300k Chevy Caprice: big deal

http://detnews.com/article/20101203/AUTO01/12030408/1148/rss25

Detroit thinks this is a great accomplishment

Wonder how much gas that thing has sucked down in it's life time? What you think, maybe 15 mpg?

300,000 / 15 = 20,000 gallons

Let's see a tdi getting 40 mpg

300,000 / 40 = 7500

The guy was 64 when he bought it. I'm guessing more like 18. Maybe even 20. Afterall, he's kept the same boat for sixteen years, he's not one of those who beats on their cars, I'm guessing.

Enormous difference I know...

If i were to guess it's a V8. GM's 350 was a great engine. I sold my truck two years ago w/ 240k and I wasn't afraid to drive it anywhere.

I'd like to see GM 4-cylinders like cavaliers w/ over 300k....oh wait you can't because they're all rusted through already .

My 1985 Chevy C20 has 334,000 miles and runs great. Still has the caps over the adjustment screws on the original carb. All original except for normal consumables. Great vehicle. Plan on keeping it forever.

300,000 miles? this is news? lame.

You guys poo poo the big Chev, but have you ever driven one? That one probably has the 305 not the 350. They're a nice comfey ride, and get mid 20s on the highway.

-Jason

Here are specs, http://consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com/1991-to-1996-chevrolet-caprice-impala-ss-8.htm

compu_85 said:

That one probably has the 305 not the 350.

Click to expand...

LT1 was standard engine in the wagons.

The car that I sold to buy my TDI was a '94 Caprice wagon. I was in the process of converting it into a Caprice SS wagon (yes, there was such a thing, made for Middle East export) at the time. I had the grill (professionally repainted from black), 9C1 front air dam, Impala hood ornament (flat emblem replacing the stand-up Chevy one), and some minor trim pieces. Wheels and a rear sway bar were next, but I never got to them before buying my Golf.

I really loved that big boat. And yes, it had the LT1 Corvette engine, albeit in slightly detuned form. It also got around 22mpg on the highway if I could keep my foot out of it.

In the days when I used taxis a lot, it wasn't unusual to see a Caprice with over 500,000 miles. Not too many rattles, engines ran good, but usually on the third trans.

Before I bought my TDI I had a 1996 Buick Roadmaster which with a few easy mods still turned 1/4s under 14 seconds at 180,000 miles.

See sig... LT1 is a great engine, lots of TQ off the line and still get mid 20 MPGs. LT1's suffered from the dreaded OptiSpark distributor and a 4L60E tranny. That's why I converted mine to a 6 speed stick and LS1 coils - 1 coil per cylinder.

Oh, I've looked at that sig often... Hope to see it sometime. Easy to go overboard with the LT1s, but I was still using mine for everyday use.

Saw this today. Lucky for me I spent way too much on toys last month. or else this would have been hard to resist.

http://bringatrailer.com/2010/12/04/ls1-powered-1992-bmw-525it-wagon/

Very nice Bimmer!!! I saw 240sx with an LS1 today... Stupid fast!!

Power_Not_Speed said:

Oh, I've looked at that sig often... Hope to see it sometime. Easy to go overboard with the LT1s, but I was still using mine for everyday use.

Click to expand...

Here's a few more pics.

Beautiful! Thanks for the pics, I hadn't thought to click on the link before. In the 1980s I rented many B-bodies when in the mainland if I had to do some traveling and was impressed how well the did on the open road. If only they had more power. I'd daydream about a big block sleeper, but didn't really want to travel in a hot rod. When they dropped in the LT1 I know the days were numbered but they were going out in style.

The first one I saw was a new Cadillac Fleetwood take of in a cloud of smoke and knew I would have one some day. When I got the Buick I wasn't disappointed. With the addition of SS wheels and suspension, 1.6 rockers and a Crane cam I was having fun.

Now I get my kicks driving on the beach in my old short bed S-10 4WD with a 350.

Beautiful SS, GB. I love those things. It's a big, bad (meaning good) car. Have you considered putting the '95's console into it?

