When my family and I first moved to Cleveland back in 2010, I found a 1971 Cadillac Coupe deVille that I liked enough to buy but I didn't have buy in on it from my wife. The owner of the car dropped the price almost a thousand dollars in the course of our conversation and begged me to buy it because he couldn't bear to sell the car to someone who was going to turn it into a "Donk". A what? A "Donk" - which is any old American car with ridiculously large wheels. Or in the case of our 1974 Impala coupe here, ree-donk-u-lously large wheels. What's more, this car is what is referred to as a "Glasshouse Donk".
Aficionados of "Donks" say that only 1971-1976 Chevrolet Impala and Caprices can be "Donks" although I recall when we lived in Dallas seeing just about any old full perimeter sedan with these huge wheels. They can range in size from 20 to more than 30 inches tall. The "smaller" rims, say, 20-22 inches are "Dubs" while anything bigger than that are called "Donks".
Now, I've been a big fan of General Motors huge 1971-1976 B body coupes for as long as I can remember but I've never heard of them referred to as "Glasshouses" but the term is appropriate given the amount of glass area these cars have. It's enormous. I understand that people who transform these cars into "Donks" prefer the styling of the 1974-1976 "colonnade" coupes to the hard top 1971-1973 models which I much prefer. The "C pillars" on these cars is much thinner than on the hard tops and helps to open up the interior.
Now, I've been a big fan of General Motors huge 1971-1976 B body coupes for as long as I can remember but I've never heard of them referred to as "Glasshouses" but the term is appropriate given the amount of glass area these cars have. It's enormous. I understand that people who transform these cars into "Donks" prefer the styling of the 1974-1976 "colonnade" coupes to the hard top 1971-1973 models which I much prefer. The "C pillars" on these cars is much thinner than on the hard tops and helps to open up the interior.
"Donks" usually have customized interiors like this although I wonder if the person who had this interior stitched up in the first place got anything off the cost because the upholsterer got the Chevy bow tie backwards on the door panel. Many "Donks" also come with customized sound systems with enough amps to power a movie theater. Or cruise ship. You can see how airy the interior of these cars are from this photograph. They don't make 'em like this anymore but then again, if they did, kids today in the back seat wouldn't care since they'd have their heads in their phones instead of soaking in the scenery afforded by the massive glass areas.
Our cheap "Glasshouse Donk" doesn't have any customizing under hood unless you count the "after market" yellow spark plug wires. Aside from that, this "350, 2 barrel" looks to be as bone stock as the day it left the factory. Although you'd think there was more here given its custom "reverse cowl induction" hood. Ad claims the brakes need to be bled - I wonder what that's all about.
It's unusual to see a car like this all the way up here in Cleveland, Ohio. Again, when we lived in Dallas these types of cars were everywhere but the weather down there even in winter time is far more conducive to these types of cars. Can only imagine how this thing would handle in a snow storm. Here's the link for the ad if you're so inclined. https://cleveland.craigslist.org/cto/d/1974-impala-glasshouse-donk/6467303858.html
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