(first posted 10/13/2015) Throughout the years, Motor Trend’s Car of the Year Award has had a mixed track record. With hindsight, some of their selections turned out to be complete duds (Vega anyone?). For 1977, however, Motor Trend’s editors really did pick one of the all-time greats when the newly downsized Chevrolet Caprice was crowned the victor.
In addition to the comprehensive write-up on the car itself, Motor Trend also offered delivered profiles of the executives who lead the monumental downsizing effort.
I think that many assumed the more efficient big cars were developed in response to the Arab Oil Embargo and government mandated fuel economy standards. In fact, GM initiated the downsizing program before the oil shock, most likely due to the realization that its cars had just gotten too big. Enormous batting ram bumpers mandated by the U.S. government to meet 5 mph impact standards made already gargantuan cars even larger and heavier. Tastes were changing, cars needed to go on a diet. GM was simply responding to market trends, though their timing was excellent.
This page highlights some of GM’s most visible leaders. As design chief since the late 1950s, Bill Mitchell had overseen some of the corporation’s most beautiful cars. His eye for design trends delivered great results with the downsized B/C-body program. Chuck Jordan, who was directly responsible for the excellent Caprice/Impala design, would later become GM’s design chief. Bob Stempel would rise to become the CEO of GM in 1990, though his tenure at the top was brief, as he was ousted in a boardroom coup in 1992.
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm 350 4-barrel… do want.
GM’s last big hit in the sedan arena?
I’d say so.
Interestingly, during the severe 1980-82 recession, which devastated cars sales in general, and sales of full-size cars in particular, sales of the GM B- and C-body cars were among the first to bounce back.
Really? I know the Chevy 350 is much revered, although the few I’ve driven have all been gutless, but did you look at the road test? 170/160 HP, the latter if California, 0-60 in 12.4 and 1/4 mile time of 18.2? Those are 4 cylinder numbers for the day, not now. Not even good 4 cylinder numbers, and that with a 4 barrel 350 V8? I guess the cars were a big improvement, and perhaps drove better than spec, but those are pretty awful specs.
Take another look at the road test; once the car was broken in, they recorded 0-60 in 10.8.
Good article on the AMC 2.0 SOHC 4 cylinder in that issue, BTW.
A blast from back when the Motor Trend Car Of The Year issue featured a lot more text, comprehensive testing and background on the development and people behind the cars.
Thanks for posting this.
Wasn’t the Gremlin’s SOHC 2 liter actually a Porsche-Audi engine, shared with the 924?
Yes, but AMC loosened up on the assembly specs and traded the fuel injection for a carb – so no, a Gremlin did not run like a Porsche 924. 🙂 AMC was also not permitted to advertise where they got the engine from.
And to think GM did it again with their 1991 Motor Trend Car of the Year, the Caprice Classic LTZ!
😛
Which oddly enough reverted back to a 1971-76 style bulbous upside down bathtub body style. The ’91 Caprice was such an ugly car compared to the crisp ’77-’90.
I forgot how big and clunky radar detectors were, Even on a ’71-’73 fullsize Buick dash that thing looks huge, It’s name is also a homonym for a ’71-’73 fulsize Buick! Natch!
When the 71-76 Impala/Caprice was tested at some point by Car&Driver they were of the opinion that based on the growth pattern up to that point that the Impala/Caprice of the near future would rival a Fruehauf tractor-trailer for size.
I wonder if customers were complaining that these cars were getting too big to park and/or garage.
These are a few years of full-sized Chevy I wouldn’t want to own….even if you gave them to me. Would NEVER want to own a 71-76 Impala/Caprice. I’m also not that crazy about the FWD models, though the latest model is decent enough, I guess.
I drove a Chevy wagon from the 71-76 time period. It was a motor pool vehicle, not mine. It was not all that big relative to other full size cars from the 60’s or early 70’s. Parking lots were designed for bigger cars. Now parking spaces take into account that cars are for the most part smaller, but then again the pickup trucks are oversized now.
Looking back, I think GM’s full sized cars in the 71-76 era are not the best. Chevrolets were better in the 60’s I think.
The GM clamshell was the longest traditional station wagon body ever made, in addition to being 80 inches wide. Notably, the clamshell used C body sized rear doors (framed glass) and a raised rear roof to allow side entry to the third seat. Apples to apples, the crash bumpered Chevy clamshell was longer than any Ford or Chrysler wagon ever. The other clamshells were longer.
