Our Cars--1991 Chevrolet Caprice Classic
In our Cash For Clunkers open thread a few weeks ago, I made the point that the decimation of older cars is a profoundly sad thing--that these oft-overlooked cars are precious, non-renewable resources. I went further by making the observation that, for instance, Chevrolet isn't producing any more 1991 Chevy Caprice Classics and every example destroyed is an inexorable step towards a world in which we have none left.
One commenter responded to this deeply profound wisdom with the comment, "GM isn't making any more terrible 1991 Caprices? Hallelujah!"
Hold on, now. Sure, the 1991 Caprice inspires a vague sense of nausea in most people, but I love it. This generation of Caprice is the last direct descendant of the great massive rear-wheel-drive Impalas and Caprices that proudly owned the American road in the second half of the 20th century. It's the kind of huge, comfortable, relaxed cruiser that used to be right in Detroit's wheelhouse but that has been completely out of vogue for the last 20 years as the world has focused on overstyled trucks, small economy cars, and the today's omnipresent, hyper-aggressive sports sedans.
These Caprices became somewhat famous because in 1994 it could be ordered with the LT1 high-performance V-8 in standard, wagon, Impala SS, and police/taxi trim. The resulting high-performance monstrosity is a lust-worthy beast--I spend way too much time browsing listings for thrashed high-mileage ex-police LT1 Caprices--but this post is meant to commemorate the sedate plain-Jane sedan that I knew and loved in my adolescence.
I was fortunate enough to live in the same household as a '91 Caprice; I still remember celebrating when, after a decade-long string of execrable Oldsmobile Cutlass Cieras, my Dad finally scored a Caprice company car. I remember watching in awe as he (seemingly in need a few tug boats) slowly navigated the leviathan into our garage. Impossibly shiny, painted in sinister jet black and with just a few splashes of chrome, it looked mean. Or, at least, about as mean as a car with skinny tires, a freakishly long rear overhang, and rear-wheel skirts can look. I'll admit that now it looks a little gawky, but at the time it was smooth.
Actually, I'll go a little farther than gawky. To today's eyes, the styling looks a little ... well, perhaps deformed, like a model car slightly melted by a mischevious boy with a Bic lighter. When I first saw the '91 Caprice, I predicted it would revolutionize large-car styling in the same way the Ford Taurus did, which turned out to be a hilariously awful prediction. The automotive world reacted to the Caprice's styling with bemused disinterest and went about its business in the 1990s making ovoid cars that were significantly more anonymous.
I'm not sure what to make of the Caprice's rear wheel skirts--they're either a cool quirk or a bizarrely baroque affectation. Chevrolet thought better of them, dropping them from the sedan after only two years of production. My dad, forced during the winter months to thread tire chains under the skirts, was not particularly amused by them.
An unkind friend of my father's dubbed our car "The Meatloaf," a nickname that I found offensive at the time but strangely applicable now. Like a meatloaf, the Caprice was supremely satisfying but not exotic--it was pure automotive comfort food. Big, smooth, and soft, motivated by a big slow-turning V-8, the Caprice was like nothing so much as a motorized Barcalounger, made to inhale long stretches of American interstate at an effortless 80 mph. Performance? Not really. Handling? No thank you. The Caprice knew its role, and it performed it proudly.
I loved it dearly, and I miss it still. The car only stuck with us for a year, soon to be replaced in its company car duties by a succession of Ford Explorers, but I loved it dearly and I miss it still. I even still have the introductory cassette tape that came with the car.
The top photo looks like an original press photo, but I found it on KitFoster.com; the second photo is from a recent classified ad here in the greater Seattle area.
--Chris H.
...m... on September 04, 2009 at 06:45 AM
...funny how those early-nineties tax breaks almost overnight transformed company fleets across the nation from large sedans to SUVs - i think that did more to kill the traditional american car than any seasonal twist of fashion...
That Car Guy on September 04, 2009 at 08:38 AM
Let's not forget that the Caprice was Motor Trend's "Car of the Year" for 1991 also!
I am not a fan of fender skirts under any shape, form, or fashion. To me, they belong on the gaudy aftermarket parts shelf with roof extensions, curb feelers, portholes, and side window rain louvers.
I cannot understand why somebody would pay very good money for nice wheels, then cover them, adding the inconvenience as started above, not to mention the dreaded flat tire or rotation time.
There's a term in the graphic arts world (and others) that "Less is more." At least Chevy woke up and cut the wheel arches open 18 months into production, and the Caprice became somewhat acceptable to look at.
Anthony Cagle on September 04, 2009 at 11:35 AM
I never cared much for the basic Caprice, especially with the fender skirts. Never did much care for those things, except in rare circumstances. And it looks pretty much like and inverted bathtub on wheels.
