The third-gen Chevy Caprice, made for the 1977 through 1990 model years, was the last of the traditional box Caprices. Those of us who came of driving age during the Late Malaise Era came to fear the rear-view-mirror sight of the grille of this car, the early Panther Ford LTD, and the Dodge Diplomat, due to their popularity among police departments in the 1980s. You don’t see many box Caprices these days, but enough were made that they appear in self-service wrecking yards now and then. Here’s a very governmental-looking example I saw in Denver a couple months ago.
Made in Texas by Texans! Sajeev would approve, but his loyalty to the Blue Oval is stronger than his love of Texan-made automobiles.
Carburetors were almost gone by this time, but the Caprice still had a good ol’ Quadrajet on its 305-cubic-inch V8. In 1989, the Caprice got electronic fuel injection (instead of the Holley double-pumper that should have been installed to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall).
GM had toned down all the heraldic crests and related gingerbread on the Caprice by the late 1980s, probably because police departments and rental-car companies don’t care about such things, but you still got a few fleur-de-lis scattered about the car.
85 mph speedometers were no longer mandated by US law in 1988, but we can assume that GM had a few hundred thousand of these things in their warehouses and wanted to use them up.
The Merkur XR4Ti also had an 85 mph speedometer, but it was presented with a certain amount of winking and nudging.
As you can see in this “Hearbeat of America” add from 1988, the Caprice wasn’t getting much emphasis in Chevrolet’s marketing in 1988.
Not the most expensive luxury car, but the most preferred.
Oh, the memories! I had one almost exactly like this, only blue on blue, later wrapped in NYC Taxi livery and fitted with some go-fast parts.
Daily driving a tire-burning NYC cab in Czech Republic was a lot of fun.
All hail the County Road Cockroach.
They were plenty fine for the time.
Good follow up to the early-90s Lumina featured on here recently. Nice juxtaposition of old and new.
I spent most of my teenage years in one of these, 81 if my memory doesn’t fails me.
Great ride, comfortable… it had a 305 (unkillable) and the 85 mph sweep speedo, which my dad buried plenty of times. The local spec cars had speedos that went up to 220 km/h (~135 mph)
I’d love to have one, fitted with a modern LS engine and a 6L80E. But then I remember the Aussies built the WM and the WN, and I go into kermit the frog mode… y se me pasa.
Love Ford’s naughtiness on the Sierra.
If you want to know why GM’s market share plummeted from ~50% in the 60s to ~25% by the end of the 90s, drive one of these.
That’s a 30-year span beginning 50 years ago. If you’ve lived it you know what a difference 30 post-peak years can make to your own performance. Especially when your competition more than quadruples.
“If you want to know why GM’s market share plummeted from ~50% in the 60s to ~25% by the end of the 90s, drive one of these.”
Uh, no.
These were every bit as competent as their Ford Panther counterparts and with the right options would run several hundred thousand miles – as shown by their extensive taxi/police/fleet use.
GM’s market share dropped because of poor execution and mediocre presentation, mostly in their small and mid-size lines.
So sorry, but big erefant in room here.
Panthers suck too. Neither of these cars was remotely modern in the late 70s, and they did not improve with age. Utter dreck. Cockroach unkillability only really matters to police departments and cab companies, nobody else should have to drive one of these heaps.
These were the best cars Chevy was selling in the late 80’s. The slow decline of the Caprice from car-mag award-winner into obsolescence wasn’t the problem.
The problem was the midsize Chevrolet lineup was utter dreck. The Celebrity? The Corsica? After driving one you’d be dreaming of a Caprice!
So you think B-Bodys and Panthers suck
What about Chryslers barges of the time? The few RWD unibody ones?
Can’t say I have ever driven one of the Chrysler equivalents. I can’t imagine I would enjoy the experience though.
If theres anything I like about Chryslers luxury yachts, its that they aren’t glorified like the other two.
Doesn’t make them better cars, just means people aren’t obsessing over them.
