Jalopnik: Donk

For $10,700, be capricious

graverobber — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EDT

If you like big butts and you cannot lie, today's Caprice might just make you fly. Punks'll wanna hit it and then they'll wanna quit it, but Nice Price or Crack Pipe's gonna' win it. And while its donks might cause you starin,' the price that it is wearin' might mean a brother just has to deny. More »

You're Just Begging To Be Profiled

Matt Hardigree — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 14:00:00 EDT

Benjamin couldn't help but appreciate the irony of getting stopped in a Crown Victoria by three Impalas. Although we don't know what happened next, we assume the Dallas PD savegly beat him for no reason. [Twitpic] More »

Donked Camaro Prays For Sweet Release Of Death

Ben Wojdyla — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 17:30:00 EDT

The new Camaro may be retro-kitschy, porky, and have an interior only Playskool could love, but it certainly doesn't deserve this kind of abuse. Thank 313 Motoring on the non-313 side of 8 Mile road for this one. More »

Is The Space Saver Spare Gonna Work On This Lexus?

Rob Krider — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 14:00:00 EDT

I see more and more of these rides high rolling down the freeways. And I always wonder with the rubber band low profile tires on those ginormous wheels what happens when you get a flat? More »

1965 Chevrolet Nova

Murilee Martin — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 09:00:00 EDT

Welcome to Down On The Street, where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. This is only our second donk, after this '76 Regal. More »

Wohnwagen: A Seedy Yet Intriguing Interactive Photo of Various Cars

Peter Orosz — Thu, 14 May 2009 14:30:00 EDT

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We found this on a Dutch blog with very little explanation, but an underlit trailer park with a caravan, an Impala and a Gallardo is already exciting enough. Potentially NSFW. More »

Donked AMC Hornet Sportabout Sports Hella Bass, Truck Nutz

Murilee Martin — Sat, 09 May 2009 10:30:00 EDT

Normally, we wouldn't recommend adding big ol' donkin' wheels, JC Whitney leaf-spring shackles, and Truck Nutz to a Malaise Era wagon. However, this combo works perfectly on a primered '76 Hornet Sportabout! More »

1993 Buick Roadmaster Wagon for $12,900!

graverobber — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 07:30:00 EDT

It's time to park the family truckster and slip behind the wheel of a true American road trip icon, for less than the cost of a Nissan Versa. Oh, and it'll also give you wood. More »

Donk On 28s Rolls Over In Florida, Dies

The Auto Insider — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 10:30:00 EST

The owner of a Floridian donk won't be "ghost ridin' tha whip" any time soon. Below, our obit and video of the aftermath. More »

Meet The Most Donktastic Fiat Ever!

Matt Hardigree — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 19:00:00 EDT

1966 Lincoln Continental

Murilee Martin — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 09:00:00 EDT

Welcome to Down On The Street, where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. We're going to look at our fifth Alameda Lincoln today; of the first five, the suicide-door primered '69 was the crowd favorite in the Favorite DOTS Lincoln poll. Today's car is another suicide-door model, and the oldest of the bunch as well.
More »

Detroit Iron At The Gumball 3000

Murilee Martin — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 13:00:00 EDT

There was a pretty good cross-section of archetypal Detroit machinery represented at the Gumball 3000 in San Francisco yesterday, including a donked Riviera, the lowest Ford pickup ever built (with the most beautiful set of vintage gauges I've seen in a long time), and a couple of classic musclecars. Yes, K.I.T.T. was there as well, though The Hoff himself prefers the non-video-game-style steering wheel of an Audi R8 for actual driving duties. More »

1976 Buick Regal

Murilee Martin — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 09:00:00 EDT

You know what we haven't had in this series? Donks! Oakland, just across a narrow estuary from Alameda, has a fair number of donkified GM cars, but the trend seems to be dying out. In any case, donkmania never got very big in Alameda, where old-school musclecars and lowriders seem to be the customization themes of choice. Here's a rare Alameda donk, which I shot next to Alameda High over the winter (no, it doesn't rain here in June). The car parked on that block every school day, so is it a teacher's car or a student's? More »

Plymouth Volare Rolls On 24s, End Times Upon Us?

