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I spotted an (insert obscure car name here) classic car today! (Archived)
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"I've got a 64' Impala".
THAT, I'd like to see.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Hate those last Caprice wheelcovers--I'd have had the plastic scooped-out spoke covers, which I believe were available right up to the end.
28K miles when he bought it from the original owners in 2009. He said he liked it except for the Olds 307 V8. I wonder why wagons got the Olds engine instead of the Chevy 305, which the sedans got. I was never a fan of that brushed piece behind the rear doors, which all of the wagons had. Maybe just for standardization of any make wagon coming down the line.
Certainly one of the last holdouts of domestic RWD function and styling, and still available with many choices in optional equipment. Less squarish than the Ford wagons I think. But really, at that time, there was nothing else competing with these.
https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/94032645_2947987161904689_1754973295557476352_o.jpg?_nc_cat=104&_nc_sid=07e735&_nc_ohc=CsMbol8b67YAX_QlUzl&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-1.xx&oh=72238e1a84c2b77806300b4fcbcd9cc0&oe=5EC302EB&dl=1
Other than wagons, I liked the '77-79 styling better, but I was always surprised that in the seventh year of its run, the Caprice Classic sedan with 305 4-barrel and F-41 suspension made Car and Driver's "Ten Best Cars In The World" list.
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I have a buddy who never picks up a car mag of any kind and says that about Consumer Reports, LOL.
C&D surely knocked GM before, and after that, so I rather-doubt it, but of course, who knows.
There was something competing with that Caprice wagon and the Ford equivalents, but more expensive - the big Buick Estate Wagon, often seen with wheels. A final run car from 1990 that brought ~10K on BaT
I guess outside of GM and Ford, there was nothing else like it out there.
RE.: C&D, I guess they could've just as easily picked a Crown Vic or Fifth Avenue, though they didn't.
I think probably the last Chevy commercial I liked was for Caprice Classic of about that time--with "The Four Seasons" (Vivaldi, not Valli!) playing, with three (I think) sedans driving very closely through a slalom-y type road. I couldn't find it online, although did find other annoying Chevy commercials, LOL.
I also recall the McCallister family in "Home Alone" had one, but seen only for a brief moment or two. Both of their cars were Buicks - John Hughes sometimes cast American cars with a less than pleasant image, but he gave that clearly well-to-do family a pair of Buicks in 1990.
I suspect a Caprice with the suspension upgrade handled better than any mid 80s 5th Ave, not sure how the Crown Vic suspension compared.
I told the old guy I would call him the next day after thinking it over. I think we wanted $3K for it. I thought it was worth perhaps half that, maybe a bit more, so I figured I would offer him $1500 and then top out at $2K. So I called him and after outlining the issues laid the $1500 offer on him. He let out something between a growl and a scream and slammed down the receiver.
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It’s up there with the 1990 Town Car being “Car of the year”. I’m a pretty avid Panther fan, but in all reality that was an odd choice especially considering it still had the 5.0 in 1990. The 4.6 wasn’t introduced until 1991.
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2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
I laugh at Consumer Reports often, but I did read with interest when they tested the new (latest) Impala as highest-test-score rating of any car they had ever tested, besides a Tesla of some model.
Sure wish I could've talked the wife into one over the Equinox last year.
One year, they made a super-deep dark green one. I don't believe I've ever seen a real one, but saw it in the brochure.
Similarly, I liked the Equinox in that bright green, but the wife wouldn't bite. Salesman said the last one they had, "we had a lonnng time", LOL.
Back to that original Caprice Classic wagon--they made 'em in woodgrain too ("Estate"), but I always loved that light and dark maroon two-tone, separated by gold pinstripe. It's been a long time since I've seen one before this one.
He loaned it to his adult son whose comment was it really comes into it's own when you get up around a 100. Son was security guy for a national box store. He did a tour for our scout troop that I arranged years ago.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
They also had a green Equinox parked out front, the only one I ever saw.
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I wonder, as B-body production started to dwindle, did they perhaps start building all the wagons on the same assembly line, regardless of whether it was Chevy/Pontiac/Olds/Buick? If so, that might have been one reason for making them all 307. And, splitting up the capacity like that, perhaps, gave them a reason to keep the 307 plant going longer. Possibly UAW pressure as well, to keep those plants running as long as possible?
One other possibility. The 307 had more torque than the 305. It wasn't a huge difference. I remember in '85, the 307 had 255 ft-lb at something really low, like 2000 rpm. The 305 had 245, at a slightly higher 2400 rpm. I don't know if that's enough to really make much difference, but I've always heard the old phrase that people buy horsepower, but drive torque. And getting a bit more torque, at a lower rpm, perhaps it was better suited to the heavier wagon body?
Every once in awhile, I'll look through the inventory on cars.com, to see if anything local catches my eye. But alas, it's a total yawn-fest of whites, silvers, blacks. A blue so dark it might as well be black...and I don't have the discipline to keep a dark colored car looking nice and clean! An occasional grayish/brownish hue. And once in a blue moon, a red one.
It's also annoying, that in this day and age, it seems like a sunroof is a rarity. I swear, I see a higher percentage of '92-96 Camrys with sunroofs, than I do, Impalas!
136X, G7J, WA136X Unripened Green Metallic
2015 Chevrolet Impala Color
Looks like a 1-year color.
https://www.automotivetouchup.com/touch-up-paint/chevrolet/2015/impala/
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For whatever reason most Impalas I see here are white, occasionally silver. I have seen that light blue metallic a few times. The red looks good on the Impala being GM’s extra-cost metallic red.