Khrodes, your completely subjective and irrational hatred for these cars never ceases to amaze. Do I come into threads about little sh!tcans and crap all over them? What’s the point, who are you trying to impress and/or convince? I guess Sisyphus just kept on pushing that boulder, too.
I call them as I see them. The lovefest for these pieces of crap baffles me.
Stick to what you know, like how many clowns you can fit into your Fiat.
I have driven MORE then enough miles in these pieces of crap and the Ford equivalents to have a very valid opinion of their relative worth. How much time have you spent in a modern Fiat, exactly? Or old ones, for that matter?
“These were every bit as competent as their Ford Panther counterparts”
And the Archies were just as good as the Monkees. Not exactly high praise.
One should consider that even a base Toyota of the time could out handle either of these barges, even the FWD Yoyos.
Pch, the psychic energy of your gratuitous, smug asides could power a small city.
Wow, someones a bit sore over a little B-Body skepticism.
That bankruptcy sure was gratuitous.
You going for a record in non-sequiturs? Being too clever-by-half only works when it makes any sense.
If you can’t figure out the linkage between GM’s bankruptcy filing and the products that it made prior to the bankruptcy, then you…er, must be a GM fanboy.
This reminds me of the Black Knight in Monty Python’s Holy Grail who won’t admit defeat even though he has blood gushing from every stump. The denial of the obvious is bordering on the neurotic.
Save the pat broadside dismissals for the amateurs, Watson.
This article is about a Box Caprice.
I’m tired of your parlour games. You have the nerve to talk to me about neuroses. Christ.
GM failed because it made subpar vehicles. This is an example of one of them. That you haven’t figured this out doesn’t speak well of you.
My boss had one of these with that carbed 305. Never ran right, and would. not. start. if the weather was cold or damp. Cheap interior materials. He came to hate it. Just because the Panther wasn’t any better doesn’t mean the Caprice was any good.
This car has nothing whatsoever to do with GM’s drop in market share. Now some of the garbage that dear Roger Smith cooked up like the downsized dwarf E-body 1986 Eldorado or the shrunken C-body cars in 1985 like the Deville then I would agree. Increasing competition and swinging and confused shifts in consumer tastes also contributed!
I attribute their market loss to ghastly face-lifts and spotty quality.
The B-Body was a step in the right direction, but then the glorious Citation showed up.
Sorry, but the downsized 1977 and later fullsize GM sedans were the General’s last hurrah before X-Car ineptitude set in. Exceptionally well-engineered for the day, they were smaller and lighter than the cars they replaced, yet had better interior and cargo space and they handled so, so much better than previous full-sizers. GM made a lot of mistakes but the B-body wasn’t one of them.
I agree 100%. My in-law had the Pontiac version of this, then he traded it in for an ’86 DeVille, thinking he was moving up-market, he soon realized the opposite had occurred.
Surprised to see a not “donk-ified” one of these in the junkyard. Not too beat up either, so my guess is no one younger than 30 ever owned this one.
The wheels even have the supports for the wired wheel covers. I dig the dual exhaust.
Check the exhaust tips and the presence of the stock steelies sans covers. Looks like it was involved in an accident and de-donkified before its final sendoff.
Good eye! Didn’t think to look for that. So much for my theory :)
I was expecting giant holes where TVs once were, butchered exposed wiring, and yellow air vents.
Not to mention a driver’s seat permanently stuck at a 60-degree recline!
Wouldn’t they have had to replace/lift the suspension to donkify it?
“Wouldn’t they have had to replace/lift the suspension to donkify it?”
Not if the wheel size was kept semi-sane. A set of 20-inchers likely wouldn’t require much lift, if any.
Does anyone else not fully understand the appeal of the “donk” car culture? Just saying it’s not my first choice of modification-but the “donk” car guys are car guys too-and it’s the love of cars we should celebrate.
Most of the wheels are cringeworthy, from both an aesthetic but especially an engineering perspective, but it’s nice to see old and otherwise under-appreciated classics (ie not some over-restored 2 doors) being driven out and about for all to see.