Murilee Martin — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 07:00:00 EDT

Those tiny 14" wheels that Chrysler put on the Volare? Pizza cutters! Shopping-cart wheels! Try adding another ten inches of diameter to a Volare's wheels and you'll finally fill up those unsightly wheelwells, as we can can see in this '76. You need to keep the air shocks fully inflated in order to keep rear wheel scrapage to almost-tolerable levels, and there appears to be about 3/4" of space between the fronts and the wheelwells... but just look at it! Thanks to LTDScott, Porcubimmer Pilot for the tip! [Craigslist Stockton, go here if ad disappears] More »

Why Should GM Boxes Have All The Donkin' Fun?

Murilee Martin — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 15:00:00 EDT

The problem with putting huge-diameter wheels on most cars is the pesky fenderwells getting in the way, but this Floridian has avoided that problem by putting 20s on a VW-based dune buggy. A bit of fiberglass cutting and they fit just fine! Nitpickers might point out that the dunes are now off-limits with this setup, and that the pavement handling qualities might be a bit scary with that swingaxle rear and 20/80 front/rear weight distribution... but you'll be having so much fun with the insane power-to-weight ratio offered by the 2200cc engine that you won't fear death! Thanks to Mehugtree for the tip! [Craigslist Ft. Lauderdale] More »

Bored By Cadillacs In Drab Colors?

Murilee Martin — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 10:00:00 EST

What is it about Florida? The 2000 election, the Primate Aztek, and now this. What we have here is a 2000 Cadillac DeVille with a wild two-tone paint job, neon, spinners, the works. But mostly it's the paint... well, and the interior. If you buy this car- and the current bid is just $7600 at the time of this writing- we guarantee you will be noticed! [eBay Motors] More »

A Little Pinto That Shouldn't; Wait, We Take That Back

Mike Spinelli — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 20:39:16 EDT

Lets see. Would this mid-70s Ford Pinto mid-riser qualify as a Donk or a Bubble? Either way, I think we're all for this kind of thing, if only due to its blend of twisted irony and off-kilter car-to-rims value ratio. We're also wincing for those craptacular Pinto axles and poor differential struggling to make heads or tails of that acres-from-stock wheel diameter. (Thanks to 72GTOJudge for the tip.) [ChevyBombs.com] More »

Donk, er Bubble of the Day: Hawaiian Punch Cutlass

Mike Spinelli — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 14:45:00 EDT

We went into this post with every intention of deriding this Olds Cutlass highriser. But we've made a turnabout in the past few minutes, owing to our fondness for Hawaiian Punch and A-body Cutlesses. Sure, this thing has rims the diameter of wagon wheels, sure it has an interior only Spiderman could love, sure it has laminated seat covers. But, c'mon, Hawaiian freaking Punch. As long as it's not a Tang-themed GTO Judge, we're good. (Thanks to John for the tip.) [eBay] More »

Crystal-Studded Wheel Size Emblems!

Murilee Martin — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 16:30:39 EDT

Look, folks, if you're going the donk route, do it right! It's like having a dekotora- do you want subtlety or restraint? Of course you don't! You want to put big jeweled emblems advertising your donk's wheel size, preferably all over the car, but at least on the fenders. Iced Out Emz has a vast selection of such emblems, available for 20s all the way up to monster-truck-esque 30s; you can choose "diamonds," "emeralds," "rubies" and so on. Thing is, what if you're donking a Honda 600? 15" wheels would be considered donkworthy in that case, but unfortunately no 15" emblems are available. – Murilee Martin More »

Welcome to Oaktown: Mildly Donked Skylark

Murilee Martin — Thu, 17 May 2007 16:30:35 EDT

At the Oakland Coliseum BART station yesterday, we spied this '69 Buick Skylark sitting proudly by itself in the parking lot. Not so much a donk as a car heavily influenced by donkism (and Oakland, proud home of 2 $hort, is certainly on the leading edge of donkitude, what with the box Caprices teetering on absurd-diameter wheels you see towering over traffic around here), this Skylark actually looks halfway decent with the treatment... More »

Question of the Day: Donk or Dekotora?