I misspoke about my wagon. They didn't make the Caprice SS wagon for Middle East export, only the sedan. Same car, but everything that said "Impala SS" was replaced with trim that said "Caprice SS". The Caprice name carries more weight over there than the Impala name.

I was having trouble finding a rear sway bar for it. The sedan's bar was too narrow, and they never made one for the B-body wagons. There was a custom made one for the hearse conversions, however, but it was discontinued which meant that you had to find one being junked, and they were usually snapped up pretty quick.

I would have loved to finish the conversion, but then I got the TDI bug. Some guy in NY state wanted it, I dropped it off at the shipper and stopped by the VW dealer on the way home. The rest is history.

K5ING said:

Beautiful SS, GB. I love those things. It's a big, bad (meaning good) car. Have you considered putting the '95's console into it?

Click to expand...

You mean a 96 console... and yes, I have one installed. I didn't have it for the pic though.

K5ING said:

I was having trouble finding a rear sway bar for it. The sedan's bar was too narrow, and they never made one for the B-body wagons. There was a custom made one for the hearse conversions, however, but it was discontinued which meant that you had to find one being junked, and they were usually snapped up pretty quick.

Click to expand...

You weren't looking hard enough. There are aftermarket swaybars available for wagons for many years. In fact, during the ISSCA Nationals (like TDI Fest but for B-Bodies), the fastest guy with minor suspension mods (springs, swaybars and shocks) on the autocross and road race was a wagon, year in and year out.

compu_85 said:

You guys poo poo the big Chev, but have you ever driven one? That one probably has the 305 not the 350. They're a nice comfey ride, and get mid 20s on the highway.

-Jason

Click to expand...

I wouldn't think any vehicle driven by an 80-year old man and meticulously maintained that reaches 300k miles would be newsworthy. Apparently, the AP and Detroit News decided that this was a big accomplishment.

Go figure, the Detroit News going out of their way to print some good news about the American auto industry. Funny thing is, these days, there is plenty of good news to print; no need to print a lame boring story like this.

Got Bearings? said:

You mean a 96 console... and yes, I have one installed. I didn't have it for the pic though.


You weren't looking hard enough. There are aftermarket swaybars available for wagons for many years. In fact, during the ISSCA Nationals (like TDI Fest but for B-Bodies), the fastest guy with minor suspension mods (springs, swaybars and shocks) on the autocross and road race was a wagon, year in and year out.

Click to expand...

You're right, '96. Sorry.

Swaybar...This was about 10 or 11 years ago that I was looking, but I was trying to go the inexpensive route. There was talk of running up a batch of them if enough people wanted them, but I had sold it by then.

There is a place up in Newburg, WI on Hwy. 33 that "collected" and presumably sold nothing but the wagons, both Chevy and Buick. There were a few sedans too, but pretty much it was a sea of fake woodgrain.

I'm not sure what has become of it lately - the owner was killed in a freak accident at home a year or two ago driving an old front end loader with bad brakes.

Chris

Caprice/Impala = ONE OF THE BEST AMERICAN CARS EVER MADE !

I had a '95 Caprice with the 4.3L V8 (yes, 4.3L V8, NOT V6). It was extremely comfortable to ride in and got 24MPG all day long without even trying. Only major thing we ever did to it was redo the brakes. I bought it with 85,000 miles and sold it when it had ~145000 miles on it. Only reason I got rid of it was because I decided to phase out gasoline power in my household as much as possible. It was pretty much a plane jane old fogies ride. I wanted to get a 9c1/Lt1 when I bought it, however the only examples I could find for sale at the time were either:

A) Rode hard and driven off a cliff
B) Priced $1500-$2000 more than they were worth.
C) Located at *least* 3-4 states away
D) All of the above

I NEVER forgave the General for discontinuing those cars. Neither did several hundred Law Enforcement Agencies across the country.

VOLKSWAGEN_JETTA_TDI said:

Caprice/Impala = ONE OF THE BEST AMERICAN CARS EVER MADE !

