(None of the pictures in this article is of the actual car but pictures borrowed from the internet using Google image search.)
By the time of my last year in college and the beginning of my grad school career, I had experienced a wide range of automobiles. On one end, I had my 76 Camaro; on the other end, I had my J Cars; and in the middle, my Buick Century and Skylark.
My next choice of vehicle was influenced by the V8 power of my Camaro, the cargo room and versatility of my J-body wagons, and the comfort of my Buicks. The numerous commercials for the Lexus LS 400 and Infiniti Q45 also made me look to large, V8 powered sedans for their smoothness and power.
In addition, the TV show Cops was in its heyday as was Real Stories of the Highway Patrol. Every week, I saw the Chevy Caprice in action. I saw a powerful, rugged vehicle that could go anywhere and endure all kinds of abuse. In addition, I saw all the equipment that could be crammed into them and had an appreciation for how roomy they were. I immediately let it be known to all that I was in the market for a Caprice. My friends and family helped with the search but a few misunderstood me. They thought I was looking for a Capri (as in Mercury Capri); I had to clarify more than a few times that it was a Caprice that I wanted.
A few weeks later, I was awakened by an early phone call from my Dad. In his travels, he had run across an estate sale–and lo and behold, there was a 1978 Caprice Classic in the driveway for sale with 50,000 one-owner miles. Needless to say, I got out of bed and hightailed it over there.
The car was indeed a one-owner (recently deceased), low mileage original in a two-tone dark and light blue combination, just sitting in the driveway. The first picture in this post is a twin of the actual car. My jaw dropped when I first saw it…I thought I was seeing a ghost! The asking price was $700, but I had Dad and his negotiation skills with me that day, which allowed me to leave with the car for $500.
Despite the low mileage, the car was not in mint condition. I suspect this was primarily because it had been stored outside most of its life. The paint was faded, as was the powder blue, button-tufted interior, and the dash pad was cracked from exposure to the sun. The equipment told me a little about the former owner’s priorities. The car had air conditioning, a rear defroster, and power windows and locks, my first car to be so equipped, I was so excited! However, it did not have cruise control and only had an AM Radio with just one speaker in the center of the dash! I thought that the windshield-integrated antenna was kind of neat.
What really closed the deal for me was that the engine was basically the same 5.7 liter 350 V8 found in my Camaro. I subsequently tested its prowess a few times in the Caprice through the impromptu drag races of youth, when I beat an ’87 Camaro, ’84 Dodge Daytona and ’90 Mitsubishi Eclipse.
The car was huge compared to my friends’ newer cars at the time. Its capacity for people and cargo made it a popular vehicle for our outings or when a friend needed help moving. I routinely used the full capacity of its six-passenger seating and occasionally exceeded it. Using bungee cords allowed all manner of items to be placed in its enormous trunk, including a filing cabinet,a small couch, and a refrigerator. Folks began referring to it as a truck due to its size and versatility. It certainly had presence. I loved the wide expanse of hood from the driver’s seat and the way it dwarfed the other cars around it. I usually had club music or the theme from Cops blaring out the window “Bad boys, Bad boys…what you gonna do when they come for you!” The V8 engine was so smooth and gave a satisfying hum when pushed.
Until the radical restyling in ’91, you can trace its evolution from its ’75-’76 predecessor just by studying the front end;
1976
1978 (the 77’s had a slightly different grille)
1980
1986
1987
1991
I absolutely love the big grille and wide stance! You can trace the look all the way back to ’76.
2012
The latest Caprice looks very different. It still looks pretty rugged, though.
Anyway, getting back to my ’78; In the wintertime, I thought it’s rear-wheel-drive setup would be a problem but it really wasn’t that bad. I passed many a redesigned round Caprice or Roadmaster stuck in the snow spinning its wheels. In fact, a South Orange, NJ police officer whose department just transitioned to the round Caprices remarked “that’s a better Chevy than the new ones since they’re not so light in the back.” Not that the car was as good as my previous front-wheel-drive vehicles. There were several times accelerating or turning in the wet when I was reminded which end was doing the driving and had to wrestle with the car to point it in the right direction.
One of those occasions was the infamous blizzard of ’96 that effectively shut down New Jersey. I had to go to a funeral that week. It was like driving in the North Pole. You couldn’t see the road, let alone the lanes. Everything was covered with layers of snow. There were quite a few close calls when I skidded right through red lights. White-knuckle driving all the way. Believe it or not, the Caprice got me there and back. I was stuck just once, but got out of the way just in time to avoid being creamed by a fire truck.