Davey G. Johnson — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 19:15:00 EDT

Okay...it's clobberin' time. Are you gonna roll on 30s, with possible Dada-esque corporate sponsorship all over ya box? Or are you gonna take Hetfield's advice and hit the lights? Mob up or convoy? How would you, dear reader, rather roll through West Oakland cranking a bootleg of Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman of Rancid's unreleased Downfall record? Head nods mandatory. Just don't break ya neck. – Davey G. Johnson More »

Fast as a Shark: No Sleep 'til Lynbrook

Davey G. Johnson — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 19:00:00 EDT

It's 10:46pm California time as I sit down to write this. But I'm not in San Pedro. I'm somewhere near Saint Marks Place in New York City, and the only sounds in the room are the tapping of two Apple keyboards and the rattling dull whine of air filters sucking the cigarette smoke out of the air of a spacious loft replete with a machine gun and a glass-encased model of the Bismarck. On the chairs at the bar hang three jackets, with a black, non-descript number in the middle. To its left is a navy blue Red Kap work jacket with a lakes modified roadster screenprinted across the back, reading "GEARHEAD." To its right hangs a high-visibility orange example sporting a rearing horse patch on the sleeve denoting a foreign police agency. More »

All Hail the First Video of a Clear-Rims Burnout: The Garfield Box

Mike Spinelli — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 07:31:34 EDT

Too early for a moment of Zen, you say? Ok, then, how about a wake-up call. This cartoonishly orange high-riser box Chevrolet Caprice fitted with $30,000 clear rims, performing a class-1 burnout, offers a more bracing start to the day than cold OJ ever could. Enjoy, in a sense. – Mike Spinelli More »

Early Riser: 1902 Wartburg

Davey G. Johnson — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 22:30:00 EST

People think that this whole "sitting up high" trend only dates back to the rise of the minivan and SUV and carried further by monster trucks, donks, boxes and bubbles. No, friends. It goes back to the carriage. People have always liked sitting up high. It's the fault of the step-down Hudson and the Chicanos in East Los Angeles and Colin Chapman and Duffy Livingstone that we ever thought we were supposed to be low to the ground. Fahrzeugfabrik Eisenach AG was established in 1898 Heinrich Ehrhardt, and by 1902, they were cranking out the Wartburg. 8.5hp, 640kg. And no doubt, it's definitely a proto-donk. – Davey G. Johnson More »

You Deserve a Break Today, At McDonkles

Davey G. Johnson — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 18:00:00 EST

Apparently, the independent, corporate themed donk may be somewhat of a trend. This one apparently dispenses special sauce. Maybe it runs on french-fry oil. Somehow, though, we're guessing not. [Thanks to Andrew for the tip.] – Davey G. Johnson More »

SEMA Show: Donk a What?

Mike Spinelli — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 19:58:00 EST

The Rides team unveiled an More »

Dumb Things I Gotta Donk Today: A Simpsons-Themed Riser

Mike Spinelli — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 10:57:50 EDT

Taking this one apart would seem like a no-brainer. Sure, it's a garish mid-riser donk with wheels that look like a piece of George Clinton's mothership tumbled down and crushed Bootsy Collins. And sure, it's been airbrushed with characters from "The Simpsons." But we're not talking about Bart with an "Eat My Shorts" thought bubble. That's Abe Simpson, smack on the driver's door, followed by Mr. Burns and Nelson Muntz. Granted, he could have inserted Ralph Wiggum with his finger in his nose, or the Comic Book Guy holding that rare Mary Worth, or even Rabbi Hyman Krustofski. What we mean to say is, it could have been worse. Way worse. [Thanks to Eric for the tip.] More »

Save Your (Grandparents') Generation: Youngsters Rolling In Oldster Whips

Davey G. Johnson — Thu, 11 May 2006 15:51:59 EDT

Bumbeck's a man whose observations we often find notable. One of the more notable observations of Bumbeck's was that car culture trends in Oakland by and large seem to start with somebody's grandmother dying. The Wall Street Journal has even picked up on Uncle Bumbeck's truism and drops a reference to the city's International Boulevard in their story on why the kids are donkin' up their grandfathers' Oldsmobiles. More »