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When I'd look at Premiers or LTZ's on new car lots, it was hard to find one without a sunroof. I have never owned a car with a sunroof, except a Studebaker.
I always figured all of the wagons were probably built at one plant, so the 307 in all of them, and that brushed metal applique behind the rear doors was added to the Chevy wagons at some point--again, to me, indicating all makes were built at the same plant. But now I don't know.
I saw something online I had forgotten about...did the 307 never get fuel injection? The 305 did.
I never saw many, but I also loved that dark burgundy/lighter maroon two-tone on Monte Carlos in the '87-88 period, with the lighter color below the bright sill moldings on LS models.
Paying extra for a color always stuck in my craw!
It never happened at Chevy until the mid-2000's I believe. I know some "Firemist" colors at Cadillac were optional back in the '70's because I remember seeing it on window stickers.
The Home Alone Buicks, for reference, too:
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
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Chevy actually kept the 180 hp 305 around for '88. For that abbreviated model year, they actually built more Monte SS'es than regular Montes, 16204 to 13970. I think it was '87 that the 305 went to TBI, for the Caprice, at least. My old car encyclopedia shows that was the year it made the slight jump from 165 to 170 hp. However, the Monte Carlo 305 (non-SS) was still a 4-bbl with somewhat restrictive exhaust that put out 150.
The 170 hp version of the 305 stayed at that output through the end in 1993, when it was replaced with a 200 hp 4.3 V6 for '94.
I've wondered if there was any performance improvement with the '94 4.3 versus the '93 305? The new one had 200 hp @ 5200 rpm and 245 ft-lb of torque @ 2400 rpm. The '94 305 had 170 hp @ 4200 rpm, 255 ft-lb @ 2400. At least, according to Edmunds.
Back in 1999, I test drove a '94 Caprice with the 4.3, and a '96 with the 5.7, which was essentially the SS without the flash. The '94 was sort of "meh". I remember it had some issue with one of the rear windows, too...either it didn't work at all, or it came off its track, something like that. The '96 though, I fell in love! Except it had a heavy smoker smell in it. Anyway, the dealer gave me a bad vibe, so I passed. But towards the end of the month, the sales manager called and left a message, saying they were willing to deal. I didn't actually see the message until a few days later. Called back, and the guy gave me attitude saying "well, that was the end of the month. This is the beginning." So, that was that. And, I ended up buying my Intrepid the following weekend.
I wouldn't mind one of those LT1 350 Caprices. But, I wonder if by now most of them have been ratted out? Probably easier to find a Fleetwood or Roadmaster.
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Subjective of course, but to my eyes, the Roadmaster and Fleetwood look even more gargantuan than the Caprice.
That said, I despise the '94-96 Caprice instrument panel.
This car really was much nicer to drive than the '74 Impala Sport Coupe which was traded in on it. The stubby hood took some getting used to. There was a magazine ad Chevy did with a red Caprice Classic coupe similar to it, that was titled "The Long-Legged Coupe".
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Took Ford another couple years to make their full-size cars similarly downsized, and in ads complained about the Chevy seeming small compared to their LTD's "road-hugging weight", LOL.
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I remember years ago, there was a '58 Bel Air 4-door sedan for sale locally, sitting in a middle school parking lot. I parked my Intrepid next to it, and lined it up so the front-ends were even. Surprisingly, the driving position of both cars was about the same distance from the front of the car. But, if you look at the cars in pictures, or even in person, but by themselves so you don't have anything to reference, the '58 Chevy looks a lot bigger. At least, to me it does.
FWIW, a '58 Chevy IS bigger than an Intrepid. 209.1" versus 203.7". And the wheelbase was 117.5" versus 113.0". But, that's not a huge difference in my opinion. But with the Chevy being more flat-faced, having an upright windshield, longer hood and rear deck, and shorter passenger cabin, it gives the illusion of much greater length.
It went over about as well as 1975's "The New, Small Fury: The Car a Lot of People Have Been Waiting For!"
I had to google some interior pics, as I was drawing a blank. I was thinking of all three interiors as a bit bland, plasticky, and "corporate" feeling. But yeah, the Roadmaster and Fleetwood definitely look upscale from the Caprice!
Speaking of that, yesterday I saw zipping down my street, a chamois-colored Fleetwood Brougham--'80 to '89 I'd say, LOL...best I could narrow it down since I couldn't study any details! That color made me think it leaned earlier '80's.
That's some traditional Cadillac styling I still rather like, although I never liked the instrument panels on those cars from '77 on. That center 'snout' in the panel was not appealing to me.
Pretty good turnout, actually...representation from each of the Big Three, plus one independent.
I've mentioned on the other page, how the "Studebaker Graveyard" is near the Proving Ground 15 miles west of South Bend. Prototypes are still there. People who (current owner) Navistar gave permission to wander out and photograph it, were sworn to secrecy about where in the acreage it was. Well, then comes Google maps and the like, and it was visible right in the middle of the three-mile oval!
My good friend Bob and his cousin snuck into the Proving Ground at night once and climbed a tree to see prototype Avantis going around the track, prior to introduction. One went by; the brake lights came on, then the backup lights--driver saw their legs hanging down from the tree. Driver said "Get in the car, boys" and drove them out to the gate and they were thrilled and peppering the guy with questions, LOL. Today, I think the police would probably get called in a similar instance.