Patrick Bedard wrote that statement based on his initial review of the 1971 full-size Chevrolet, which had been restyled for that year, and was larger than the 1970 model.
He wrote, “This growth business has to stop or we’ll all be driving Fruehauf-sized sedans by the turn of the century.”
Given the rise of Crew-cab pickups and SUVs effectively replacing the fullsized sedan, That prediction was spot on!
I remember during the 60’s through mid 70’s garages acquiring a half height extension to accommodate longer cars. The hood of the car fit into the extension. Cheaper than building a new garage. Looked like a lean to attached to the back of the garage.
Good call by Motor Trend on the `77 Caprice as Car of the Year. Even though it was downsized and lighter than its predecessors, it was a landmark design. Classy looking vehicle that kind of recalls the contemporary Sevilles, GM had a winner with this one.Almost a sort of redemption from their deadly sins that we read about too much on CCs. The fact that many of them are still on the road speaks volumes about their quality.
I’ve never heard of a Federal limit on brake-pedal pressure. Looks like they “framed” the manufacturers pretty well, making them look like the bad guys for poor stopping performance (which was richly deserved before).
Did Consumer Reports ever bother to mention this? Their stock solution for all problems is More Regulation.
One of a relatively few COTY winners that actually deserved the honor (I’m looking at you, Citation, Alliance, Cirrus, etc.).
Agree. And not just an award for the company that spent the most advertising dollars at “Motor Trend”.
Pity this car didn’t have the legendary, awesome quality control of Chevy’s in the 1960’s.
After 1964, it seemed that Chevrolet quality slipped considerably.
The division’s image had also been badly hurt in the early 1970s by the massive recall of all V-8 equipped 1965-69 Chevrolets (not just the full-size cars) for defective motor mounts.
I think that it’s important to remember that Motor Trend is not saying that their choice is the world’s best car, or that it is better than last years choice. Rather it is a consensus opinion of which new (not a leftover model from the previous year) car is most improved. All of GM’s newly downsized full size models could be said to share this award, although they should all have been in the running.
Looking back it seems to me that GM should have developed an overdrive transmission to go with these cars so that the standard axle ratios would not have been something like 2.5:1. This car’s 3.08:1 was an extra cost option I am sure, which would have increased the fuel consumption.
They did offer overdrive in 1982 model year, but as early as 1980, many had a lock-up torque converter which gives a similar rpm drop to overdrive.
Thanks for posting all these great articles GN!
Did MT always feature the responsibles behind the COTY, or was this extraordinarily done for GM?
They did not usually have a write up on the men behind the car. I think that Motor Trend saw that down sizing was going to be the future, not ever bigger.
Considering the success of the smaller Shoebox Chevy, the ’77 B-body actually regressed towards a size acceptable during the prosperous ’50s, before there was much concern about smog, Arab oil, & inflation. I’m tempted to say the same about suburban housing.
Great write up again, GN. I think the ’77 Car of the Year award was given to the best possible choice for the time. The Caprice/Impala were such big improvements in so many ways over their predecessors it made perfect sense that they should win. GM shocked the American public and other manufacturers with these cars. They were years ahead of the competition.
Funny, Mom had a ’79 Riviera that also won the COTY award in ’79. So, at the same time we had both a ’77 Caprice and ’79 Riviera in our driveway. In a way they both were revolutionary vehicles – they both showed that smaller vehicles can handle better, provide equal or more room and be more efficient than the larger cars they replaced. Plus they looked great to boot.
The other nominees for ’77 COTY award didn’t hold a candle to the Caprice. Ford LTD II and Dodge Monaco [Coronet renamed]??
MT had ‘Import COTY’ separate for ’77, so M-B 300SD won that.
Though the ’77 LeSabre Sport Coupe was one that could’ve shared the award? [I dont remember which other GM cars were nominated.]
Here’s the line-up of nominees for 1977: AMC Pacer Wagon, Buick LeSabre Sport Coupe, Cadillac Coupe DeVille, Chevrolet Caprice, Dodge Monaco, Ford LTD II, Ford Thunderbird, Pontiac Catalina.
Dodge Monaco – HaHaHaHaHaHaHa!
