The new-for-’77 GM B-bodies are an evergreen topic, usually emblematised—then as now—by the Chev Caprice. These cars were big news, a game-changer, a harbinger, blahbitty blah, et cetera; if you’re reading this you’ve already heard it all.
There was a variety of television ads for them; some featured Jerry Orbach (years before that incessant
Doong-Doonk! scene-change sound effect on “Law & Order” greyed his hair) holding 12-cube boxes and describing how many more of those cubic feet fit in the new ’77:
Others were truncated, 30-second versions of today’s feature ad. All of them featured the prescient double-entendre slogan, “more like it”.
Pop some popcorn, because today’s feature film is a full ninety seconds’ worth of mid-late ’70s trope bingo: the hairstyles; the fashions; the priorities; the Brady-Bunchy boxes-in-squares graphics; the choir-over-brass-and-strings multipart-harmony pomp, the smashdown of normative social assumptions—Black people and women, too, could choose and buy new cars in 1977! Really, all that’s missing is the Solid Gold dancers—they were still three or four years in the future when these ads played. Things really get rolling just before the one-minute mark:
P.S.: We’re fortunate. I first saw this on YouTube years ago, but by the time it occurred to me to watch it again it had been yanked; whoever posted it had their YouTube account cancelled for multiple alleged copywrong violations. Several years’ worth of periodic non-YouTube searches proved fruitless; I could only ever find the much less entertaining 30-second version. Now it’s back from a different poster, so watch and listen while you can!
Great 70s commercial here. I do find it interesting, however, that in 90 seconds, they only show the Caprice sedan. Why no display of the eye catching coupe or even the wagon?
I was going to post this anyway…
“the smashdown of normative social assumptions (viz the radical, daring suggestion that black people and women, too,)”
I recall seeing (in print ads anyway) Blacks and women And,Hell, Black women! ? in MoPar ads in the early 1970s (maybe late ’60s?)
If I can dig them up, I’ll post ’em.
What about the young woman (teenage girl?) with the books and the guy with the Belushiesque “COLLEGE” sweatshirt? Not so much that they wouldn’t be buying cars, but that they’d even be interested in a big four-door sedan…
College Boy was a cutie. Now THAT’S more like it! heheheheheh
LOL, True enough, But no less believable than when car ads featured elegantly dressed upper class folk in front of a mansion, posing with some elcheapo econobox.
nice looking car for 77. a real exit from the cars before it…. it also wrecked it for the seville. there goes exclusivity in design.
Car ad that would never see the light of day now.
Boy, that needs a George Takei “Oh My!” afterwards.
Give me the Chevy 350 and TH350, fuel economy be damned.
Durability, durability, durability.
My dad’s LeSabre (350/ TH350) got about 16 in mixed driving, 19 highway on a real good day. About what many SUV drivers get today.
The 77-79 models and maybe more had TH350s and a 305 base engine 350 optional.
I was a diehard Mopar and Ford guy when these hit the streets, and I really wanted to dislike them. But I could not deny that they were drastic improvements over the prior generation of the GM B and C body cars. I have still not warmed up to the Chevy’s styling (I prefer the Olds 88) but GM did a really good job on these.
I remember this ad and how it gave me a sense of dread because I could tell that my preferred big Plymouth and Ford’s days were numbered.
Around 1984 a law school roommate sold his 75 Mustang II and bought a 77 Impala 2 door. The Chevy had high miles but was a very nice driving car, even when it was a cheap, well-worn used car.
interesting how they did NOT mention size nor weight reduction..just “more manageable”. Neither power not handling discussed either. BTW I love “college” guy..this is 76-77 so I guess the “college” guy I am thinking about is not yet a thing.
Right, LOL how the words “small” or “smaller” were still verboten at GM, instead resorting to euphenisms like “more manageable” or “international-sized”.
It’s going to be at the shop every friday,that’s more Like it.
Well that really isn’t true.
