I wasn’t allowed to watch unlimited amounts of television when I was growing up, which I suspect was the case with many people my age. I remember commercials with almost as much clarity as the shows I used to watch. As far as I’m concerned, those ad-men and women of the 1980s more than earned their keep, with the memory of those catchy jingles and imagery seared into my brain as indelibly as the contents of my multiplication table flash cards. Much credit also belongs to the designers of logos and packaging, some of which have seen only evolutionary changes over the course of decades.
Hours of watching “The Price Is Right” during the summer or on sick days spent home from school added to my familiarity with the brands stocking the cupboards at the Dennis household. I’m sure my mom also welcomed host Bob Barker’s presence with open arms during that hour-long program, giving her a break from me asking for things like more soup, crackers, and Vernor’s ginger ale to soothe my stomach, whether or not I was actually sick (citing a statute of limitation on that last point). I mean, who was Dinty Moore, anyway, and how did he (or she) come up with the recipe for that delicious, canned beef stew named after him or her?
The mind is a funny thing in that mine has sometimes formed associations with things that are completely unrelated, at least on the surface. As far back as I can remember, the logo for the Chevrolet Caprice has reminded me of the crown from the packaging of Imperial margarine. We always had margarine in the fridge, which we used to spread on Jiffy brand corn muffins my mom would bake and serve with Sunday “dinner” (lunch, in Midwestern-speak). I don’t remember if we had margarine versus butter because my dad’s health required it, or for some other reason along the same lines as why we kids weren’t allowed to have pop or “sugar” cereals, but what I do know is that the memory of those corn muffins and how good they tasted may have me going to the grocery store. In a jiffy.
The resemblance was so strong in my mind between the logos for the Caprice and Imperial margarine that before I started writing this, I had to search the internet for vintage packaging for Imperial to make sure this (admittedly loose) premise wasn’t too far-fetched. As it turns out, they really don’t have that much in common. The Caprice’s emblem sort of resembles a crown. It looks like something that could fit on someone’s head, and the fleur de lis in the center of it is not unlike a royal crest. It’s also golden, as a crown should be. The Imperial logo, however, is… an actual crown. It’s a fairly simple graphic, sharing little with the Caprice emblem outside of loosely having a pentagonal shape and a few similar curves.
I’m at a complete loss as to how this association between the two had formed in my mind. Maybe I had watched a contestant on “TPIR” correctly price a package of Imperial margarine within ten cents (or some margin) in order to win a new Chevy Caprice. The truth is that I don’t remember a whole lot of Caprices being given away on that game show, with most Chevrolet-branded prizes being lower models like Cavaliers, Spectrums, Sprints, or the occasional Camaro.
These pictures are now five years old, but I do remember being impressed at the time I took them with the condition of this non-Classic Caprice, with its year and trim designation confirmed by a license plate search. The base Caprice was the most popular of the line that year (owing much to fleet sales), accounting for almost 70,000 of 197,000 sold that year, or just over one-third of total production. To me, and regardless of its position on the Chevy B-Body totem pole, that’s enough to qualify both this model and example as royalty in my mind, even outside of the perennial popularity of the “Box Caprice”. It deserves a crown.
Wrigleyville, Chicago, Illinois.
Friday, November 6, 2015.
It always seemed to me like the awesome, deftly done and brilliant 1977 Chevy design was allowed to “whither on the vine” as the next decade progressed, without frequent updates.
At Ford, their 1979 full sized car downsize was just barely adequate at first. But with frequent and progressive updates the “Panther” chassis models gradually blossomed into American’s best full sized, V8 engine, body-on-frame car.
(‘Course I am somewhat biased in my theory; having owned several Panthers from 1981 to 2005 models.)
The 1977 Caprice “withered on the vine” for the same reason the 1998 Crown Victoria and 1992 Ford Econoline did. The answer: fleet buyers.
