Benito Camacho of Brooklyn, New York, is better known as DJ Big Ben. Benito is a disk jockey at Hot97, a New York-based hip-hop radio station, and has been collecting cars since 2006. He’s a fan of classic cars and didn’t know much about the lowrider scene before he decided to get himself one. “I kind of just jumped into it without knowing anything. It was just my love for classic cars in general that made me want to get one.” The one thing he knew about the lowrider scene in New York was that most of the cars that he’d seen were either a 1963 or 1964 Impala or a hopper. “I wanted to stand out from the crowd so I went with a different year than most get.”
He first found this 1972 Impala from East L.A. on a lowrider forum called layitlow.com. “I thought the 1972 was a great canvas for what I wanted to do.” The guy who sold Benito the car told him that it used to be a Majestics car. “I thought that was pretty cool, especially with all the history the club has.”
Building the car in the opposite coast was something that Benito had to figure out before having it shipped. “I wanted it to be a pretty street car that was in great running condition.” Benito was able to get in contact with Curly’s Pinstriping in Paramount, California, who was able to have the car built to his liking. After taking care of the build, Curly shipped the car out to Benito. “There was nothing like getting my car off the trailer and driving it down my block in Brooklyn. Everyone was staring as if they saw a spaceship.”
Curly did a fantastic job on the build but Benito had to have the hydraulic setup redone. “They worked great but it felt like I was driving a pogo stick. I know that accumulators are a ‘no, no’ in L.A. but these New York streets will make you change your mind.” Benito had his friend Lou from Drastic Auto Club in Brooklyn rebuild the setup by adding accumulators to get a smoother ride. DJ Big Ben spins wax on airwaves and rolls wires on the streets.
1972 Chevrolet Impala
Vehicle Nickname
Baby Blue
Owner
Benito Camacho
City/State
Brooklyn, NY
Engine
350 with an engraved finned shotgun air cleaner, Sunpro gauges, flex hose, stainless steel master cylinder, dual electric radiator fans and a yellow top optima battery
Body/Paint
Electric blue metallic body with a flaked silver top. Baby blue and sky blue ‘striping was added all over the body and top was patterned with different shades of purple and blue
Suspension
Chrome double-whammy pump, six switches, four accumulators, and six batteries
Interior
two-tone vinyl
Sound
Kenwood CD player
Wheels/Tires
Chrome 14-inch wire wheels with the painted dish to match the top and Remington 175/75/R14 white wall tires
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