By John Coyle

Editor

Last month, Rob posted about a cherry '74 Caprice and he asked the eternal question: "to donk, or not to donk?" Given the amount of hate hi-risers have generated here, it wasn't too surprising that most responses were in favor of keeping the classic bow-tie stock, or going the opposite direction and lowering it. And while it's not clear what happened to that sweet machine, yesterday, I stumbled across Ben's sweet '72 model—the Green Lantern—which gives a good idea of how the '74 would look if given a dash of donkification. So what do you guys think, still think keeping it stock is the best idea?

By John Coyle

Editor

Air travel is really the only decent excuse for waking up early. After all, you get to go somewhere, and at least if you're supposed to arrive two hours before your flight, the bars open at six. But I don't even care about the fact that I had to get up at at the crack of dawn, because I'm headed to Detroit—Motor City!—for the kickoff of the 2008 DUB tour. While I missed the 2007 stop, I was on the ground in Detroit in 2006, and at SEMA, I talked to head honcho Myles Kovacs about what was hot wheel-wise. So I'm curious to see what heats up the floor tomorrow. In 'O6 I liked this two-tone Charger, and as always, the audio gear in the bed of the Meguire's truck made me dizzy. And while I know it's two Chargers in a row, I really like how this Mopar from last year looks like a shark. Right now, I don't know what the coolest ride I'll see this weekend will be, but as soon as I do, I'll post it on the blog. Also look out for interviews with David Banner, Nick Cannon and Llyod. Stay tuned—Motor City here I come!

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

As John mentioned Tuesday on New on the Net, the New York Times is already talking about "the car of the decade." Yeah, it's a bit premature. But their pick? The Porsche Cayenne. Now, I can understand that the Cayenne was a great financial move for  Porsche, but  I think it did some major damage to the brand. And seriously, it's just a Touareg with a Porsche emblem. Big freakin' deal.

So I started to think, what would I pick as the car of the decade? Sure, we almost have two years to go, but there are already some strong contenders. The New York Times also floated the new GTR as a possibility. There has been a lot of buzz about this car, and it's cool and all, but I don't think you can swoop in at the last minute and claim car of the decade. You need a car that has shown itself to have real influence throughout the decade, a car with some staying power.

When it comes down to it, I'm torn between two cars. So I'm gonna cheat. I'm gonna pick the domestic car of the decade, and import car of the decade. For domestic car, I'm gonna go with the S197 Mustang (I'd put the 300C a close second). But the Mustang redesign for 2005 was huge. It was huge for Mustang fans, it was huge for Ford, and it was huge for Detroit. Heck, its success made GM and Chrysler bring back their pony cars. How cool is that? And at the end of the day, you just can't argue with 300hp for $25k. Power to the people.

For import car of the decade I'm gonna say second generation Prius (and if you put a gun to my head and made me pick just one car for the decade, I'd probably say Prius, even if it made me feel a bit ill). I don't think anyone thinks that hybrids are the ultimate answer to our transportation problems, and frankly, the fuel efficiency of the Prius isn't even as good as a 80s CRX. But this car was hugely important in terms of getting people to accept new technology, and was clearly a step in the right direction. Toyota was so successful with it that all the other manufacturers have practically let them own the entire category. I just wish it didn't look like the automotive equivalent of a Birkenstock.

Finally, because this is CarDomain, I have to mention the cars of the decade when it comes to modding. For domestics it would undoubtedly by the Chevy Caprice. The Donk. Hate 'em or love 'em, they helped to define the 00s. And for imports I gotta go with the Nissan 240 (mostly cause they are more plentiful and popular than the AE86 Corolla). Drifting has been a big part of this decade.

So what would you pick as the car (or cars) of the decade?

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

So you want a Donk but are too lazy to build it yourself. Or you want to get a cool convertible in time for summer. Or maybe you just love Gatorade. Well, this might just be the car for you. Go to Denver's 1975 Chevy Caprice ride page for contact info (there's no price listed). It's also supposed to be listed over at DreamRydez.com but I couldn't find it. Oh, and I dropped in a few more pics after the jump.

By Rob

Editor-in-Chief

Check out this sweet eBay find--a 1974 Caprice with just 38,000 miles. So, does this car just need a lift and 26s? Or leave it alone? And who else besides me likes green?

By Rob

Editor-in-Chief

This crazy Caprice vert with 30 inch wheels and a Rolls nose was at SEMA in 2006 and then again in 2007 (this is the car that gave my buddy Dan Strohl at Hemmings nightmares). Well, Jalponik just scored some photos of it being built by the guys at Spade Kreations. Apparently the front was formed with closed-cell foam then skinned with fiberglass. Pretty cool.   

By John

Editor

Chevy's Caprice has been around since the mid '60s, and it's been marketed as everything from a luxury car to a police cruiser, under virtually every badge in the General's stable. But in the high-riser scene, the '80s Caprice defines the "box." Both Rides and King of the Street brought tricked-out versions to SEMA, and  plenty of CarDomain members have Caprice projects too. The first one which caught my eye was David's twin turbo coupe—just look at the awesome job he's done under the hood. What a sick sleeper! I also liked the sweet Chanel interior on Chanely's—get it—candy red '89 and the Burberry paint treatment on Keith's '85. But my favorite Caprice was Mike's '89. I just really dug the orange paint and interior on this Dolphins-themed box. He says he's got big plans for next year, so stay tuned!

By Jen

Editor

Check out this radically modded 1972 Caprice by Spade Kreations. It's got a seamlessly grafted-in front clip from a Rolls Royce Phantom, a Merlin 572 crate motor, and a dash that's about as chock-full of screens as you can get. 30 really is turning out to be the magic number at this year's show, and sure enough, this Rolls rolls on 30-inch TIS wheels wrapped in Pirelli rubber.

By John

Community Editor

When we rolled up to SEMA, it didn't take us long to stumble across something crazy. Of course, crazy is what Danny from King of the Street does best, and personally, I think he outdid himself with this '89 Caprice Classic. If you can get past the 30" wheels, the purple candy paint, and the super sick interior, hang on, because there's still a whole lot of blown small block waiting for you up front. How insane is that? Everybody in Danny's crew was busy trying to get this monster into the show, so nobody had much time to talk, but we're going to hook up Wednesday for some interview action. Stay tuned!