Fleet buyers like designs to stay the same for a long time. When a police department trades in their 1977 Caprice for a 1983, It saved money to reuse any serviceable add-ons like lights, sirens, cages, etc. When a 2008 Crown Vic taxi gets in a fender bender, the company can simply have their in-house mechanic pull a few body panels off a parts car 2001 sitting behind the garage, and have the damaged cab back on the road the next day. When U-Haul orders belts and hoses for their shops, they can buy in bulk and stockpile, knowing the parts fit numerous years.
I could go on and on. That’s why.
Lance: I was referring to engine, transmission, steering, braking and chassis ongoing developments over at FoMoCo that happened every few years….and did not happen over at GM.
I do agree with your body panel remarks.
I know you are bias to the Fords, but what specific advantages did the late 80s Ford have over this ’89 Chev? The Ford used a MPFI engine over Chevy’s TBI EFI, but they were comparable. The Chevy 305 made more horsepower but less torque than the 302. Fuel economy and performance were similar. The GM TBI engines are pretty bullet proof for reliability and durability as were the Ford engines. The TH200-4R was on par with the AOD. There certainly was no suspension advantages on the Ford vs Chevy. The F41 Chevys were as good or better handling than than the late 70s versions. In the MSP testing the Chevrolets typically had better handling dynamics than the Fords during this time.
Where the Ford had the advantage was going to fuel injection earlier, but that was only because the Ford engines with carburetors were so bad. The Rochester Q-jets were good, and pretty much got the same fuel economy as the EFI versions anyway. Ford was also much better at capturing the Brougham market from the mid 1980s on. They had fancier interiors and other brougham gingerbread while the Chevys always seemed plainer.
The way I see it is that by the late 80s, Ford finally had a competitive product with GM. I agree GM could have done way more to update these cars, but they were still good cars.
True, Ford’s Variable Venturi carburetor was temperamental. But the more widely used Ford Motorcraft/Holley 2-BBL carbs were quite reliable and tractable.
As you pointed out, Ford had fuel injection years before Chevy did.
Ford had a 4 speed Automatic Overdrive automatic transmission a couple of years before Chevy did. The Ford AOD did not have the annoying, repetitive shifting/hunting/vacillting between 3rd and 4th gears as the Chevy did.
Ford’s 4.6 V8 engine was updated a couple of times, with horsepower and torque increases, over the Panther chassis life, as was the steering. Chevy soon lost their 350 V8 engine; leaving their lackluster 305 as the only V8 engine. The slightly larger 305 engine was not the equal of the smaller Ford 4.6 engine in “Real World” power. Let’s not even mention the V6 Chevies!
As you graciously pointed out, Fords had more upscale interiors than the Chevy.
I am not saying the Chevy was not a great, outstanding car…in 1977. It’s just that the FoMoCo panther chassis cars steadily got better, with regular updates. The Chevy did not.
Mark, you didn’t my question, which was to say how a late 80’s Panther was better than an ’89 Caprice. We all have our preferences, and what you have posted here is based on your preference/bias. Chevrolet was slower to update the B-body, but by 1989 it had everything the Ford had; they were very comparable cars by 1989.
There are things you have misrepresented in your post. True Ford had the AOD in 1980, and Chevrolet had the TH200-4R in 1982 (the TH700-R4 was also used depending on year and engine). Both Ford and GM transmissions were problematic when initially released but got better with time. However, neither were considered great transmissions in stock form. As someone who has owned and serviced both GM OD transmissions from this era and the Ford AOD, I have never had one hunt between OD and Drive, unless out of adjustment. Even with a gutless 307 I never had any hunting problems. FWIW, the Ford AOD shift behaviour does not have a good reputation either, and people on this site have called it out for that.
The Ford engines with the carbs weren’t great, but I was talking more about performance than reliability. It took a 351-2V to keep up with a 305 in 1980. The 305-4bbl was performed just as well as the 302 with EFI, especially the high compression 1985 and newer variants. In 1987 a Chevrolet 305-4bbl made 170hp, the 302 MPFI made 150 hp. Chevrolet was too slow to adopt EFI, but their carburetted engines were very good.
The point is by 1989, there was no discernible advantages between the cars, as you claim. The only major difference is that the LTD Crown Victoria had arguably a fancier interior and “better” brougham gingerbread. This appealed to many of the conservative customers that were still buying these archaic cars in 1989, but these are all superficial features. When it came to the engineering, the cars were very much comparable.
