classic car seat frames
The Chevy Caprice Classic Over The Years
The very successful Chevy Caprice Classic, in one form or another, proved to be a big winner for Chevrolet, from its debut as the Caprice in 1965 right up until the nameplate was finally killed off after the 1996 model year. The vehicle served General Motors and the buying public well over four generations of various body styles and engine-transmission combinations.
The Caprice Classic as a vehicle meant to appeal to as many buyers as possible couldn’t be said to have been other than a success, and it was Chevy’s most expensive full-sized vehicle from its creation, which the division worked hard to keep equipped with all the good things buyers in that segment came to demand from a big car.
For the first two generations (there were four in total) Chevy offered on 8 cylinder big and small-block powerplants. At the start of its third iteration, the company dropped an inline-6 into the mix in an attempt to improve fuel economy, though the car had never been able to brag at being much of a gas sipper prior to that. The most important change to the car up that point came in 1977, when it was completely redesigned and slimmed down in dimension.
The third generation proved to be as successful as the previous two, and was quite a big change over its ancestors, taking a cubed and boxy kind of shape that it would carry until 1990. Police everywhere loved the big Chevy for its body-on-frame build (which made it easy bump out and repair) and the rear wheel drive V8 layout and huge back seat.
As the luxury offering in the Caprice line, the Caprice Classic did its job well and with a great deal of aplomb, never straying far from the top of the Chevy price lists for full-size cars. Its final offering resulted in it appearing in another new redesign, though it carried over nicely-powered V8 engines to the point it offered a detuned Corvette mill.
The Caprice Classic also strove to offer much in the way of interior room and was a favorite of consumers everywhere, though it eventually saw its sales numbers drop off as the car market segmented itself down into ever-smaller slices. This meant that it never reached sales levels of the 70s, when it was most popular and the 80s, though police departments continued to rave about its abilities.
Disappearing from the American market in 1996, a variation of the car carries on to this day in the Middle East, where the Caprice Classic is made by a GM Australian subsidiary that delivers what is still a very popular nameplate in that part of the world. An iconic symbol of big American rear wheel drive cars, the Chevy Caprice Classic occupied a place in American auto buyers’ hearts for a long time.
About the Author
Andy Zain is the admin of 1995 Chevy Caprice Car Forum , a place where fans and owners can get the right information for tuning, customization and general discussions on anything about Chevy Caprice. Get the information you need when you visit Chevy Forums
Racers of a bygone era to be on display at Bayview show
Bayview’s Brian Grimm has an old photo he likes to show folks.
