parked on a side street--and I did a double take. I've never seen one this clean--even in Lawrence; I did shoot a clean four door quite a while ago, but this two-door is where it's at.

Cars like this are pretty rare in my area for a few reasons; as I explained above, donk customizing has gotten the best of most of the non-rusted ones left; and that's a shame because these look very nice when well preserved. And this one was--quite so.

The paint looks absolutely pristine; no evidence of any non-stock additions, rust or otherwise; even the often-torn vinyl roof is still intact--and in great shape to boot. Whitewall tires and wire hubcaps certainly make this car stand out--and make it stand the test of time as well. I'm not quite sure how old this example is, but I would guess it's a pre-1985 car judging by the lack of third brakelight.

Obviously I didn't open the doors, so a mere glimpse inside is all I had--and it appears that this Olds does duty as a well preserved daily driver; hell it's got groceries on the floor for crying out loud. If that doesn't say "daily driver", I don't know what does.

This thing would be classified as a classic by me; it's a nice car, it's old enough that it isn't common, and despite the bling crowd, these big coupes do have a cult following. I wish more car enthusiasts took notice and saved these before they all go extinct.

Minneapolis Street Sighting: Pontiac Fiero 2M4

For a company known for driving excitement, many of their post-modern offerings were far from such; the Sunfire was no sports car, ditto the Grand Am and Grand Prix; to their credit, all of three of these nameplates did have sporting models, but a sports car? Nosirree. For that, you'd have to set your clocks back to 1984.

The idea of a mid-engine sports car produced by an American company was unheard of; the only companies doing the whole mid-engine thing in the mid 1980s were exotic makers, most notably Ferrari. In 1984 as well, Toyota introduced its mid-engined sports car, the MR2. Unlike the Fiero, the MR2 remains a hit with import tuners and car fanatics alike, whereas the Fiero is only liked in certain circles of enthusiasts. Both cars were derived from an idea to create a car that was fun, but retained decent fuel economy. Unfortunately for GM, that meant using a truck engine. The first Fieros were equipped the 2.5L four cylinder found in many of the auto giant's cars, but also under the hood of the newly launched S-10 and S-15 trucks.

Performance wasn't up to the car's sporting looks, and an uneven weight balance meant putting them on lifts to get serviced often resulted in the cars falling over ass-first, totaling them out.  Despite this little "glitch", the Fiero remained in production until 1988, when it received a fastback model that bore the GT nomenclature. Sadly, all these changes cam far too late, and the plug was pulled midway through 1988.

What we have here is a 2M4 model, which designates the four cylinder engine; likely not very fast, especially by today's standards, it still looks pretty good--especially for a near 30 year old car. I do admit the color is fairly drab, but remember, red meant "performance" in the 1980s--and still does today apparently. I can't really comment on the trim, since there really isn't much of it to begin with.

I do really like these wheels; I always have, to be honest. They were used on the Firebirds and Trans Ams, too, and a front-wheel drive version of this wheel was used on Grand Ams, and Sunbird models as well. I think they look great here, and on almost any stock application. To me, this wheel symbolizes the 1980s almost as much as Lincoln turbine wheels and the TRX wheels used on Ford products. It really can't get any better than this.

I've always loved Fieros, and one of my favorite aspects of the vehicle was the color-and-wheel combination. Apart from the obvious black or silver with this wheel, the red works too. And I'm not ashamed to say so.

Minneapolis Street Sighting: Volkswagen Rabbit Caddy pickup

Volkswagen has a history of building impeccable small cars, and making a rather sizable imprint on the small-car segment in the United States; it all started in 1978, with the introduction of the Rabbit on our shores. Yes, the Beetle was a hit, too, and still is, but the Rabbit helped pushed Volkswagen through the late 1970s, when import buying took off all over the country.

Pretty soon after the launch of the standard Rabbit, a pickup truck was introduced, called the "Caddy"; these thing never sold in the numbers that their more conventional counterparts did. Add to that the typical early Volkswagen rusting issues, and you've got a fairly rare piece here in the rustbelt. Kind of explains why this example came from Oregon doesn't it?

Spotted on a quiet residential street, I've seen this thing around quite a bit, and wasn't sure if I'd ever have the chance to shoot it. Fortunately, about a month after first encountering this rare beast, I took the opportunity to give this little trucklet a thorough walk-around.

Aside from the bent front bumper, and missing centercap, this little Caddy looks pretty good; paint fade is imminent, but I suppose paint fade is better than rust. Fitting with a topper, this little guy looks pretty good--I don't think I've ever seen one with a topper, and now I wonder why; it looks better than a Dodge Rampage with a topper, that's for sure.