That must have been a sop to Chrysler Corporation. The Monaco was even more of a rehash than the Ford LTD II.
The Dodge Diplomat and Chrysler LeBaron didn’t debut until the spring of 1977, which was too late to be considered for the 1977 award.
Yeah as 1977½ models and there was derived from the F-body Aspen/Volare who won the award the previous year and let’s add the Plymouth Caravelle who was sold only in Canada. But Chrysler will win the MT COTY award again in 1978 with the FWD L-body Omni/Horizon ahead of GM new intermediates and the Ford Fairmont.
I guess the guys of Motor Trend would had got some headaches had the Omni/Horizon was introduced in the same model year as the 1977 Caprice/Impala.
Wow, the only smallish car in that lineup was the Pacer Wagon. Some popular big sellers emerged from that group of land barges; TBird, Deville and Caprice.
FWIW, the Corvair, Vega, and Citation all won COTY when brand new. On paper, sure, but who knew?
Vair was not a lemon, it was just as “safe” as a same year VW Bug, but since a celebrity died driving one, Ernie Kovacs, it got a bad rep.
Does anyone know the take-rate on the F-41 suspension? I was just a kid when these were on the road, but the article’s description of the handling is totally different from the “marshmallow” criticism offered by everyone I knew who drove one.
I’m guessing “very low” unless you were a cop.
GM in the late 70s was a company where you could only get the “best” if you knew what boxes to check on the options sheet.
I don’t think it was *that* low. The F41 option wasn’t unknown, especially since all the mags used to rave about it. It was nothing more than a cheap suspension upgrade option, which many people ordered (like my dad, who always thought the heavy duty suspension meant stronger parts). When I was shopping for B-Bodies I’d always check RPO stickers and other tell tale signs for the F41 suspension. I didn’t have to search that long to find an F41 car but most cars did have base suspension.
Easiest way is to look under the rear end for the sway bar.
Love the old magazine articles that have been recently posted. More please….especially about the big cars.
A treat to see all this material. Sort of a compliment to the many contributors and commenters here that many things said in various CC articles correctly echo the sentiments written in 1977.
I had a long and reasonably intimate relationship with the GM B body, and the ’78 Caprice 305 was my first driving experience once I had a license. The car came through my grandfather who bought it new. He was no longer able to drive after 1981, and I had a newly minted license. His car suddenly became the extra car at our house, and I was for a while assigned to drive this well equipped Caprice with about 10,000 miles on it. Not the coolest car in the high school parking lot, but I felt strangely like an adult with a real job driving it.
It truly was a sturdy car, and traveled though my family for over 15 years, racking up the better part of 200,000 miles on the original transmission and engine, despite a gaggle of teen drivers. Even the AC, frequently a trouble spot in cars at our house, lasted a very long time. It proved rust resistant, and had little to speak of after 15 salty, snowy winters. The weakest area was the dash pad, cracks after a few years, and the portion over the center radio speaker turned to dust over time.
Ours looked a lot like the test car, but two tone red. Otherwise, the same mirrors, trim and wheel covers. No vinyl roof.
I doubt ours had the F-41 suspension – I believe it was usually easily identified by the presence of a rear anti-sway bar. Regardless, it handled very well – in a house where the comparison was very large ’70s Ford products, our Caprice was indeed a Camaro sedan.
Would love to see the article on the other cars up for consideration for COTY in ’77. The article states that the competition was close – other GM B bodies? Or were they really giving that much credit to the ’77 Ford Thunderbird and related Fords? The LeBaron / Diplomat twins?
The competition was not likely close.
In 1983 I had a part time job delivering and collecting cars for repair at a garage in Fleetwood near Blackpool. Our tow vehicle was a 77 Caprice wagon, I think the cause of my grey barnet was being pulled from Birmingham to Fleetwood in a Renault Fuego with a blown engine at 100+ mph.A good car, not an outstanding one but the honest American car that youcould leave outside and know it would fire up straight away next day
If you were to ask me what my favorite cars ever were, I’d answer B Bodies. If you asked me to name a specific, it would be the stunning 1977 Caprice. From the swoosh of the wheel wells, to the dramatically sloping rear end, to the slicked back c-pillar, to the aggressive front end, these, to me, are the very definition of a perfectly styled automobile! However it has to be a 77-79, as the 1980 restyle ruined a bunch of things – the more sloped hood, more vertical c-pillar, and clunky front and rear end styling.