BUT. I do love the SS version of that generation. Like Chris says, it just oozes big, mean, muscle. That and the Marauder version of the Mercury Grand Marquis are just perfect full-size muscle cruisers.
David Colborne on September 04, 2009 at 12:14 PM
Ah, the last of the full-sized cars. Pull behind someone in one of these or in a Ford Crown Vic and you're guaranteed to either become bemused or frustrated by the way everyone slows down to the speed limit when you pull up to them.
That said, they really are SOLID (all-caps!) cars. This was the one kind of car Detroit had been building for over four decades and, by the '90s, they were pretty good at it. You could drive those things with a minimal amount of care for hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of miles, if you were so inclined. That's part of the reason fleets loved them. Unfortunately, especially with the fender skits, they are truly anonymous-looking cars, which is really quite fascinating since nobody, outside of government fleets, were buying them. Weird, isn't it?
Anthony: Mmm... Mercury Grand Marquis Marauder... *drool*... Ultimate sleeper if there ever was one.
Harrison on September 04, 2009 at 04:38 PM
I love the Caprice, such a cool car. to bad it doesn't get the respect it deserves.
CJinSD on September 04, 2009 at 07:46 PM
I recall talking to an old friend about his early days on a police force. Apparently, he suffered a rear axle failure on a Caprice 9C1 that led to an end over end roll, and learned that it was a very common failing for police model Caprices of the Shamu generation. He still loved these cars, and he ended his bizarre fascination with Saabs by selling his latest SPG or 9000 Turbo and buying a police package Caprice for personal use. I haven't seen him in at least a decade, so I don't know if they held lasting appeal.
kenny heggem on September 05, 2009 at 10:56 AM
I always thought these were hideous.
My best friend and I used to refer to them as "Shamu cars". The police cars fit that name perfectly, being the same color as an Orca whale.
Dave on September 06, 2009 at 09:12 AM
Those '94 - '96 Impalas were cool. Big and mean but sleek and sexy at the same time.
Nick Reynolds on September 06, 2009 at 04:46 PM
Ummm. . .the 91-96 Caprice do not have 'fender skirts' the opening of the wheel well is simply lower than the opening in the front. IMAO these cars ROCK!! I have a 9C1 version that will blow the doors off almost any factory car on the road. Yes, I've done some work on the engine and electronics and it will flat GIT IT! I had a friend reprogram the computer to remove the top end limiter too.
RB on September 06, 2009 at 05:03 PM
My dad owned one of these on September 11, parked on the street one block from the WTC. While the cars parked in front/back of his were crushed by falling debris, his Impala emerged with just a shattered rear window and two marble-sized dents in the hood.
Jay Tea on September 06, 2009 at 05:29 PM
The biggest problem I had with the Caprice's styling was inconsistency -- a flaw it shares with, of all things, the new VW Beetle.
Both are very curvy, very swoopy cars.
And then they stick pointy corners at the bottom of the greenhouse.
A bit of curved molding to soften the front and rear bottom edges would have worked wonders for both vehicles.
J.
Denny, Alaska on September 06, 2009 at 05:33 PM
Ha, fender skirts! In my car-conscious youth (late '50s-early/mid 60s), growing into adulthood in the 'burbs of Cincinnati, we called such add-on's "KY-go fasters," a not very flattering description of any gee-gaw affixed to a car (steering-wheel knob turners? lordy!) by our counterparts south of the Ohio River.
ohkay3 on September 06, 2009 at 05:33 PM
To me, fender skirts means removal panels. The '91 Caprice just had really low wheel openings. You want to see skirts check out a 1950 Hudson Commodore. I owned one in 1952.(Gives you and idea how old I am)
Darrencardinal on September 06, 2009 at 05:42 PM
I think these Caprices get about as much respect as they deserve, which is to say, none.
They look like an upside down bathtub. They have a grotesque sense of style, and look like the kind of car that would be driven by fat, balding, midwestern guys who wear loud checkered pants.
Chris Hafner, you really need to stop loving this car and see it for the beached whale it is.
Ned on September 06, 2009 at 05:43 PM
Bought a white '91 with 80k miles, sold it ten years later with 410k, with all of the original drivetrain intact and functioning. Hands down, the best, most durable American car I have ever owned. And it looked COOL - it reminded me of a late '40's Hudson or Packard.
I also still have a '96 model with the L99 4.3 engine. Not nearly as good a car, IMHO, and not as dependable, as durable or as easy to work on, either.
Scott Wood on September 06, 2009 at 05:54 PM
I thought that car looked horrible when it came out, but, shockingly, it seems to have worn well. However, the Caprice to lust after is the 1978 model, with the long rear window. If I found one in good shape I'd buy it still. (And I've gone for ever smaller cars since my '78).