The 4.6L Ford shouldn’t even be in this discussion as it didn’t come out until the next generation 1992 Crown Victoria. By that time, the Caprice was also in a new generation, and it had the 305 TBI and the 350 TBI engine. The 4.6L was faster than the 305, but the 350 easily out ran a 4.6L. By 1994, the Caprice had the 200 hp L99 4.3L V8 and the 260 hp LT1 vs the 190 hp 4.6L and the 210 hp 4.6L. The LT1 was a way better performer than any 4.6L engine used in a Crown Vic (included the later model years 250 hp CVPI variant). The Panther chassis didn’t get rack and pinion steering until 2003 when it got a major chassis upgrade and didn’t change to the Watts-Link rear suspension until 1998.
I didn’t truly expect a crown to appear on my head when I bit into a slice of toast slathered with Imperial, even as a little kid, but there was just enough of a chance to make it worthwhile to bug mom to buy Imperial instead of Blue Bonnet. Those admen had their fingers on my pulse, for sure.
That’s awesome. I had almost forgotten about the “crown” commercials. In that context, a blue bonnet might seem pretty weak by comparison.
…not to mention the trumpet fanfare accompaniment. Don’t forget that!
Dinty Moore beef stew and Jiffy corn bread are two of my favorite comfort foods when I’m out camping. I too, suffered with margarine in our house as a kid. Today it’s real butter only, occasionally I will treat myself to some expensive danish butter. Margarine is not allowed anywhere on our property these days. And if I have to suffer with a Caprice, it better be a 1967 with a 396. And what the hell does Turbo-Jet actually mean?
Talk about a missed opportunity. This essay ran today, the same day I went grocery shopping, and I missed putting Jiffy corn muffins and Dinty Moore beef stew in my shopping cart. There’s always the weekend.
To your point about “Turbo-Jet”, I have given credit to the GM folks in charge of naming things, because they came up with some great stuff. Swiveling “Strato-buckets” also come immediately to mind.
Turbo-Jets were big-blocks, Turbo-Fires were SBC.
Imperial margarine tasted better than the others, a little better than the other name brands and a lot better than the store brand slimy stuff my Mom bought because it was the cheapest. Many years later, we had a cat, Hannibal, who agreed. He would lick up Imperial but no other.
He liked butter, though.
With the bad qualities of trans-fatty acids finally revealed, we don’t buy margarine any more, cheaper notwithstanding.
Automobilistically (a neologism?) I skipped the entire downsized GM B-body era. I owned Chrysler F- and B-bodies but then skipped a decade and went FWD with the Ford Taurus. Even rentals tended toward midsized cars and Ford products (special corporate discounts with Ford-owned Hertz). I did decline a Bathtub Caprice because I thought it too hideously ugly…was offered a Buick Park Avenue instead.
Readers from Soviet Canukistan will tell you that the Caprice is sporting a fleur-de-lis, a symbol featured in numerous flags and coats of arms from Europe, especially from Europe. The provincial flag of Quebec features four of them. I always wondered why it was on the Caprice and not the Pontiac Laurentian (or US Parisienne).
As for Imperial margarine, I recall as a kid in the 1970s and early 1980s an annual contest to “Win an Imperial from Imperial.”
Also a stylized version of this emblem is used by the New Orleans Saints football team.
Both can be traced back to the French royal crest. The one on the Caprice, though, is more of a mystery. Louis Chevrolet wasn’t even French…
Louis Chevrolet was Swiss, born in French Switzerland. His family moved to France, and he emigrated to Québec, Canada. Stories differ on how that fleur-de-lys symbol came to be a Chevrolet emblem. It’s either a modified Swiss cross or from a pattern seen on French wallpaper.
Bart, thanks for the brief history / reference on the fleur-de-lis. FWIW, I had referenced that in the paragraph beneath the side-by-side image. After reading your comment and those from a few others, I am actually more curious now about its widespread use in many stylistic elements from a certain time period in the last century.