The 77-79 with its blunt front end, and swept back, more organic styling, had a four door muscle car vibe to them, think overgrown Nova. Soon as I can afford it, I’m going on a 77 Caprice hunt, and I want it with the 350 and F41 suspension, then I want to paint it cherry red/black interior, topped off with some dog dishes.
I would love to see such a review for +87 model year.
These B and C and to some extent the A/G downsized cars were the shining bright stars of the 70’s as far as automobiles went. It was truly a shock to drive a full sized Ford or Dodge in that same period and then hop into a 350 Caprice, LeSabre or Delta 88 Olds, especially if they had the F41 option and larger P225/70R15 tire upgrade.
The 10.8 second 0-60 time is a full second slower than C&D so I think this car needed yet more break in miles for full on performance. With the optional 3.08 rear ratio this should be a sub 9 second 0-60 car fully broken in and quicker still with a few very easy modifications to the Quadrajet and timing curve. My best friend’s 1986 loaded Caprice with a 305 and 165 HP and 2.56:1 rear gears was quicker than 10.8 seconds to 60 actually 9.5 seconds with 2 people on board using both a stop watch and a Gtech I think it was called.
We had a mint light green 1977 Olds Delta 88 coupe with the rarely ordered 403 V8 and it was quite fast for it’s day and would shred tires at will. That car felt like a sub 8 second car but we never actually timed that one. During the 70’s and early 80’s anything that quick was rare indeed.
I’m impressed by Motor Trend’s interior noise level measurements of the 77 Caprice. 62 dBA at 60 mph was as quiet as the Lincoln Continental of the era. The Caprice also did well in Car and Driver’s test, 67 dBA at 70 mph which was as quiet as the Lincoln Mk V and better than the 78 Cadillac Coupe de Ville. I didn’t know these down sized Chevys were so quiet.
Did MT ever anoint anything but a domestic as COTY in the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s?
How about the 1985 VW GTI? or the 1972 Citroen SM?
For decades only domestics were eligible, they gave a separate Import Car of the Year prize.
“With hindsight, some of their selections turned out to be complete duds (Vega anyone?).”
Renault Alliance. Dud from Day One.
The Vega, and I’m as anti GM as you’ll ever find, the Vega when introduced would have been a pretty strong contender as COTY. When right, and I guess even if it was it didn’t stay that way long, but when right it was a big upgrade over it’s target, a VW Beetle that dated from WWII. A friend bought one new, and it was like a nice new car. But he later admitted to keep it running right he was always playing with it. Then the problems with the aluminum block that manifested as time went on suggested it wasn’t all that good, but the guys doing road tests, even if completely unbiased, don’t know that.
Who are these gray-suited geezers holding the trophy and gathered around the car like they did something? Did they draw the lines, draw the gears, do any of the parts fitting? Did they do the calculations or measurements of anything?
Or did they sit in an office on a comfy chair while other people made them very wealthy?
Actually I’m kidding. I don’t know who these people are. Maybe some of them did do some work.
-On their golf game.
Class warfare burn!
😛
I have to wonder if these same cars would be so highly esteemed (both then and now) had they been marketed as merely the next generation of GM mid-sized cars that directly replaced the Colonades, with the ’77 Caprice/Impala instead being a Chevelle, the Delta 88 a Cutlass, and so on, with the 1976-size B and C lines continuing alongside the new intermediates along with their traditional full-size car names. Would the automotive press still be like “whoa, these new Chevelles are so good they render the Caprice obsolete and pointless? Would they be regarded as “revolutionary” if they were the same size as the cars they replaced?
My dad bought a 1978 Sedan DeVille (his first ever “luxury” car). I was 17 at the time and really excited to try the new downsized Caddy, especially compared to my $250 1963 Chevy II Nova (don’t I wish I had that one back now).
With the big 425 4-bbl V-8, it was (for the time) a darn fast car. Easily cruised at 80-85 mph in silence. It even handled pretty well, considering it was a Cadillac. I loved that car.
I have to admit a soft spot for those downsized Cadillacs, and would like to find a 77-79 Coupe DeVille or Fleetwood Brougham to add to the garage.