Thats like saying that all artists should get together since they all draw art.
Personally I’d rather see cars thrown into a derby or LeMons before they get donked, riced, etc. Makes the roads safer.
The plural of fleur-de-lis is fleurs-de-lis.
My grandfather drove nothing but Caprices as long as I knew him. Spend many hours riding around in the back and middle front seat. (Any sedan’s left with a front bench seat?). Very nice cars for the time. Those who say otherwise don’t have the context for saying so.
“Those who say otherwise don’t have the context for saying so.”
Wise beyond your years.
+100
The W-body Impala is the last sedan to have a front bench seat. It will be produced until 2016, and then its all over.
FWIW, the Heartbeat commercial is from 1987 model year, not 1988. You can tell most obviously by the Cavalier Z24.
That and the G-body Monte Carlo SS…GM wouldn’t advertise a car they were immediately canceling, I’d hope.
Of course they would, and did, several times. How else you gonna clear dealer inventory so they can fit the new models in their floor plan?
The Q-Jet remained on the Olds 307-equipped cars (“Y” serial number) thru 1989. I owned one.
The Chevy 305s were MUCH better.
See how the two screws on the speedometer aren’t lined up?
That would drive me to violent road rages.
That’s GM’s mark of excellence, right in front of your eyes.
That’s like saying the lug nuts on the wheels don’t line up with each other. No, seriously- so what?
You’re not looking at lugnuts at every intersection.
General Motors “Mark of Excellence” much like Toyota’s “reputation for reliability” were both born out of the sales / marketing departments. Not from the engineering department. Trust me.
“See how the two screws on the speedometer aren’t lined up?”
Haha, have you checked all your wall switch plates and receptacles?..:)
I know what you mean.
This is exactly why I went with plates and switches which have no visible screws!
The Lutron Maestro series of switches and Claro series plates.
http://www.goodmart.com/images/prodimages/lutron/MAESTRO_DIMMER_wh.jpg
http://www.lutronstore.com/prodImages/NT-15-WH-MED.jpg
Brilliant!
Back in the Nineties I wanted to get one of these and put the TPI V8, transmission, and suspension pieces from a third-gen F-Body in it. It would have been so awesome. I doubt it would have won many stop-light drags, but it would have been a cool cruiser.
When we owned our first dealership during the early 90’s we used to comb the big new car dealers to find these types of cars to put on the front row. They usually sold the next day, especially if they were in really nice shape and clean. The vast majority had the 305 or 307 and were generally very reliable and took much abuse. So did the Panthers and Diplomats.
What are all those poor people running from in the commercial?! Also that woman was doing an early version of twerking against the Cavalier.
Yeah, that was hot. Several inmates now call her Mom.
LOLOL Big Momma whatchoo doin’!
She all inta astromogy now.
“What are those poor people running from in the commercial?!” They’re running from the Toyota Zombie Apocalypse to the “safe haven” of mid eighties GM products.
Good plan, keeping your Beretta close in times like that.
The combination of 1988 and Beretta just makes me think of Die Hard.
No! You may choose either a beige 190E, or a Town Car limousine. Or one of these Caprices in police livery.
I think we’re thinking of different Berettas…
Mine is Italian!
Well you lose, because the topic was GM!
My grandfather had a Caprice Classic in the early 90’s, which was a former government car. It was flat white with blue vinyl interior. Shortly after buying it developed a very serious dieseling timing issue (with the carb?) and would chug-chug for some time even after removing the key.
He decided to get something more reliable (ha) so he replaced it with a ’92 New Yorker, grey on grey velour. That thing leaked oil like the Exxon Valdez. But boy did it have lots of buttons for me to push on the inside!
He became annoyed with the grey beast, so he sold it when he bought the 86 Fifth Avenue in pimptastic red on red velour. 30K miles on it, around 1996.
How’d the Fifth Avenue work out for him?