TPIR was my go-to on “sick” days too. I generally only fell ill on one of the 3 days a week that my mother worked from 8-3. Being just a couple years older, the cars I remember being given away were mostly Chevettes, Monza/Sunbirds, Pintos and the like, but the brands and products highlighted on the show and during those daytime commercial breaks are indelibly imprinted on my brain.
We had a margarine house back then too. My mother was somehow convinced it was better for us than butter, but to this day I won’t touch the stuff. (Especially because as the 70’s turned into the 80’s and Jane Fonda started the whole aerobics phenomenon our margarine brand went from Country Crock to Weight Watchers brand, as did just about any product that WW offered at Shop Rite. Ever tried Weight Watchers branded mayonnaise? Yuck.) In my memory our household consumed nothing with fat, sugar, carbohydrates or flavor from around 1978 until I finally extricated myself from the nest in the late 80’s. Ironically the things we WERE allowed to eat probably contained more artificial sweeteners and bizarre chemicals than the stuff we used to clean the shower. I credit preservatives with keeping me relatively youthful into my now-mid-fifties.
I remember being about 10 years old and putting a quarter into a gumball machine at the grocery store full of those plastic bubbles with shiny plastichrome hood ornaments in them. They has that sticky tape on the base so you could adhere them to the center of your bike handlebars or fender or whatever. I can’t remember which one I was hoping for, but I ended up with a plastic mini hood ornament for a Caprice. I was sorely disappointed.
As for those standup ornaments, we had them on several of our family cars, from Chrysler to Oldsmobile, to Chevrolet and on, but the one I always like the best was on our ’77 Monte Carlo. It just looked so cool waaaaay out there at the end of that looong hood.
TPIR still puts me in “comfort mode” whenever I happen to turn it on, and having come from the Bob Barker era, I think Drew Carey is a great host. I usually don’t / can’t watch because in the Central Time Zone, the show comes on when I’m still hard at work-from-home.
I can’t imagine what Weight Watchers mayonnaise would taste like. Mayonnaise, by itself, is definitely not my favorite, but adding the low-cal aspects of WW is the stuff of my culinary nightmares. No offense to anyone who likes mayo.
I agree that the Monte Carlo of this era had a crest that was especially dressy and royal-looking. All the body jewelry on these cars was on-point, including the script-font ID badges. No one writes in cursive anymore. I feel like practicing right now just so I don’t lose the art.
When I was growing up, the justification for margarine was that it was healthier, but I think even as a kid I knew the real reason was cost. When the spreadable stuff in tubs became popular, I remember my Mom mixing stick marge (that’s what we called it) with vegetable oil. She also mixed whole milk with non-fat powdered milk and water. I don’t think there was any rationalization for that other than economy. I don’t remember any margarine logo’s … I suspect we had store brands only.
It sounds like your mom and my mom would have been thrifty supermarket friends.
Comparing margarine to (some versions of) the Caprice is appropriate as both have a distinct factor of nastiness.
Like others, I grew up in a margarine household. It was purchased as “its just butter” but primarily because why spend $0.35 when the $0.02 item is just as close and just as good. But it wasn’t.
The crap I consumed growing up – but it had no sugar! – is likely part of the reason I have had some of the health issues I’ve had. I once worked with a gentleman whose brother-in-law was a mortician. It seems to be a common practice in the mortuary industry to not preserve bodies as thoroughly in current times as the person who occupied the body had already done so via the preservatives in what they had been eating. Yucky.
I’ve owned four houses and only once has there been margarine. It was Imperial margarine, meant for a science experiment. While the experiment didn’t happen, it still showed one can leave that shit in the refrigerator for two years and it still looks the same months past its expiration date as it did on the day of manufacture.
We are butter people. And this vintage of Caprice, if equipped correctly, can be just as satisfying as a quality butter.
Jason, that’s kind of terrifying about the preservatives and what your mortician friend said. But when you think about it (and you and I are roughly the same age), people our age just ate all that stuff like it was no big whoop.
When I decided to stop smoking about 20 years ago (after 7 years), I decided to take up regular exercise and change my diet. While I wouldn’t eat margarine now (unless a guest at someone’s house), I do understand my parents were trying to save money, and also they didn’t know then what we all know now.