I remember in early 90s my dad’s85 CAPRICE with less than 100k km(65k miles)was having lots of issues.after a while my dad was about to put his left kidney on ebay in order to pay for the next Repair.ok i am kidding But that car was having many problems and finally the 305 blow the headgasket and he ended up selling it.i quess most cars from that era were junk,not just Detroit’s products.
That was the exception to the rule for these. Most owners of these cars went well over 100K with but normal maintenance, a possible carburetor rebuild and if you were unlucky and got a Metric 200 a possible transmission re-build but most came with 4 speed overdrive and 305/307 which were a very sturdy drivetrain combo in normal day to day use.
Yes in the mid 80s GM was having serious quality control issues and the emissions systems were problematic. The early 700r4 had major problems also. My 84 Caprice that was purchased new by my grandmother had problems with cannister purge valves and the 700r4. Her 78 305/TH350 had no power but was super reliable. The transmission lasted over 100k with a factory defect. One of the roll pin holes in the valve body wasn’t drilled deep enough so when the VB was bolted on it bent the separator plate and caused a massive internal leak. I drilled the hole deeper and flattened the plate when I rebuilt it.
Seems rather corny today, this commercial however was rather more substantive than the norm from the era, plus its neo-disco soundtrack is also very hip and catchy.
Back in my formative years of the early Eighties, my Mom had a cream puff ’76 Impala coupe w/350 2 bbl that I drove when I could in HS. It was quicker (at least off the line) than most of the cars I had the opportunity to run up against (mostly friends 6 cyl Hornets etc.)
It did meet its match against a friends family ’77 Caprice 4-door 350 4bbl. Lighter with a bit more power, it would leave me in the dust. Neither was as fast as my first car though; a $40 ’71 rusty Impala. Even though it was only a 2bbl 350, the higher compression/loose motor and pre-federalized weight was not much more than the ’77 would haul ass.
> more substantive than the norm from the era
The ad blitz at for launch of the new B- and C-bodies had to clearly make the point that the new cars were bigger on the inside despite being smaller on the outside. It’s hard to describe how shockingly different they looked compared to the blobby ’76 models (and the ’77 models in Ford and Chrysler showrooms). GM was taking no chances at consumer rejection over the smaller outside dimensions.
I vividly remember these cars hitting the market, but I don’t remember that ad or that jingle/tag line. The main thing I notice is that, despite’s Chevy’s proliferating lineup of Malibus, Monte Carlos, Novas, Monzas, etc., this car is “the new Chevrolet.”
I’d be willing to guess this was about the last time that a full-sized car was advertised just as “the Chevrolet.”
I remember it like it was yesterday. That chorus is beautiful, and the punchy horns, probably my favorite commercial of all time.
Probably true!
They kept the “The New Chevrolet” tagline for the brochures until at least 1980.
> “The main thing I notice is that, despite’s Chevy’s proliferating lineup of Malibus, Monte Carlos, Novas, Monzas, etc., this car is “the new Chevrolet.” I’d be willing to guess this was about the last time that a full-sized car was advertised just as “the Chevrolet.””
This was a weird Detroit convention for over two decades starting in 1960 when smaller mainstream cars were introduced. For example, mid-’60s Ford print advertisements had a tagline that read FORD and underneath in smaller print the cars Ford made: “Fairlane – Falcon – Ford – Thunderbird”. “Ford” in that context meaning the full-size Fords like the Galaxie and LTD. Chevrolet did the same thing, something I learned when my dad took me car shopping in 1976 and the Chevy brochures on the wall included things like “1976 Chevelle” and “1976 Nova/Concours”. One of them was titled “1976 Chevrolet” which I assumed was a full-line catalog, but no it was actually just for the Caprice and Impala. That’s when I learned “Chevrolet” sometimes just meant the ‘real’ Chevrolet, the full-sized ones.
The last time I saw this convention used was in the ‘deluxe’ 1981 Pontiac full-line brochure (Pontiac in that era didn’t normally issue single-line brochures), in the specifications and options listings at the back of the booklet. There were listings for 1981 LeMans, 1981 Phoenix, 1981 Firebird, and 1981 Pontiac – the last one meaning the Catalina and Bonneville. The 1984 Buick full-line catalog did mention in the section for the Electra that for some people the Electra isn’t just *a* Buick but *the* Buick, the last vestiges of this practice. Can anyone cite a later instance?