I replaced the stock AM radio with a Sony cassette head unit and added two speakers in the rear parcel shelf to supplement the lone speaker in the dashboard. I compensated for the lack of dual side mirrors with a huge panoramic rear view mirror. To this day, the best rear view mirror I’ve ever had–literally getting rid of all the blind spots and eliminating the need for side view mirrors altogether. Unfortunately, there was one unintended “modification.” A few nights after I got it, my sister accidentally backed into the driver’s side with my old Sunbird. The damage was actually quite minor but my attempts at repair worsened it as I banged the dent out too much so that it bubbled out. The inside door panel was never quite the same after my “repair.”
The car did begin to show its age under my ownership. The AC and power locks stopped working, the radiator and water pump needed to be replaced, the carburetor needed to be rebuilt and the windshield wiper motor failed. I remember having to limp home from Grandma’s house with a damaged master cylinder. It was a very tense 45 miles with only half the brake system operating. These repairs were not cheap (for a first-year grad student, at least). I never did fix the AC or power locks. I remember having to borrow money from my school for the funds to keep it going.
This is the car that I think of when I reminisce about my college road trips. A particularly memorable one was when we decided one night to see how far we could drive in eight hours in a randomly selected direction. The direction chosen was west, so we ended up driving 500 miles from South Orange, NJ, leaving at 10 pm and arriving and having breakfast at the shores of Lake Erie, in Ohio, eight hours later– and then turning around to return to NJ shortly after. That was one of the many times when I wished I had a camera!
On the trip back, I was impressed with the V8 engine’s performance as we kept pace with a Jaguar XJ6 through the mountains of Pennsylvania, with the speedometer pinned beyond its 80 mph limit for well over two hours. We ended the chase only because we ran low on fuel. The mountainous terrain and our high speed meant about four refueling stops. We were back in New Jersey in time for dinner, with some great stories to tell our friends.
It is hard to put into words my feelings toward this car…I loved it! When I think of the friendships and good times of my youth, this is the car I associate with them. It was the ultimate road trip mobile!
Why did I part ways with this car? One reason was that I was continuing my graduate studies in Baltimore and wanted something newer, trimmer and more fuel efficient. The second reason is that a good friend of mine who loved the car as much as I did (her previous ride was a C-series pickup) was graduating and needed a car for work. As much as I loved the car, I loved our friendship more. So, I promised her the car as soon as she secured a parking spot for it, a few weeks after her graduation.
Here is a funny postscript to this story: As reliable as the car was, the day she and her boyfriend came to get it was the only time it didn’t start! The car refused to leave my side! No amount of pumping or jump starting would wake the Chevy from its slumber. What finally worked? A command from its new owner. She told her boyfriend to pour fuel down the carb. He was terrified and I grabbed the fire extinguisher. She got behind the wheel, held down the accelerator and turned the key, and the car miraculously roared to life under new ownership. It was a bittersweet feeling watching her drive away in the car I loved the most.
The car served her well. She took it on many more road trips and adventures, including a run-in with a new BMW. The Bimmer had to be towed from the scene, while the Caprice suffered only a badly mangled license plate. She kept the car until the early 2000s, when it finally wore out and was traded in for her first brand new car.
As for me, I replaced the Caprice with something much different that was a bridge to a new chapter in my life. I’ll discuss that one next time. And don’t worry, there are seven more B-body vehicles to discuss further in this series, so stay tuned!
When I had the Custom Cruiser it always got us through even on the biggest snow with its 15″ wheels…
I’ve often admired these cars, though if I ever owned one it would have to be either a 2 door or a station wagon. The 2 door because it’s “sporty” or the wagon because it’s practical.
Unfortunately, these cars are let down by their instrument panels.
The 77-78 Chevy Caprice/Impala are probably THE best looking full-sized Chevys since the 1970 model year…and Chevy managed a “two-fer” with the 78-79 Malibu.
Multiple b body wagon COALs later in the series…stay tuned!
Agreed on both counts. the ’77 Caprice, especially in coupe form, was such a crisply styled car, and it’s probably already well known that I’m a big fan of those Malibus.
I’ve always liked American station wagons.