It was fine actually. He liked it but I think decided it was too old after a while, and he didn’t really need it. Had it for maybe three or four years, and traded it in on a Century Limited, which he had for a year or two, followed by a LeSabre which grenaded its transmission after 30k-ish miles, some ridiculous number. He was done with Buick -cars- after that, so he decided to show GM his resolve, by purchasing from the showroom floor a loaded Terraza. x.x They still have that one.
I thought LeSabres were some of their more reliable models? Then again whenever I see them they’re usually in disrepair.
I hope the Terraza works out, rode in a few once and could never figure out if they were minivans or SUVs.
I think they’re generally okay, but the Century probably tops the trio for reliability. Since they’re all kind of similar, you just end up with more and more complex electronics (especially sensors which go bad) as you go up from Century > LeSabre > Park Avenue.
The Century always had that ancient 3.1!
My other set of grandparents has a similar vintage LeSabre to this day (gently driven and dealer babied and garaged) which has fared better, I believe. I can’t be certain of that though, as they’re a “stick with it even when bad” kind of people.
The Terraza has had flickery lighting on the interior since new, never gets above 19mpg even on the highway, is a rattle trap, and a wallowy boat to drive. It’s very unpleasant, and it was over $40,000 I believe in 05.
But it doesn’t break.
Over $40,000? Geez, seems pricey for whats basically a Chevy minivan.
Centurys are strangely underrated, hear very little about them but yet I see them all the time. GM must’ve done something right with those cars.
Centurys basically took all of the most agricultural, er, “time-tested” mechanicals you could put on the W platform and shoved them into one car. It’s no surprise that they were reliable and no surprise that they were hateful to drive.
At Dal:
In other words GM successfully figured out how to build a Toyota Corolla.
Dal is absolutely right. Nothing in the Century was even remotely new, save for the materials used to make it. All of the components were at the -end- of their long use cycles by GM. So you end up with a very reliable, very dull, and very slow car.
Seriously, it’s like an Ambien on wheels. Stomping the pedal only gives you a vague idea of what increasing speed feels like.
However, if you need a cheap to buy and cheap to run ride, it’s right up there with the 3800. Except cheaper. The Regal version had the 3800 and was a bit nicer inside, but they’re harder to find because everybody saw right through the Century trim level charade.
I’ve heard the A-Body 3.1 variant took 11 seconds to get up to 11 seconds to get to 0-60. Is this accurate?
Theres that and the brakes, did they get any better for the W-Body variant?
To me they’re those strange Twinkie knock-offs the grocery store, not quite a Toyota, but they’re usually cheaper and close enough.
Per this video, yep about 10 seconds. The early 00’s Century had 178HP, but the gearing was just so lazy, and it was a pretty heavy car.
Brakes are spongy, and the car nosedives every time you touch the pedal. I think here is where a Regal with sportier suspension would make a difference as well.
https:// www. youtube.com/watch?v=3cBBYSK6prI
Shopped Century in 1999. Optioned it was more than an LS Regal. N/A 3800, Monsoon tunes 4 wheel discs and leather. Compared to the Century it drove great- faster on less gas with decent handling. My nephew still drives it.
A 99 Century Limited was $20,225. Regal LS was $21,795 so they were indeed close.
What were people doing opting for that Century 3.1 then?! You see so many Century models all over the place, and very very few Regals. And in that time, fuel economy was certainly not top priority anyway.
The base Century had a lot of cash on the hood that June. Plus a bench in front = six people. OTD, you got a Buick for Chevy money. The Regal was a very competent, trouble free car with lots of gadgets/content. I even liked the looks a lot.
I’d personally take an Impala instead, same thing as a Regal without the ho-hum styling.
Century sounds like they kept it there just to have a cheap car around. 4-cylinder performance with V6 gas mileage!
BUT!
The Impala is more likely to be trashed by a younger VatoZone former owner, and much more likely to have been a fleet. Also less well-equipped.
