Classified Find - Cadillac Escalade EXT

What do you do if you want to give the impression that you're an early noughties rapper, but in reality you're a trades-person?

If this is the conundrum you find yourself in, I have the solution for you right here. The Cadillac Escalade EXT.

The second generation Cadillac Escalade of 2002 was the 'ride' of choice for the hip-hop fraternity of the early millennium.

It's huge chrome grille, wheel arches that could fit 'Dubz' (that's 20-inch rims to you and I) under them comfortably; and the fact it was large enough to hold your after party inside, made it the must have from Diddy to Snoop and all in between.

While the regular Escalde was the model for you and your entourage, the XLT was the variant for the person who was party in the front, business in the back.

From the C-Pillar backward, gone was the last row of seats, glass house and roof and in place, there was an all-American truck-bed. So you could still live the plush leather seats and plastic wood life up front, but you could then store your chainsaw and animal hides in the back.

Although the Escalade, in any guise, was never officially sold here, a few turf-kickin' cow-boys and girls did import a few. A certain loud-mouth MMA fighter can sometimes be seen cruising around Crumlin in one.

Today's Classified Find, an XLT, was more likely brought over by a cage-builder rather than a cage-fighter, who has now parted ways, probably growing tired of the fuel bills created by the 6.0 litre petrol V8 under the 'hood'.

It's for sale at a dealership in county Wicklow for just a fiver short of fourteen grand, which is either a little or a lot, depending on where you come from.

If you need any further encouragement to take the plunge, the Escalade XLT was the car (SPOILER ALERT) Sopranos mafia-capo, Christopher Moltisanti, met his untimely demise in the legendary HBO drama. Not that you would want to go out the same way, but a good excuse to use when people ask you, "why?".