Also dying around that time was the previous convention for different trim levels of the full-size car having completely different names (i.e. Biscayne/Bel Air/Impala/Caprice), which was part of the reason they were collectively referred to as “the Chevrolet”.
This ad is a year older than I am- it really puts into perspective the changes over the last 40 years. There aren’t many singing commercials anymore. I remember the original Taurus had the “TAURUS FOR US” jingle, but I can’t recall any jingles since, say, the early 90s, and by the time I was in ad school in the mid 90s they were pretty much extinct.
Today’s commercials, especially those targeted to younger people like the truth anti-smoking ads, would most likely feel alien and almost schizophrenic to folks in 1977.
These down-sized GM cars had a lot going for them and they certainly handled better than their predecessors, especially with the optional F-41 handling suspension.
What I most remember about them, though, was how the rear seats had short lower cushions with not much thigh support and they got really uncomfortable when you rode sitting on them for a while.
One of the big reasons for going with the somewhat longer C body instead of the B was the C’s used a longer seat cushion, although the overstuffed loose-cushion seats on the higher-end models negated that advantage – you had to stick to a non-Regency, non-Park Avenue, non-d’Elegance model. I think the longer seat cushions finally made it into the B body in 1985, the last year for the box Bs for Olds and Buick, in the 88 Royale Brougham LS and LeSabre Collector’s Edition, both of which used the seats from the ’84 top of the line C bodies that went out of production in ’85.
My mom bought a ’77 Impala in 1980, the dealer had at least 50 of them, all light blue, all but a few with cloth seats, 350/T350, and base trim. We picked one out, it’s sole issues were the trans went out about a year after we bought it (I wasn’t surprised), and it ate an alternator. Since it had 77K on it when she bought it, and it was very cheap, it wasn’t a shock about the trans needing to be fixed.
In my last year of HS in 1978, a friends mom bought him a base one year old ’77 Impala Coupe, also in that light blue, probably an ex-rental. The THM-200 grenaded on New Years Eve ’78 trying to rock it out of a snowdrift. Also ate it’s cam lobes (305).
Both covered under third party warranty.
Are you sure it was a THM 350 and not a 200. 350’s were very sturdy long lasting units according to any trans guy I have ever spoke with and loads of GM car experience with. Never ever had a 350 go bad in my cars but did have one 200 Metric bite the dust behind a V8.
It was a THM-200, said so right on the build sticker in the glove box. The car had 15,000 miles on it when it blew apart.
Not familiar with the TV spot jingle. A little over the top but very catchy and certainly well produced. I had turned 22 when these trimmed down Chevys were introduced so while I was not the targeted demographic, the models certainly got my attention.
One of my co-workers, a guy about my age had bought a new 76 Biscayne four door sedan a year earlier. His father was a Chevy guy and Ross fell compelled to have a full-size car to transport him and on occasion his girlfriend, future wife. I wonder now if Ross felt his bloated sedan was a dinosaur when the 77s came on the market? Don’t know how long he kept the 76.
Over the top (by current standards) was how Chevy did it back then. After spending much of the late sixties in advertising hell, the 69’s came with a new jingle and more defined campaign…”Putting you first, keeps us first”…which gave way to this by 1972. VO by Casey Kasem.
I remember very well how the TV spot jingle for the Pontiac Astre appealed to my ears. For a time the Astre commercial had me debating whether I should get an Astre GT or the Vega GT. Strange in a way that a musical jingle should have that effect on a 20 year old male. I don’t remember how GM advertised the Vega on television. I eventually factory ordered the Vega GT.
I recall reading about how amazed John DeLorean was when he took over at Chevrolet at how much money they spent in advertising and how little it generated in terms of a memorable message. Chevy’s best advertising since the 50s came under his watch or shortly thereafter.