Don’t know about the Impala but the Regal had a nice firm ride- very in-Buick. The supercharged GS was a bit of a Q-ship-invisible to cops and pretty fast. Oshawa built them both pretty well although body panel gaps were much wider than you see today. Heavily decontented when discontinued in 2004, I believe, in the grand tradition of the old GM.
Thats very true, last Impy I saw was a ratty ex-cruiser driven by some youth.
Centurys are so under-the radar they dont get grabbed by curbstoners and re-sold for a couple grand.
One of my favorite early 90’s wheel designs was on the Caprice Classic, I shall find it. The chromed dog dish with black centre detail.
http://www.curbsideclassic.com/wp-content/comment-image/95096.jpg
This one! I think it may have been the police wheel option and on lower trim specs? Since the upper trims probably got the wire wheels.
I think I’d rather have a Parisienne though, because fender skirt.
I always wanted a 89 or 90 model just for the combo of TBI and the old school body.
http://www.classiccarstodayonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/1977-Chevrolet-Impala-donk-c.jpg
HAHAHAHAH
I still see plenty of these.
Brougham models in two tone blue are quite fetching…but my Caprice would have to be blacked out GNX style and fitted with the hottest small block I could afford.
http://www.curbsideclassic.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/87-Brougham-and-Brougham-LS.jpg
Shazam!
Love the roof. Broughamtastic.
I saw one of those LS Broughams recently, actually! They’re fairly easy to spot because of the roof and the LS etching on the back little windows. Whatever you call the windows that are behind the back windows…
Now I have a question:
If it’s in the door as we see here, can it still be called an opera window? Or does an opera window necessarily have to be within the C-pillar? I think if it isn’t called opera, it’s just a quarter light, part of the window which doesn’t roll down.
Yep, has to be in the pillar and not attached to the door.
By the way, the WORST implementation of brougham quarter light window is found on the 1979-1980 New Yorker.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/that_chrysler_guy/6202156512/in/photostream/
It’s gross, and the interior execution offends me as well.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/that_chrysler_guy/6201643467/in/photostream/
Get that G-D grab strap out of my face.
Also, That Hartford Guy should come here and visit, because he has excellent automotive tastes, leaning toward large and broughamed.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/that_chrysler_guy/19427416692/
This is so elegant.
Chrysler had basically zero money at the time, so this was as much as they could pull off. We’re lucky they didn’t just grind the name off the leftover Cordoba medallions and plaster those all over the car.
I’m surprised at the same time then, that they spent all that money on the Imperial coupe!
I’m tired of excuses for flagship vehicles, get it together 1980’s Chrysler!
They didn’t, really. It was largely a reskinned Cordoba and probably wouldn’t have been made if Lido hadn’t insisted.
http://www.allpar.com/cars/imperial/1981.html
I will certainly read this, and I want a Mark Cross umbrella.
I sort of want an Imperial, but I don’t think it to be worth the electronics hassle and rust (and boy did these rust badly).
Probably would rust like the cherry 84 Coupe De Ville 4100 my dad said I should buy the other day. I’m like noooo 4100.
Mark Cross, not Marc.
Oh and MY84 Deville is RWD so it will take a swap.
I fixed it, sheesh.
Here’s that DeVille. 82, not an 84, so first year (yay) of the 4100.
https://cincinnati.craigslist.org/cto/5097468324.html
Ha, the 4100 looks so tiny!
I’d recommend looking for a pickup truck with a 350. Sure it’s a Chevy motor, but it also has torque and doesn’t catastrophically fail.
I see Corey buying this. The fact it was so early and even made it to 58K without the block melting (yes) suggests the motor is not original to the car and was previously replaced. The car looks clean enough to be worth doing a swap on when the second 4100 chokes up.
Problem is:
1) It would get parked outside, and I know it’d be rusting within a year. I would ruin it.
2) I actually find the mid-90s Park Avenue better looking.
3) Item 2) has twice the HP, more space inside, is more practical, and twice the MPG. And much more rust resistant.
Oh 4) I just spent a bunch of money getting my house painted a week ago, lol.
