No, that’s not the shadow of me holding my iphone to my i. That’s me standing in salute to the last Box B wagon in the ‘hood.
Sorry for the poor picture focus, but shooting in the blazing summer sun is my least favorite time to do so, and seeing the screen and the yellow focus box appear was obviously not in the cards. But you know what the business end of a Box-B wagon looks like. How many dozens have we featured here over the years?
I’ve seen this one coming and going on the roads, but didn’t realize it lived on the very outer fringe of my designated 6 block radius. Maybe it was one over; if so, mea culpa. And doesn’t it seem like just yesterday when these were everywhere? I’m struggling a bit with the idea of GM Bs becoming pampered collectibles instead of hard-scrabble haulers. Here’s my idea of a proper Caprice.
This one is in quite nice shape, but given its DD status, it’s no pampered garage queen either. The interior is particularly well preserved.
I know it’s an ’86 from the Carfax I ran on its plates. According to the Encyclopedia, 45,183 of these were sold that year. The only engine listed in that publication is the venerable 305 Chevy V8. Several hp ratings are given, but I suspect the two lower ones, 150 or 155 are the applicable ones. The subject having been discussed ad nauseum here, I won’t exactly be going out on a limb by saying that the 305 was a bit perkier than the Olds 307 that replaced it the next year, in 1987.
So join me in saluting an all-American classic, which like old soldiers “never die; they just fade away”.
Note: although this is a rerun of an older post I still see this wagon regularly. It hasn’t faded away completely yet.
Forty years old now and still being used 8 years later. That is pretty impressive given that it is a wagon, which like trucks, could be beaten to within an inch of death.
1986 Caprice wagons also came with the Olds 307. I have one.
For me, these GM B-bodies, along with the Volvo 240 Wagon, are an will ever be the epitome of the classic station wagon. I simply love them – both.
Being a bicentennial baby, the first car I remember my grandpa having was a yellow 1977 Impala wagon. He kept the seats folded down and all our toys in the back, and took my sister and I for rides on the back roads. While him and grandma stopped at various culverts to trout fish. My aunt wrecked it in the early 80s, so he got a brown Mercury Zephyr wagon. We continued until my cousin came along in 1982 and then the fun was over.
He preferred the big wagons and around 1988, bought a lightly used 1986 Caprice wagon, burgundy with burgundy vinyl interior, no options except AC that was like frost. In the next few years, a couple of my aunt’s shady friends stole it in the middle of the night and buried it in valley on an unplowed seasonal road. Middle of winter so it was easy to follow footprints, and it was my bus driver from that high point of view who spotted it. It was recovered but it was never the same, he just kept it going after that.
By then I was a tinkering teenager and asked if I could put in a different radio. Watching his grandson experiment and learn was more important than the car. So I installed the nonexistent 4×10 speakers in rear pillars and ran wire. And I noticed that the special radio panel had the same mounting behind it as the standard GM radios and same depth too. So I carefully cut out the opening to fit a standard radio, and slid in an improved Delco digital AM/FM. So it was black with the silver surround, but that didn’t matter.
He kept it for as long as he could drive, crudely patching and spray painting rust. Never had any mechanical problems. Eventually his emphysema had him permanently couchbound. My grandma ended up basically giving the car to my aunt since she would have used it all the time anyway. And bought a 95 Century wagon. It was too small for grandpa’s taste, he also hated FWD, but he wasn’t the one driving. He didn’t last too much longer and died in 2004. Grandma kept going, with a several cars all with the same story. Until 2010 with 2 broken hips and a stroke, then chairbound herself kept going another 10 years till Covid got her.
We’ve owned many Caprice Classics…
A 74, 75, two 79’s and an 82. They were all great cars except for the 229 in the 82! People with walkers were faster!
Anyone know why Chevy never got an H-Body and why the Hs did not offer wagons? This was only two years after the minivan and Jeep Cherokee debuted a large number of wagons were expected.
This will be like seeing a Traverse or a Honda Pilot in 2065 btw.
Chevrolet originally was to get a version of the H body, initially scheduled for 1983. Unexpectedly strong sales of the old B-body Caprice led Chevy to abandon the H body, along with the A-body and upcoming W (GM10) Lumina covering the same general market, and with wagon sales dipping by 1986 the A-body wagons (new in 1984) seemed sufficient. GM had loads of overlap in mid-size cars in this period.
I have no idea why my posts are in red – tried a different browser and it does the same thing. Anyway, there are no more box B wagons in my environs, though there is both a post-redesign Custom Cruiser and a ’96 Roadmaster I both frequently see. There are still a several box B/C sedans though, including an early-’90s Caddy Brougham, several Chevy sedans, and a post-facelift 98 coupe. Far more box Panthers than box B’s though. Haven’t seen a Mopar R body in eons.
There are a few of these still hanging around in my area, and they’re still active. I view both the General Motors and Ford Motor Company full-size wagons of this era as highly successful designs.
GM’s Motor Vehicle Specifications entry for the 1986 Caprice Classic claims 165 bhp for the LG4 305 ci V8. Make of that what you will.
A decade ago, I wrote a blog entry about the 1985 version of this wagon. Recently updated, it’s here:
https://eightiescars.com/2015/07/04/1985-chevrolet-caprice-classic-station-wagon/
I would say these really have faded the last five years or so but since the newest one would be 36 yrs old now it makes sense. People also didn’t save mainstream brand wagons as a rule.
The 91 Caprice was problematic all around but the wagons really were unpopular. I would think the Roadmaster outsold it.
As far as wagons, I would say so too. I don’t remember the last time I saw a 91-96 Caprice or Custom Cruiser in the wild. However I have seen plenty of Roadmasters in recent years.
My Dad bought a new ’78 in the fall of ’78…it was his last wagon (first was a ’61 Rambler). Unfortunately involved in an ’84 accident which brought about the purchase of his worst car, a ’84 Pontiac Sunbird. He never owned a luxury car but this probably came the closest to one, in terms of options…it had AM/FM stereo, A/C, trailer towing package, full gauges (including vacuum gauge) power windows and locks. I would prefer cloth to the vinyl seats it had, but they were pretty plush. Only car he bought from the showroom floor. He looked at the new at the time ’79 Ford Country Squire (he owned a ’73 Ranch Wagon at the time) but for some reason I can’t recall he didn’t care for the Ford instead buying a leftover Chevrolet.
This is the type of car I’d pictured myself driving in retirement…an easy to get into /out of car with lots of storage space. Too bad they don’t sell them new anymore, and as you mention they’re disappearing from the roads.