I am a little confused by the picture of the “Diet Imperial”… Images of Lido’s K-Car Imperials in my head notwithstanding, isn’t the line “imitation margarine” a tad redundant? Isn’t ALL margarine an ‘imitation’ of butter?
I’m literally laughing right now… The “Diet Imperial Imitation Margarine” also struck me as “extra redundant”. I’m glad you also picked up on this.
I took it to mean that it was a some double negative and was, in fact, real butter. An imitation of an imitation.
It occurred to me while reading this article that I’ve never once tasted margarine. We were strictly a butter household growing up, and the reason for that was that my father grew up in a Margarine-only household, and he developed a hatred for the stuff. Once I asked my parents if they could buy margarine for me to try… I think I had seen an ad for it (likely by watching TV on a faux sick day like Joseph). When I asked that, my father actually got angry and told me I don’t know how lucky I am to have real butter in the house. I never asked again. Plus, I do leave real butter!
The crown and fleur-de-lis hood ornament is as incongruous on this Caprice as the crown is on a margarine box… fancy imagery for a plain product.
Eric, the part of your last sentence after the ellipsis (dot-dot-dot) perfectly encapsulates the premise of my essay. I think that was part of the appeal of this car for much of America.
Nice find Joseph. I can’t say I have ever associated the Caprice emblem with margarine before, but I see how it works. While my household had several B-bodies, we never had margarine. My mother was absolute on only ever using butter.
This Caprice is quite nice. I know the late 70s cars get lots of love from people here, myself included, but these late 80s versions are very good as well (the bookend Chevrolets are best). Versions like this basic Caprice sans gingerbread have some of, if not the cleanest styling of all of the 77-90 Chevrolet B-bodies. In addition the 1989 Caprice would have had the L03 EFI 305 V8 engine rated at the same 170 hp as the 1977-79 350 LM1 (albeit less torque). With the addition of the OD transmissions (by this time the bugs were worked out), these Caprices had excellent drivability and good fuel economy. I recently saw an ’89 9C1 Caprice for sale not too far from me. It looked very similar to this car, but with the addition of the HD police parts. I was very tempted to buy, but luckily it was a tad too pricey for my liking.
used to watch the price is right to check out barkers beauties and then always ended up playing along to guess the prices. now they have men also showing the products. got pretty good at guessing the car prices. a fun show.
Thanks, Vince. I can imagine that nicer examples of these latter-day Caprices that are equipped right might be starting to fetch good money. I haven’t seen one this clean and nice for a while – probably since this one, five years ago.
As a fan the Jetsons as a kid and Swedish TV murder mysteries now, in my mind the Tre Kronor national emblem resembles Rosie the maid:
Sorry but when I see a Caprice I think of a certain brand of canned peas. And I hate canned peas.
We were a Parkay house when I was growing up, eventually converting to Shedd’s Spread. Yes, they were “spreads” but they never said just exactly what kind of “spread”. We have been butter people for many years now.
Joe, your posts are always so uniquely American 😉
Always makes my day when I see a new writeup from you.
Thanks so much, everyone, for relating your stories of what was in your cupboards, refrigerators, and driveways as you remember. Reading the responses is part of the fun of putting an essay like this out there.
Just keep them coming! The nice thing about your writing is that it’s consistently good and always relatable in some way or another.
All we had in the house growing up was Country Crock and that sucked. I didn’t try real butter until I was like 30. I thought butter was like, just less shitty Country Crock.
Joseph, sometimes I forget about the cars in your writing- and that’s a compliment. Now I’m trying to remember arguments at the dinner table about butter. What car was this? Oh, a Caprice. Yeah, those are nice. Still angry about Country Crock.
Jiffy blue boxes were a thing growing up, and a few years ago I bought a few and remade some stuff. Unlike a lot of things you remember from your childhood, it was actually pretty damn good. I still buy them for a quick cornbread or dessert, although I know I can do better, like 2 hours later.
