How can you tell? Step 1: Watch this video. No, I’m kidding. Though you definitely should watch this week’s YouTube video above, where owner Jordan Hill walks us through his special 1987 Chevy Caprice Classic Brougham LS, I’m still gonna take care of you. And the reason why I’m leading in with this in the first place is because if you’re gonna get one thing out of the latest episode of Carisma, Jordan wants it to be that.
There are a number of different names for this style—an old American coupe, convertible, or sedan riding on massive wheels with beautiful paint and other mods—and they were all invented by African-Americans across the south and popularized in the rest of the country through southern hip-hop in the 1990s and 2000s. Most people just know them as donks, but technically, a donk can only be a 1971-1976 Chevy Caprice or Impala. That’s it. Anything else that looks like this but isn’t one of those models from those years has a different name.
Like Jordan’s Caprice. This is a Box Chevy, which in addition to being the general term for the 80s generation of the Caprice, is also the name for one given the hi-riser treatment. Growing up in New York City, Jordan only saw cars like these in music videos. But his automotive life changed forever one day when he saw a YouTube giveaway for the Caprice and threw a thousand dollars at entries. He won, and ditched work the next day to fly to Texas to pick it up.
Since bringing it back up to New York, he’s spent two years building it into the perfect cruiser. An LS2 swap gives it plenty of punch and a beautiful rumble, the 26-inch Forgiato wheels look sharp, the soft suspension soaks up the road despite the rubber band tires, and the original red velour interior is supremely comfortable.
“Sometimes I just ride for hours with no music. I just listen to the engine, sunroof down, all the windows down, and just ride. It’s just so relaxing,” he says. “People think you’re trying to be seen, like, going around. It’s like nah, I’m not trying to be seen. I’m actually trying to be by myself.”
Want to be featured on YouTube, or know someone who does? Hit us up: youtube@thedrive.com