The chrome and other time is in good shape, though the US-spec overriders certainly ruin the appeal, but that's to be expected; regs have a habit of ruining styling on imported vehicles.  What's funny, is these overriders could pass for those on US-spec Lamborghini Countachs as well. That says something about how screwed-up our regs were.

I didn't get to peer inside, but I would imagine that its the same as the exterior; not overly worn, but not in pristine shape. Wear, but not much tear; I would label this one a "looked after survivor". Obviously not a showpiece by any means, but far from a basketcase.

I've gotta say that this Caddy is one of the nicer ones I've shot, and it definitely makes the inner-Volkswagen geek in me a happy camper. Literally.

Minneapolis Street Sighting: Cadillac de Ville convertible

I know I've been posting Cadillacs for quite the past three days now, but honestly there are some bodystyles that never get old; case in point, the 1969 and 1970 cars. Ever since I was a little boy, I've liked them. Roughly five years ago, I began to really get into old Cadillacs to the point of either a) stopping to look at every single one I saw or b) shooting the bejesus out of said Cadillac; it was during that period where I began to pick out favorite bodystyles in general, but also favorite colors too. I decided that aside from the 1964 cars, the 1969s and 1970s were hands-down my favorite year for full-size Caddys.

 At first I had a hard time distinguishing the cars model year differences, but I have come a conclusion that this one is a 1969; since I was unsure about the nomenclature, I turned to various internet sources to help myself out.As it turns out, this particular car wears the de Ville nomenclature; no offense to owners of the smaller FWD cars, but this screams luxury for more than the 1980s namesake. And being a convertible only optimizes the luxury quotient displayed here.

I've stayed away from shooting Cadillacs for a while. That's unfortunate, because with cars this clean, it's hard to pass them up; I just have too many in my archives to deal with at the moment. Nevertheless, this big brown convertible is quite a fetching combination, if not only for the color combination itself rather than the car. The paint is awesome, and judging by the dealer plaque on the decklid, it appears to be original. The hubcaps, and other trim adorning this big Cadillac is top-notch as well.

The inside, too, is still in damn good shape; I'm fairly certain this de Ville isn't quite a daily driver--even in the summertime. The interior is way too clean for that. The brown and black combo--especially with the wood looks right at home.  Like the exterior, the inside was devoid of any evidence of daily driving, and I would venture to say that this is probably the cleanest de Ville I have ever seen. Doesn't hurt that this bodystyle is among my favorite Cadillacs of all time, does it?

Minneapolis Street Sighting: Cadillac Eldorado convertible

I know I keep saying I don't shoot Cadillacs much anymore-- but I used, to; quite a bit in fact. I used to shoot more Cadillacs than any other make, and I am not ashamed to admit it; they're everywhere here, for what it's worth. There's no other two-door nameplate that screams "Cadillac" like Eldorado does. In the 1950s, until until the mid 1960s, the Eldorado was a trim package on full-size Cadillacs. In 1967, the Eldorado branched out into its own model lineup, complete with several more luxurious (and somewhat tacky) trim packages.

This generation of Eldorado really has appeal to me--and I have no idea quite why it does. I normally don't like many Cadillacs from this era; the sedans and coupes look a bit weird, but for some reason I like the mid-to-late 1970s Eldorados, especially in convertible form.

I know this is likely not the correct year, but I remember some of these being used on the show, "Dukes of Hazzard" as Boss Hogg's Cadillac; I bet that's why I'm drawn to these--childhood memories in abundance.


 

Upon first inspection, this Eldorado convertible is pretty clean--and initial looks do not deceive. It really is a clean car; while the white paint cannot be overly shiny, it's in very good nick. No rut or crash damage plagues this big Caddy; and.. no bling ether--which is quite a rare sight here. About the only thing that bugs me with the exterior is the black hubcaps; I feel that the caps should be white or red to match the interior.

The interior is clean, too, and in just as well preserved as the exterior; the read suits this clean vert very well, though I'm not too keen on the wood trim. I suppose the interior would look better in a solid red color.  The bit in the center of the steering wheel looks overly tacky, but then again, this was the 1970s--tackiness excused.

This car represents an era when Cadillac was striving to find a styling theme-- but somehow it works on this Eldorado, especially this particular car. I had fun shooting this car, and I hope to find others of this generation-- perhaps in other colors besides white with a red interior.