Well I much prefer this ad to the over sold/bloated ’77 iteration.
But…..did many people actually drive Impalas on the beach? Given the rust prevention measures of the day I don’t think many would have done it too often!
I can’t hear Casey’s voice without hearing Shaggy Doo in my head.
For me I hear “American Top 40”. ?
I’ll say it again…successes like these are why GM’s deadly sins are so highlighted in this space. Because GM knows better and the public, at some level, understood it.
The ’77s were a welcome – and much-needed – revolution after the bloat and comparatively poorer build quality of the previous generation. True, your satisfaction varied depending on which options were checked off. F’r example, 350/TH350 equipped cars were more durable than the 305/TH200 “metric transmission” versions.
I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to say one of these cars, properly equipped, could be an enjoyable driver today. Just last week, my wife mentioned the ’91 Caprice wagon we’d owned a few years ago. (Remember this platform remained with only evolutionary and body changes to the end in 1996) Our road trip car despite its age, it knocked back 23MPG even pushing that 305/TH700-R4 over 80MPH on the Interstate.
Easy to argue the Ford Panthers ended up improving on the formula after GM left the full-size RWD fold, but here is where it began…the return to reason after half-a-decade of bloat and excess.
It was truly much more like it.
The 200 Metric trans would show up randomly in the weirdest setups. I even remember seeing them sitting behind Buick 350 engines and the occasional Olds 350 in a B-body full size during the 70’s. My 1981 Olds Cutlass 231 V6 sedan and 260 V8 coupe both came with factory 350 units. My friend’s 1979 Cutlass Calais had a factory 200 however. I also had two 1980 Grand Prix’s. Both were 301 equipped. The SJ had a factory 350. The LJ had a 200 Metric. We would make it a habit to look under any car we were buying back in the day to see which trans was there and many times would be baffled to see a 200 where a 350 should have been and vice versa. It truly was a crap shoot.
+1!
Yup. My folks bought a new ’78 Caprice sedan. AM/FM mono radio, air conditioning, 305-2bbl engine and…that’s it. Everything else was basic equipment. No power locks or windows, no interval wipers, no backglass defogger, no 2-tone paint, no color-keyed seatbelts or split-bench seat, and certainly no heavy-duty brakes, suspension, alternator, cooling system, or anything else.
Nevertheless, GM decided at random to put a TH350 in that car, rather than the pathetic TH200. My folks were spared a bullet by GM’s spasticity.
A lot of people only know Jerry Orbach from Law & Order and don’t know he got his start as a an actor/singer on Broadway, starting with The Fantasticks and then a slew of famous shows like Promises Promises and the original Chicago. A real talent!
Chevy was on a roll with catchy commercials in the mid-Seventies from the classic Baseball, Hot Dogs Apple Pie and Chevrolet, to Now That’s More Like It. Every TV watching kid could sing them. Sad nothing has that effect anymore.
I remember the long “New Chevrolet” commercial all too well because at the time when it was being played over and over during “Three’s Company” and “Charlie’s Angels”, Dad had a ’77 Caprice Estate on order for what seemed like an eternity! As a 10 year old kid that loved cars I was enamored with all the advertisements and brochures Chevy had to offer. The day we got it I remember running out to the driveway to look at it over and over again. My brother was 17 at the time and helped Dad order it. He made sure he ordered the 350 V-8 and a special axle ratio. I’m sure it was a gas hog but I know it was fast!
It was a loaded example, but not without some oddities. It had a full vinyl bench seat but it was power – really Dad? No divided seat option? Oh, and no rear defroster – here in New England? Dad – come on! It did have the normal luxury options – power windows, locks, tilt. cruise, AM/FM Stereo, digital clock, even the sport wheel covers. Yet my brother thought it would look cool with no bumper guards or rub strips – what!! And it was ordered as a 3 seater but the factory messed up and it came through as a 2 seater! We lived with that car for about 5 years until it literally started rotting away. I felt sad when we finally sold it (a little) but the ’82 Ford Country Squire that replaced it was such a nice wagon that the sadness didn’t last for long.