1. Krown
2. Yes, BUT not nearly as pimptastic. Also not a coupe, RWD, etc.
I don’t think I’m up for a classic car at this juncture, though I would enjoy driving it to the store and to car shows.
She’d also need a name, which would be Bethany.
I am not so much disappointed as I am blinded with rage.
Bahahah.
Oliverrrrr!
You do need an Oliver.
I love it. “All gauges work.” The car has a speedo and a fuel gauge — that’s it.
Needs a 350 and a tow package.
Local used car sales/junk lot has one of these in a once-metallic sky blue. Too bad it has a huge rust hole below the C-pillar on one side.
Did the box Caprices even come with a tow package?
I know the whales had a tow package that used some bits of the 9C1 package, like the heavier duty suspension and the transmission cooler.
I believe they did have a tow package, likely nothing more than the f41 suspension and HD cooling.
No 350 though, only the cops got that one.
These tanks are still on the road today, nearly 30 years later. When I was living in Richmond, VA, an old guy at work had an early 80s Coupe that looked like it left the showroom a week prior. He always parked in the very back of the parking lot.
They ride extremely well too. I wish GM would would have done a better job of evolving these over time.
@Spartan
How can you say these ride well? Have you ever actually ridden in a decent car? With the normal suspension, they wallow and heave in a nautical manner that will make me car sick inside of 15 minutes, while still jiggling and juddering over every little imperfection in the road. “Busy” doesn’t even begin to describe it. With the cop suspension, the wallowing is toned down considerably but the stiff jiggling is 10X worse, with added slamming. And neither has even a trace of steering feel, like holding a Frisbee up in front of you.
I used to have to drive these heaps from the motor pool at my university. Ugh. Terrible even when brand new.
Slow down for curves. That’s how we used to drive so we could enjoy the straight-line cush.
Slowing down makes everything safer & better!
On a frost heaved back road in Maine you would have to slow to a stop.
Put Bilsteins on it!
Even a newer cop-spec Panther felt like that to me, incredibly “stiff and slammy”, stiff, and steering kinda sort there (better than old iterations, but still bad).
We should admit that suvs do the whole “needlessly big and luxurious gas hog” thing better, at least you can get really good cargo space with them.
These composite-headlight models are ruined for me by the fact that one of them was the first police cruiser ever to pull me over when I was 16. I see that face and all I can think of is having to explain to my mom why there was a cancelled check from the local court enclosed with that month’s bank statement on the account she had set up for me.
Holy crap, it’s Pappas and Utah’s car! Gnarly!
The old man got one of these for our mother when they first came out. Burnt orange or copper with the velour interior and every possible option, It replaced a Cordoba.
I had a ’75 Caprice Classic with the ‘big’ engine and although it was a lovely highway cruiser and you could almost stretch out and sleep in the back seat, these new ‘downsized’ cars were light years ahead of what they replaced.
The 305 didn’t produce much but it was reliable. The sightlines were good as was the interior room, particularly when compared to the exterior size.
Eventually totalled when one of my brothers was t-boned by a drunk. My brother walked away with only minor bruising.
All in all, one of GM’s better designs of the past 45 years.
I had a ’79. 305 with Powerglide! Only one shift for top gear! PS, PB, AM radio and factory air. Huge inside. Mega trunk. Good looing. Terrible rust coming through on the rear quarter panels where the primer failed. Smooth, quiet, 20+ mpg on the road; about 16-17 average fillup mpg. A set of plugs, points, rotor and condenser once a year; oil and filter twice a year took it past 150K with zero issues. GM when they [so rarely!] did it right.
Surely it wasn’t a ’79 with a Powerglide and points? Wiki says the Powerglide was discontinued in ’73, and I don’t remember points on my dad’s ’78.
Could be. It was a long time ago and those were standard DYI maintenance items. Pretty sure about that 2 speed shift, though.
Def Turbo 200C 3 speed was the standard trans in these and absolutely they all had HEI solid state ignition.
