- 1990 conversion van
A scraper is an informal term to describe a modified American-made luxury/family car, usually a General Motors model from the 1980s to current vehicles, typically enhanced with after-market rims. Scrapers are popular in the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California, usually associated with the hyphy music and lifestyle movement. An example of hyphy is shown in the E-40 lyrics "sittin' in my scraper watching Oakland gone wild". A scraper is a general description and can refer to a number of different model cars. Popular models include the Buick Regal and LeSabre, Pontiac Bonneville, Buick Century, Oldsmobile Delta 88, Buick Riviera, Buick Reatta, Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera, Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, Pontiac Grand Prix, Lexus SC, Chevrolet Caprice Classic, and Chevrolet Impalas, as well as full size conversion vans such as the GMC Vandura. Supercharged automobiles are particularly sought after due to their high performance.
Similar to donks from the South, the cars are highly customized, with large custom rims, custom paint (two-tone is popular as of 2008) and custom interior to match the paint, loud audio (called slaps) and televisions. What makes Scrapers different from Donks is that Donks are typically fifth generation Chevrolet Impalas and Caprices, fourth generation Cadillac Coupe de Villes and third generation Monte Carlos. Donks are usually V8 engine, rear wheeled drive, full sized General Motors sedans and coupes of the 1970s and 1980s. Scrapers on the other hand, are typically late-1980s and 1990s midsized, front wheel drive, six cylinder General Motors sedans.
The trend of customizing these cars were made popular by African American youth. Scraper cars have also inspired the scraper bike movement. [1]
Oldsmobile was a brand of American automobiles, produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Originally established as "Olds Motor Vehicle Company" by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, it produced over 35 million vehicles, including at least 14 million built at its Lansing, Michigan factory alone.
The Chevrolet Impala is a full-size car that was built by Chevrolet for model years 1958 to 1985, 1994 to 1996, and 2000 to 2020. The Impala was Chevrolet's popular flagship passenger car and was among the better-selling American-made automobiles in the United States.
The Chevrolet Celebrity is an automobile that was sold by Chevrolet from the 1982 to 1990 model years. Marking the transition of the mid-size Chevrolet range to front-wheel drive, the Celebrity was the successor of the long-running Chevrolet Malibu line. Initially marketed between the Citation and the Impala within the Chevrolet model line, the Celebrity was later marketed between the Corsica and Caprice sedans.
The W-platform was a General Motors automotive platform underpinning both mid size and full-size front-wheel drive cars — across the platform's three generations from 1987-2016.
The Oldsmobile Diesel engine is a series of V6 and V8 diesel engines produced by General Motors from 1978 to 1985. Their design was based on the Olds 350 gasoline engine architecture. A 350 cu in (5.7 L) V8 was introduced in 1978, followed by a 261 cu in (4.3 L) V8 only for the 1979 model year. In 1982, a 263 cu in (4.3 L) V6 became available for both front front-wheel drive and rear-wheel drive vehicles.
The B platform is a full-size, rear-wheel drive, body-on-frame car platform, that was produced by General Motors (GM) from 1926 to 1996. Originally made for Oldsmobile and Buick, all of General Motors's five main passenger car makes would use it at some point. It was closely related to the original rear-wheel drive C and D platforms, and was used for convertibles, hardtops, coupes, sedans, and station wagons. With approximately 12,960,000 units built, divided across four marques, the 1965–1970 B platform is the fourth best selling automobile platform in history after the Volkswagen Beetle, Ford Model T, and the Fiat 124.
The Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser is an automobile that was manufactured and marketed by Oldsmobile from 1971 until 1992. Marking the return of Oldsmobile to the full-size station wagon segment, the Custom Cruiser was initially slotted above the intermediate Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser, ultimately above the later mid-size Oldsmobile Cutlass Cruiser.
The Pontiac Parisienne is a full-size rear-wheel drive vehicle that was sold by Pontiac on the GM B platform in Canada from 1958 to 1986 and in the United States from 1983 to 1986. Right-hand drive models were locally assembled in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa until 1969. For most of its run, the Canadian Parisienne was nearly mechanically identical to the American Chevrolet Impala or Chevrolet Caprice. The Parisienne wagon continued under the Safari nameplate until 1989. Parisienne or La Parisienne means a grammatically female person or thing from Paris, France.
The Oakland Motor Car Company of Pontiac, Michigan, was an American automobile manufacturer and division of General Motors. Purchased by General Motors in 1909, the company continued to produce modestly priced automobiles until 1931 when the brand was dropped in favor of the division's Pontiac make.
Arlington Assembly is a General Motors automobile factory located in Arlington, Texas. The plant has operated for more than 60 years and today manufactures large SUVs from GM's divisions Chevrolet, GMC and Cadillac.
Sainte-Thérèse Assembly was a General Motors Canada automobile factory located in Sainte-Thérèse, Quebec.
The General Motors G platform was an automobile platform designation used for mid-sized rear-wheel drive cars. It made its first appearance from the 1969 to 1972 model years, adapted from GM's A-body, and reappeared from 1982 to 1988. The second series of G-bodies began production designated as A-body cars in 1978, but were redesignated as G-body when the new front-wheel drive A-body platform was introduced in 1982.
The GM A platform was a rear wheel drive automobile platform designation used by General Motors from 1925 until 1959, and again from 1964 to 1981. In 1982, GM introduced a new front wheel drive A platform, and existing intermediate rear wheel drive products were redesignated as G-bodies.
The General Motors A platform was a mid-size platform designation used from 1982-1996. The same designation had previously been used for rear wheel drive mid-sized cars.
The Pontiac Grand Safari was Pontiac's top-of-the-line full-size station wagon offered from 1971 to 1978. The Grand Safari used the grille and interior trim of the Bonneville and Grand Ville passenger car series, and most examples were trimmed with woodgrain paneling on the sides and tailgate.
Oshawa Assembly is a manufacturing facility in the city of Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, that built various automobiles for General Motors Canada.
An opera window is a small fixed window usually behind the rear side window of an automobile. They are typically mounted in the C-pillar of some cars. The design feature was popular during the 1970s and early 1980s and adopted by domestic U.S. manufacturers, most often with a vinyl roof.
Hi-risers, are a type of heavily-customized automobile, typically a full-size, body-on-frame, rear-wheel drive American sedan modified by significantly increasing the vehicle's ground clearance and adding large-diameter wheels with low-profile tires. Depending on the model and style of body, autos customized in this manner can be labeled "box" or "bubble".
In the context of the automobile industry, downsizing is a practice used to transition vehicles from one size segment to another. Commenced during the Malaise era, downsizing is done in response to consumer and government demands influencing vehicle design. As vehicle product lines completed their model cycles, automobile manufacturers developed the next generation of a vehicle with a smaller exterior footprint to allow for weight reduction and increased fuel economy, using a shortened wheelbase and body length.
The fifth generation of the Chevrolet Impala is a line of full-size cars produced by Chevrolet from the 1971 to 1976 model years. The largest generation of the model line, the fifth-generation Impala grew to a 121.5-inch wheelbase