Sac Speed Shop's Rose Gold 1971 Caprice Is a 26-Inch Donk That Goes to the Drag Strip

Some donks are built to be looked at. Alex Hernandez built his to be looked at, then driven to the drag strip, then driven home. His 1971 Chevrolet Caprice wears Rose Gold paint, 26-inch Forgiato by Wade wheels and a ProCharger the size of a mixing bowl, and according to LSX Magazine it has run the drag strip, done burnout shows, won awards at major shows and covered the Hot Rod Power Tour under its own power.

Hernandez, who goes by Sleepy, owns Sac Speed Shop in Sacramento, California. LSX Magazine's Jeremy Nichols admitted a ProCharged Caprice donk was not the magazine's usual feature car, but said the staff had to photograph it once they saw it in person. That is a fair summary of how this car works on people.

A pandemic orphan

The Caprice did not start as Hernandez's car. It began as a customer build right before everything shut down in 2020, and he told LSX Magazine the pandemic killed the project early. Parts shortages kept it crawling for the next two years. In 2022 the customer made an offer Hernandez says he could not refuse, and he bought the unfinished car, which was already well known in the big-wheel crowd.

Once it was his, Hernandez changed the plan. The original combination was a 408-cubic-inch LS with an F-1A ProCharger, set up for roughly 750 wheel horsepower and easy cruising. He wanted more. "This was a no-expense-spared build from the beginning, and once I bought the car I knew I wanted to replace the motor and transmission to make even more power and still be a cruiser," Hernandez told the magazine.

Built from a bare frame

The car was taken down to the bare frame, which was cleaned up and stripped of tabs and brackets it no longer needed. The underside of the body got black Cerakote. To carry 26-inch wheels without riding like a hay wagon, the Caprice got a complete QA1 big-wheel suspension package: new upper and lower front control arms and coilovers at all four corners.

Out back is a narrowed, fabricated Moser Engineering 9-inch, chosen both to survive four-digit horsepower and to let the rear wheels tuck into the fenders. With the chassis done, the body went to Hernandez's friend Jay for straightening and the custom Rose Gold paint. Every piece of trim was straightened, smoothed and rechromed before it went back on.

First-run Forgiato by Wade wheels

On any big-wheel car the wheels are the headline, and these are rare ones. LSX Magazine says they are first-run prototype 26x10 Forgiato by Wade forged wheels, finished in Rose Gold with polished barrels and floating center caps. The steering wheel is a matching Forgiato piece.

Behind the wheels are Baer brakes with 16-inch drilled and slotted rotors and six-piston calipers engraved with the Sac Speed Shop name. "The calipers are a custom touch, and we use the Baer brake package almost exclusively on our builds," Hernandez said. On a heavy sedan making this kind of power, big brakes are not decoration.

The 434 and the F-1X

The original 408 and its 4L80 came out. In went a 434-cubic-inch LS assembled by Geordie at LS Garage on an LSX iron block, with a Callies Dragon Slayer crankshaft, Callies connecting rods and Diamond pistons. A Brian Tooley Racing camshaft runs the valvetrain, Lingenfelter Performance Engineering cylinder heads sit on top, and a Frankenstein Engine Dynamics billet intake finishes it off.

Rather than reuse the F-1A, Hernandez worked with ProCharger and stepped up to an F-1X. He estimates the combination is good for about 1,500 horsepower at the crank but keeps the real number to himself. "Even though we cruise the streets in this car I wanted plenty of power for when I go to the drag strip," he told LSX Magazine. An upgraded 4L80 automatic with a Circle D torque converter sends it all to the Moser rear.

Rose Gold inside, too

The interior is black leather with Rose Gold accents. The dash, center console, door panels and the rest of the cabin are custom pieces from RK Customs. Sandman Designs made the engraved, Rose Gold door locks, sill plates, vents, strikers and rearview mirror. A Holley EFI digital screen connected to the Dominator ECU sits in the dash to watch the engine.

No car like this is finished without a stereo. The trunk holds two Ground Zero 15-inch subwoofers and a Soundigital 8k amplifier in a custom enclosure, and Car Audio Engineers in Sacramento handled the audio, wiring and lighting.

The West Coast pitch

LSX Magazine noted that this style of build still gets mixed reactions at shows, and Hernandez knows it. He told the magazine he wants to bring Sac Speed's style to the rest of the country and show people that donks can be built to the same level as any other high-end custom. The car makes the argument well. The chassis, brake and engine parts list would not look out of place on a pro-touring Camaro, and the car is not a trailer queen.

It is also a reminder that the donk scene is not only a Southern thing anymore. The style grew up in South Florida and the Southeast, but a Sacramento shop is now building Caprices with prototype wheels, Baer brakes and a 1,500-hp estimate, then driving them across the country. If this Rose Gold Caprice rolls into a show near you, LSX Magazine's advice still holds: take a closer look.