Are you sure there wasn’t still a magneto option? I mean, off the standard order form, like asking for a secret meal at a restaurant.
Rust an donks are what kill these cars, death by neglect or one hundred TVs.
Fine cars if you don’t mind the gas bill, they certainly look nice when they’re in their old-fart phase. The second owners, the spoiled dudes that get them, thats when they fall apart.
My mom got one of these as a company car, with no discernible trim or horsepower. It looked like an unmarked to the non-geek. Still, the funniest thing was hearing on the CB about the “plain brown wrapper” following me at a quarter mile on the CB every time I used the car.
I have no idea what engine it had. I think it may have been a V6. At least it wasn’t the intrinsically unbalanced V6 in the Olds Cutlass Supreme, or as we called it, the Supremely Gutless. Even mom complained her right ankle hurt from pressing the gas to no effect.
The Caprice and then the Gutless were our last foray into GM. A shame, too, as our family has subsequently bought a variety of cars, most on the upper tier….such is how a potential buyer can be burned…
Seriously…one of GM’s finest ever. My parents had a 1978 Caprice Classic Coupe. It was a very nice medium golden brown with a cream-beige landau top and tan vinyl interior. We went every where in that car. Plenty of room in the back for my two siblings and I on long, summer road trips. Practically grew up in that car. Lasted 11 years and it had not one problem. Finally lost a cylinder and rather than go through the hassle of fixing it, much to my chagrin bc I wanted my dad to keep it until I was able to drive which wasn’t too far away at the time, he sold it :( He wound up getting a super-rare new 1988 Mazda 323GT at my urging :) I was hoping to poach that car upon graduation from HS…but he loved it too much!! Drats!!!
Basic body still good….Give me this a couple -three doors from another car and a little bit of a crate engine and you got a nice cruiser good for a couple of hundred thousand miles that runs good, handles and brakes(for a big car) and is fixable without having to sacrifice a chicken everytime something doesn’t go right..And the 2 door version was a clean , nicely styled unit ,too.
We had an early eighties unique to Canada Pontiac Parisienne(sp?) variant. Two tone beige with vinyl roof & wire wheels. The interior brown crushed velour. A very comfortable and insulated ride. No reliability issues recalled. The only downer was wet-weather panic braking could flip that tail around.
I was the leasing manager at a Chevrolet dealership back in the early 80’s and ordered one of these as a demo with F41 suspension, 305 4 barrel and 3.08 axle ratio. It was a pleasure to drive. Later had a 1981 with a 267 V8 (4.4 liter), that was a dog. They were very quiet cars and considering what else was on sale then were actually decent. The next generation of GM full size cars was a step backward.
Typically, if I see a car from the 80’s still driving around its going to be a Nissan, Toyota, Honda, or one of Caprice Classics.
Or a Volvo 240 brick.
For me its either American or Bricks, what little Japanese stuff we have is often in awful shape.
Someone at my work has an immaculate 1986 or 87 Mazda 626. Catches me off guard every time, and it’s the only 80s Mazda I see here with any regularity.
Let’s not forget 80’s american pickups, I see them on the road almost every day and there are still fresh examples in the junkyard every time I go.
Back in the late ’80s and early ’90s, the local Mennonites would ONLY drive Caprices. A drive by their church parking lot on a Sunday would be a surreal experience.
My second-ever brand new car was a very sharp, well-optioned, two-tone ’81 Caprice. For advice on what options to get or avoid, I called my buddy back home who worked for a big Chevy dealer. He told me to get a gas V8 and avoid the V6 (rough idle and transmission complaints) and the 350 diesel (already notorious by then) like the plague. I took his advice and got one with the 305 V8 and I was very satisfied. In fact, out of the 40-ish vehicles I’ve owned so far, that Caprice is one of my favorites. Soon after buying it in NJ I got transferred to L.A. so it never saw salt or snow. The good news is, being a “box” Chevy in SoCal there’s a chance it still survives. The bad news is it might be a lowrider or donked out.