IMHO, the 77 to 79 version is far superior to the 80 redo. The exterior has so much more of a presence. It wears deluxe two tone paint well. I remember in the metro New York City area, the dealers sold a special edition called, “Blue Cloud”. It had deluxe two tone paint, but I can’t recall if it was silver over light blue, or light blue over dark blue like the fist car pictured in this post. It had a few of the common options of the day (AC, power windows, locks, am-fm stereo and the likes). It wore small “Blue Cloud Edition” emblems on the front fenders. It was a nice edition of this car. Oh yeah, it was only offered on the 4 door Caprice Classic… BTW, I always thought the Caprice Classic emblem was very classy
Tha picture of the black/grey Caprice(1986) looks like it’s a Norwegian car. It has the orange side turn signals on the fender.
My parents had a ’78 Caprice Classic Wagon they bought from the showroom at Shearer Chevrolet in the fall of 1978. It was probably the fanciest car they ever bought, burgandy with burgandy interior (was vinyl, though it looked liked leather), with the 305 (still in the first energy crunch, the engines were getting smaller, they traded a ’73 Country sedan with the 400 for it)…remember driving the Ford during the blizzard of ’78 when we had trouble even getting out of our driveway. The Chevy was a nice car, much more space efficient than the Ford, but I remember the switchgear was not very substantial (light switch in particular was pretty bad, the plastic eventually crumbled and we just had a stub to grab onto). I drove the car several times, on family trips, and one 350 mile trip (each way) to pick up my grandparents to take them to and from my college graduation. They had the car until 1984 when it was hit from the side when my father was driving it in Johnson city…they soon replaced it with a 1984 Pontiac Sunbird..that was a big change in size..though my father later bought a Dodge 600 to replace his Omni.
There was a reason that these dinosaurs ruled the earth until government regulations and/or gas prices killed them. Actually though, they still roam the highways in an evolved form. Now days we call them “SUV’s”
We had one of these A 78 model… I think . For some reason it had been ordered with a transmission that could not handle the 350 engines power. My dad called the transmission a “Metric”. Once the car had that issue sorted out the car was passed on to my sister who drove the wheels off it.
That would have been the infamous Turbo-Hydramatic 200. In GM’s attempt to increase fuel economy and weight, this transmission was so light duty that it was know to be guaranteed to self destruct. A replacement with a TH350 would ensure trouble free driving.
Indeed these were wonderful cars ~ we had hundreds of them in our Municipal Fleet , Cops , Engineers , all departments used and loved them .
All had the 350 V-8 , not legal for sale to the general public after some year in California .
The reason GM stopped making them was dwindling sales cut into the profit margin of these fine body on frame automobiles .
There was a healthy business of refurbishing and re selling back to Police Depts. of them for some years after GM pulled the plug .
Just last week I saw a really cherry one out driving around L.A. .
-Nate
The 350 was available in all states until 1979. Cars equipped with California emissions packages had about 5 less hp than the federal emissions cars. After 1980, the 350 was only available in police Impalas (later Caprices), and remained that way until 1990. The new Caprice 1991 only had the 350 for Police equipped models, but the 350 returned in 1992 for LTZ models and wagons.
Thanx Bill ;
I no longer remember those details but I’ll never forget the cars ~ I wanted to buy an ’82 when we salvaged them as they were low mileage (often under 50,000) and the 60/40 cloth seats were firm & comfy , our old ’68 700 Series Malibu Police Car stripper was still going strong though and SWMBO loved it , I had my smaller cars to drive so i never did buy one for the ridiculous price of $500 , always with good 130 MPH tires and ice cold AC .
The CHP had to remove the 350 engines before they sold theirs , I’ll never understand why as we didn’t .
-Nate
This was a great story just like your Camaro story. These 77-79 Caprices are one of my all time favourite B-bodies, especially when equipped with the peppy (for the time) LM1 350 4bbl.
My favourite Caprice Classic years are 1976, 1986, and 1991.
My dad’s last car covered in a COAL. Being 14 it was the first new car purchase I had any involvement in. Ours was tan over gold. The only difference being dad’s was a 305. I recall after rejecting the new Mailbu the choice came down to an Impala with the 350 or the Caprice with the 305 both in stock at the dealer in the same colour scheme. I guess the added luxe of the Caprice won the day. I recall polishing that fleur de lis hood ornament many times!
The car served dad for 14 years until he died, and then was passed on to my brother for a couple years service.
“Why did I part ways with this car? One reason was that I was continuing my graduate studies in Baltimore”
Good call, It probably would have been stolen the first day you arrived.