Click to expand...

Correct, and it's baffling as to why GM is constantly in angst over bringing back the Caprice name with a RWD Holden as the platform. They constantly waffle back and forth over the issue. Bob Lutz was 100% correct when he said GM's worst problem was not building cars when demand was hot for them.

MrMopar said:

Bob Lutz was 100% correct when he said GM's worst problem was not building cars when demand was hot for them.

Click to expand...

Yup, by the time they finally get a car to market, the demand is gone (or was never there to begin with). To wit: Chevy SSR, HHR, Pontiac G6 convertible, etc. Or the vehicle was a colossal POS or completely FUGLY (Cavalier, Aztek, etc).

It amazes me that the Caprice/Roadmaster sold that well to begin with - they were FUGLY, too, especially the first ones with the half-covered rear wheel "skirts". They looked like an upside down bloated bathtub, and the woodgrain festooned wagons were a bad joke remake of the '70's. In a way, they typefied what was all wrong with GM - crude cars with behind-the-times design and styling. But on the other hand, they were bulletproof, rather reliable, got decent fuel mileage, were comfortable, parts were cheap, simple to work on, and could tow a load AND haul the family.

I disagree. I think the Caprice looked terrific, especially after it lost the skirts. It sure beat the "box with wheels" styling that preceded it.

GM has always built the right cars. They just don't know when to build them. They don't bring cars out until the need for them has passed, and they also discontinue cars just before they become popular. The Astro comes to mind. They discontinued it just when "boxes" (i.e. Scion xB,) started to come back into fashion. Yes, I know the Astro was a crappy vehicle (I own one), but they discontinued that entire class of vehicle (cargo version available, rear drive, bigger than a minivan and smaller than a regular van) when they could have just updated and improved it.

As for the Caprice... America needs a large, 6 passenger car again. Better yet, make a Biscayne version of it also, without all of the flash and luxury items and can be sold relativity cheap. Otherwise people are forced into minivans and SUVs.

K5ING said:

I disagree. I think the Caprice looked terrific, especially after it lost the skirts. It sure beat the "box with wheels" styling that preceded it.

GM has always built the right cars. They just don't know when to build them. They don't bring cars out until the need for them has passed, and they also discontinue cars just before they become popular. The Astro comes to mind. They discontinued it just when "boxes" (i.e. Scion xB,) started to come back into fashion. Yes, I know the Astro was a crappy vehicle (I own one), but they discontinued that entire class of vehicle when they could have just updated and improved it.

As for the Caprice... America needs a large, 6 passenger car again. Better yet, make a Biscayne version of it also, without all of the flash and luxury items and can be sold relativity cheap. Otherwise people are forced into minivans and SUVs.

Click to expand...

I agree, and a lot of posters here do not know what a Biscayne is (or was).

Vague thoughts of Biscayne... Wasn't that a stripper Impala, 6 cylinder/3-on-a-tree sort of vehicle, early-to-mid 60's?

supton said:

Vague thoughts of Biscayne... Wasn't that a stripper Impala, 6 cylinder/3-on-a-tree sort of vehicle, early-to-mid 60's?

Click to expand...

Or this one...

http://www.carcraft.com/featuredvehicles/3063_1961_chevrolet_biscayne/index.html

K5ING said:

. . . they also discontinue cars just before they become popular. The Astro comes to mind. They discontinued it just when "boxes" (i.e. Scion xB,) started to come back into fashion. Yes, I know the Astro was a crappy vehicle (I own one), but they discontinued that entire class of vehicle (cargo version available, rear drive, bigger than a minivan and smaller than a regular van) when they could have just updated and improved it.

Click to expand...

Smoke much crack?

Seriously, joking, but I honestly don't think that the Astro and xB are anywhere near being in the same vehicle category or demographics group.

The Chevy version of the xB is the HHR, which is more of a copy of the PT Cruiser. I don't think sales of the HHR have been strong, but they sell better than the xB.