Sixth Time's A Charm

BUILDING A COVER CAR AFTER TWO DECADES

- Beto Mendoza

Building Caprices and being featured in LOWRIDER magazine isn’t anything new to Jaime Tapia. This is the Santa Ana resident’s sixth Caprice build and the fourth time being featured on the pages of LOWRIDER. What is new for him is landing on the cover of LOWRIDER. “I looked at all the cars on the cover of LOWRIDER and used that to guide me in the build, while keeping an old-school look to it.” Jaime’s been lowriding since 1994 and he credits his start to his cousin’s love of lowriders and his father who owned a Caprice.

Jaime picked up this '75 convertible that needed everything done to it by trading a fully done up '73 Caprice that was featured in LOWRIDER back in 2008. “It wasn’t a straight trade since this one needed everything,” Jaime explains.

The build began when Clemente (a member of Viejitos) pulled out the original 350 motor to rebuild it. The block was painted to match the paint and a four-barrel Edelbrock carb was slapped on top. This was just the start of the motor buildup as it received ball-milled billet valve covers and air filter. Chrome headers and a water pump were added but before the motor was dropped back in, Jaime shaved the firewall to give it a clean look.