Oddly enough I have never seen that two tone color set up on a 4 door Caprice. I have seen it on an Impala of the same vintage and a early 1980’s 2 door Caprice that was owned by a neighbor of my grandparents.
I hear you about the one speaker AM radio. I had a 1980 Malibu with that setup. I went to the junk yard and bought a set of late 1980’s Chevy Celebrity rear speakers with their mounts and the connectors for the speakers. I then got the blue connector(the black speaker connector on pre 1989 GM radios) ran speaker wire from the blue radio connector to the connectors at the speaker. Then I got a trim plate and cassette player (this was the mid 1990’s) and connector for the always powered wire from a later version the Monte carlo and I was good to go.
My folks had an 80s (don’t remember the exact year) Caprice Classic Brougham in gold when I was growing up. I sort of liked it at the time, but now after the years have passed, I wouldn’t mind finding another one. I’d rather have the Cadillac equivalent, but the thing looked damn near like a Cadillac if only it had vertical tail lights.
We had a 78, two tone wine with vinyl top. My Dad’s favorite car of all. A Ford man for years, but he loved that car. We all did actually…
My grandmother had a 1978 Chevy Impala sedan. It was a reliable car for her.
Had an 86 Caprice a while back, given to me by my in-laws once they had worn it out.
Being a high mileage worn out Chevy, I figured I’d just run it into the ground.
I never changed the oil or tuned it up.
Before I found the oil presssure sending unit had gone bad, I had probably added gallons of stop leak,
I could not kill this car.
What finally did it in, along with rust, was the door latch mechanisms going bad such that
only the right rar door worked.
Somehow I had always thought of owning one of these cars. Twenty years ago and prior when I had been in Kuwait, I would see these cars everywhere. Local taxi cabs, painted in bright red with yellow and black taxi signs on the roof, were mostly Caprice sedans and a few station wagons. They must be long gone now along with that colour scheme as I can’t even find any old pictures. A fleet of these used to be seen outside the airport. I was fascinated by the available seating in the rear of the station wagon.
Around the early 90s, there were plenty of civilian cars and I would often look at the subtle differences (between the different years). They lined the streets around shopping centres. There was a fellow on the school bus whose dad had a tan brown late 80’s Caprice. He once told me that it was involved in a minor accident where his dad’s car was fine as the bumper absorbed the impact. The other car that hit him sustained some damage.
After ’92 we had used a call taxi service in Kuwait as well with cars in various colours since they only needed white lettering for the company name and some equipment like a radio and antenna to be turned into a taxi at that time. I remember the “new” Caprice classic, much like the ’91 pictured above, as being one of the most comfortable cars I had ever ridden in.
Almost every TV show and movie around the 80s and 90s would use the Caprice Classic as cop cars and taxi cabs with some regular cars thrown in. I liked the old car chase scenes. These cars are mostly long gone, but occasionally I still come across one for sale in Canada.
I received a 1982 as a hand me down from my dad in the early 2000s. It was in fair condition and served me well for 5 or 6 years. I parked it when I picked up a 91 T-Bird. It sat for a few years until a friend needed a car. I gave it to him for the price of a new battery and tabs. It started right up and he still drives it! Mine had the smaller engine (I think it’s a 305).
I’m acronym-challenged: What does “COAL” stand for?
Cars Of A Lifetime. It’s a recurring series here, where all the cars owned by the authors are serialized on a COAL series.
Thanks.
Acronyms cause me to break out in rashes 😉
I’ve always preferred the Impala version over the Caprice Classic. It wasn’t until the 1990s generation that I really liked the Caprice Classic. I’d buy a station wagon version if its condition justified the price.
Hi there
You cannot beat these for comfort 👍
This is a factory right hand I’m wondering how many are left ? Any ideas It’s a 78 5L small block U.K. reg 🚔
Cheers
Where is the photo of a right-hand Caprice in question?
Hi there did my photo not upload here’s another one
Kel, if your photo isn’t uploading, try reducing its size. If it’s 1,200 pixels or smaller, then it’ll upload.
1
So thst’s the right-steering Caprice! Hard to see through the windscreen glare
There’s a fair number of them on display at Flickr. The dashboards all look chopped up and put back together with various degrees of care and success. I don’t know for sure, but I have pretty steep doubts the factory built any RHD cars; those in the UK and Australia are described as post-build conversions.