I’ve heard a couple of guys in one of my courses talking about how police officers single out “Box Chevy’s” to pull over, and citing this as an example of racial profiling. Does anyone out there know what exactly a box chevy is? I would guess that it would be a reference to an amplifies subwoofer system, but that’s just a stab it the dark.
I haven’t heard the phrase “box Chevys,” but a few years ago, a cop told me he believed vans were likely to contain potsmokers.
–Nott
don’t know, but if i had to guess, i would say mid-70’s to early 80’s two door sedans ala monte carlo, cutlass supreme (yeah, i know its an olds, but gm=chevy to me, and probably the cops too). stuff like that. they are “boxy”, affordable, easy to personalize and quite popular with inner city young folks if the magazine stands are any indication. i am just guessing and would really like to hear from someone who knows what the hell he is talking about…
Around here a mid 70s or 80s gm car (like a olds delta 88) just stands up and screams black mans car. The cars are cheap, reliable, and affordable with cheap replacement parts. These types of cars usually have ‘black man’ additions like suicide knobs, curb feelers, big sparkly walmart spoke hubcaps…
alright the term box chevy came from when im from which is south florida and it means a 1982 through 1990 chevy caprice or impala cause they were boxy and long i have a 1990 caprice so i would no and why police would find that car suspicious is because it is a very popular dope boys car
The squared-off GM sedans of the 80s, popular with “urban youth,” most notably the Caprice Classic, but there are plenty of cars from the era that it applies to. You typically see them in big cities with over-large wheels that cost more than the car. Other demographics have similar cars - the same age group in different ethnicities favor BMW E30s (an early type of 3-series) and late-80s Japanese cars (Hondas, Mazdas, Toyotas).
I wanted to get an old Caprice Classic Brougham (2-door version) and fix it up and every black guy under 30 - cousins, nephews, co-workers - I knew was screaming “Don’t! You’ll get car-jacked!”
You guys know this is a 12 year old discussion, right?
…and?
Hey if you want to resurrect it go for it, but the people involved in the initial conversation may not even be around still.
Are 80s sedans still popular with the urban youth?
My impression is that among people who were youth 12 year ago they’re still popular, but now the cars are less plentiful and the people who liked them back in the day now have more buying power which is driving up the prices. I think what’s replaced them for the most part is all the upscale quasai-luxury SUV’s that got sold in huge numbers the 90’s and early 2000’s and are now dirt cheap used, although there still are newer (and smaller) versions of the classic American boat sedan that are still popular. I think European and Japanese cars are also a lot more popular among those crowds than they were back 15-20 years ago.
Incidentally, jeez, it took 5 days for anyone to respond to the OP? What could possibly have been drawing everyone’s attention away from discussing old GM products?
I’ve never heard the term “Box Chevy,” but “Classic” Chevys ('55 - '57) are commonly referred to as Shoe Boxes. There are those who also refer to several vehicles of the mid-fifties as Shoeboxes, especially Fords.
Here in the DC area, there’s a stereotype of the “ghetto Cadillac” - old (80s and 90s) American luxury cars that are relatively inexpensive to buy used, can be worked on at home, but have that cachet of being a “luxury car”. Go to Anacostia sometime and see all the 90’s Lincolns and Cadillacs.
I love this sentence.
mmm
So you, too, have a problem with punctuation? 
Late '70s-early '80s B-body GM cars are very popular with the donk crowd. The cars have a large following in general since they are well-proportioned, durable, fairly powerful cars of modest weight. They are the last of GM’s great cars of the 20th century. I’d imagine the origin of the name in the context of the OP is the fact that they are very squared-off in their proportions.
Of course, it’s hard to find one that hasn’t been raised with 22-inch low-profile wheels on it unless it’s an old person’s car, and that’s only because the kids haven’t yet gotten hold of them.
I’m afraid that statement is more correct than you think.