Clay on September 06, 2009 at 05:57 PM
My parents still have one. It's a green '96 Caprice with the police interceptor package. We bought one new in '91 as well, but Mom ran it into a ditch in the snow one winter and tore up the frame. The '96 can fly with that interceptor engine in it. Not the prettiest of cars, but I still enjoy it. Always told my parents that it's like a tank without a gun on top. I used to make fun of them about it, but now I have a '95 Suburban (four kids) and I can't do that anymore.
Smilin' Jack on September 06, 2009 at 06:28 PM
In '89-'90 I worked overseas on a project with an engineer who was heading into retirement. He always bought Chevies and kept them 20 years before trading. His end-of-career goal was to save enough money from the project to retire and buy a new Caprice. Figured that was the last car he'd ever need.
Needless to say this cracked me up. "A Capreeeece!??", I'd say and start ribbing him. I never saw the appeal in that car.
Wonder if he's still got it?
Antique Person on September 06, 2009 at 06:33 PM
Wanted a Lexus 400, bought a new 2003 low end Grand Marquis for $19.700. Have about 80k miles with little trouble, outstanding MPG (18-26), but there's too much road and wind noise. Performs well.
Did I mention that it's the deSade model with black leather seat belts, high quality whips and chains and non-opening from the inside rear doors? Too bad I'm too old for that stuff and have to resort to the dual walkers and oxygen tanks in the trunk. Try one, you'll like it.
Nancy on September 06, 2009 at 07:12 PM
I'm with you on this one, Chris. I owned a Caprice Classic, it ruled. We got it used from a taxi company that never used it as a fleet car (they never got it under their insurance plan?) so it was still low mileage. I was sad to see that car go, and strangely enough we are now driving another b-body car - the Buick Road Master (which is like a cocktail of the Caprice and a Cadillac.) I love it more than the Caprice. My uncle owned two Caprices... My dream would be to have a stable of these cars.
Neshobanakni on September 06, 2009 at 07:30 PM
I'm confused. I don't see any fender skirts in the two photos offered. As the former owner of a '93 Fleetwood, I know fender skirts. They can look pretty good, and they're not too hard to remove/ reinstall.
dick on September 06, 2009 at 08:40 PM
Not too bad for a copy of a 1952 Nash Ambassador. I think your could park them right next to each other and not be able to tell them apart. And the Nash was even better built than the Caprice Classic was. That was the first Nash after they built the buck-toothed 1949-1951.
Dan on September 06, 2009 at 09:24 PM
Thanks for the article. My father had one (a company car) that we dubbed the "Queen Mary", but he loved it, the leather interior and all. He said it would be his "last car." Sadly, it was. After he passed, the car did too (everything sort of quit working), but it was a gem while it lasted.
Ronnie Schreiber on September 06, 2009 at 10:47 PM
When GM discontinued the Caprice and the Impala SS, they walked away from the "big fast comfortable car for big black men" market. Around Detroit most of the guys driving Caprice or Impala B bodies are black, at least 6'2 and wear 3XL or bigger shirts. When Ford introduced the Marauder, I told one of the Ford marketing mavens, "so you want to sell some of these to big black guys?" and he laughed knowingly.
The Impala SS, with it's more aggressive stance, wide tires, slightly changed C pillar, and aluminum wheels is a great looking car. The last of its kind. I don't think I've ever seen fatter anti-sway bars.
The late 1970s, "downsized" full size GM sedans were also magnificently engineered cars. They trimmed almost half a ton from the previous model but they had more interior and trunk room, and they handled not so bad for a big American boat.
There is a substantial community of 9C1 enthusiasts, btw. One of my dream cars is a Caprice wagon with the 9C1 package. That and a mid 70s police Nova - a four door Z28, only better because the Nova was a stiffer body than the F body, which was based on the Nova.
kevIN on September 07, 2009 at 06:50 AM
I've owned the '91 Caprice and it was quite slow with the 5.0L 305. The handling was clunky and soft but it was a comfortable cruiser. It certainly felt safer than any FWD econo-box I've driven. I loved that car enough to recently buy a '95 Roadmaster. Sure I could have been something newer but I wanted this car - I lusted after it.
LT1 engine, posi-traction, towing package (oil and transmission coolers), 2.96 rear gears... its fun and surprisingly fast - I've gotten the jump on a number of drivers who wanted to cut off the 'old grandpa' car. Switching to my wife's FWD Avalon, the Buick Roadmaster is a better car - the handling is more stable, it 'feels' safer with the massive weight (pushy pickups can't intimidate you), and is more comfortable.