Pimpmobile
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A pimpmobile is a large
Aftermarket features or modifications such as headlight covers,
History
Pimpmobiles became part of popular culture when they were depicted in 1970s blaxploitation films that targeted the urban black audience with black actors and soundtracks of funk and soul music. Blaxploitation films tend to take place in the ghetto, dealing with pimps and drug dealers, often with stereotyped depiction of blacks. Heavily-customized pimpmobiles appeared in blaxploitation films such as Super Fly, The Mack, and Willie Dynamite as well as mainstream films like Magnum Force, D.C. Cab, Escape from New York, and the James Bond movie Live and Let Die. In the 2000s, they appeared in the 2002 comedies Austin Powers in Goldmember and Undercover Brother. The conversions became popular with Americans of all races, and several companies manufactured kits to convert late-model cars to pimpmobiles.
The most popular cars for this customization were Cadillacs and Lincolns, especially the Cadillac Eldorado and Lincoln Continental produced between 1971 and 1978. However, lower luxury models such as Chryslers, Buicks and Oldsmobiles were also common. The cars used for these conversions were originally targeted at well-to-do retirees who wanted a large luxury vehicle; however, with the "pimpmobile" conversions, the cars came to signify menace, mystique, and glamor. One notable exception is the "Corvorado" used in the movie Live and Let Die, which was a Chevrolet Corvette C3 with Eldorado body panels. Conversion was done by custom car shops across the country such as George Barris, E & G Classics and Auto Gard, Inc., as well as many smaller shops. A well-known pimpmobile fabricator was Les Dunham of Dunham Coachworks in Boonton, New Jersey. Les built the cars in Super Fly, as well as the "Corvorado" and the Cadillac Fleetwood in the James Bond film.
A pimpmobile was referenced in William DeVaughn's song "Be Thankful for What You Got": "Diamond in the back, sunroof top, diggin' the scene with a gangsta lean. Gangsta whitewalls, TV antennas in the back."
Customization
Typically, a pimpmobile conversion includes such items as round headlight covers (commonly known as "Superfly" headlights), grille caps, a 1941 "goddess"-style hood ornament, "
Customizing shops included Dunham Coach in Boonton, New Jersey; Wisco, Harper and Universal in Detroit; and E&G in Baltimore. While individuals could add some of the simpler "dress up" options themselves or have them added by a local mechanic, these specialized shops handled more expensive, complicated modifications, such as extending the fenders or hood, converting a four-door sedan into a two-door car, and having bumpers or other parts re-chrome plated. In Southern California, custom hydraulic suspensions (as usual with lowriders) were also popular. While many pimpmobile modifications are done with the goal of "dressing up" the appearance, some people also do engine modifications to increase engine performance, such as overboring cylinders or adding aftermarket intake manifolds, carburetors, or dual exhaust systems with "cherry bomb"-style mufflers.
Large luxury sedans have been on a decline since the early 1980s where sport utilities (SUVs) such as the
See also
References
- ^ David L. Gold, American Speech Vol. 60, No. 4 (Winter, 1985), pp. 362-366