We’re about the same age, I think you’re a little older, but congrats on the non-smoking. It’s been about 5 years for me.
The blue boxes, and that “JIFFY” all-caps font that looks like it has never been changed. The iconic stuff of pantry cupboards across the United States.
I remember one point in the ’90s when it seemed like a lot of people still smoked, and then with a lot of smoking bans, it probably got somewhat easier for people who wanted to quit to do so. I had to quit three times before it stuck. Afterward, in a given year I’d have one or two (i.e. when in Vegas), but never had the desire afterward. I haven’t had a single cigarette in a few years now.
One day at a time – I realize and appreciate the fact that what’s easy for some may not be easy for others. Congrats on your five years.
Dennis, your amazing creativity and top notch writing skills always gets me thinking, This entry brought back some happy memories! Thank you !!
I was born in the 60’s, the youngest of 3 kids. On occasion, my mom would try to sneak sticks of margarine on our butter dish, or put that avocado colored plastic tub of margarine in our fridge. This of course went along with her other trick of mixing Carnation powdered skim milk with water, then adding it to our half empty cartons of whole milk.
Thankfully, she never tried any other tricks on us. As far as I know, the meat extender “Plus Meat” never ended up in our Sunday meat balls. Or did it? Hummmm….
My mom tells this story to us now. When she was a youngster, she watched her grandma open a packet of yellow colored “stuff” and mix it with a spoon into a white looking blob, This was how they “mixed” margarine back in the 1940’s (or maybe even earlier). This grossed her out, but not enough to try pushing margarine on us!
Reading your very creative post this morning reminded me of my favorite commercials which ran during episodes of The Price is Right, Sale of the Century, Dream House, the original Wheel of Fortune (where the contestant would shop for prizes), etc.
Do you remember the Parkay Margarine “Talking Lid” commercials? The funniest ones featured a Latino man, sitting at a table with a box or a tub of Parkay margarine. The man would open the lid of the margarine (or the top of the box of sticks), and the margarine would say “Mantequilla”. The man would then say, “Parkay”. This would continue until he tasted the margarine and would say “Mantequilla”. But,the margarine would get the last word in and say, “Parkay”.
There were also commercials wit back and forth “butter – Parkay” dialogues in English as well, featuring famous actors of the day. Such creative advertising for a horrible product!! If you never seen one of these classic commercials, I suggest watching some on You Tube. They are classic !
Last night, I stopped at a Roy Rogers to get some dinner (yes, there are a few of these great roast beef fast food restaurants left in New Jersey), I ordered a baked potato instead of the fries. Guess what it came with? Little packs of margarine! Guess where they ended up?
Thank you so much for your kind words.
I had to look up “meat extender” on the internet, and I still couldn’t find what I was looking for. I have a pretty good idea of what it is / was.
I don’t remember the Spanish-language Parkay commercial, but I do remember the other ones with the talking tub! Great stuff. There are a few such commercials on YouTube. I liked the one below with the late Deacon Jones (RIP).
I think I remember reading that Roy Rogers restaurants were still in business. When I travel between Chicago and Michigan, I try to stop at a Big Boy restaurant (did you have those in NJ?) for their signature hamburger or pot roast.
Hello Mr. Dennis!
The commercial with Deacon Jones is great! Thank you for sharing it.
For some reason, I can not attach the link for the one with the Latino man. To find it, go on You Tube and search ” parkay mantequilla commercial’.
We are very lucky to have 5 Roy Roger’s restaurants here in New Jersey, Due to the pandemic, their famous “Fixins Bar’s” are closed. So now when you order your sandwich or meal, you have to ask the counter person for a “Fixins Cup” and sauce packets. The Fixins Cup includes a piece of lettuce, slice of tomato, slice of onion, and a slice of pickle. Kind of ruins the fun of going to the Fixins Bar and piling the toppings on as high as you liked, and filling little plastic cups with tons of delicious sauces.
Yes, it’s hard to find anything about Plus Meat on the web. Years ago, I did find some info on it, including a picture of the box. It was a texturized soy protein powder which was mixed into a pound of chop meat (ground beef as some parts of the US call it), to extend it,