Longroof from Norway

Hi Ya all,

Thought I would introduce myself. I am a car collector from Norway, Europe. My passion is old huge American cars with V8`s. I own a 59 Cadillac Coupe DeVille, a 68 Pontiac Bonneville and a 84 Chevrolet Corvette, a few Jeeps and a new Chevy Silverado.

I have always liked and admired Caprice`s and Impala`s - and especially the 91 and newer Caprice. Since Norway taxes new cars on cubic inches - these cars are pretty rare over here. But anyway, to make a long story even longer:

For years I have been sick of these new cars. Jeez, just changing a darn waterpump on one of my Jeeps costs a fortune. That is why I have been looking for a decent Caprice for years. Simple, understandable operation. OK, gas mileage...but compared to what?  Gas mileage is not everything. Most cars over here are stinking diesel econoboxes. I can`t stand them.

After looking for years I found this blue 92 Caprice Wagon in Oslo. It has the original paint in good shape, flawless original interior, about 60k miles and runs and drives like new. Small details to be fixed - but WOW what a car! Highway mileage is actually pretty nice (an issue at $ 9,- a gallon!!)

Just bought real great Michelin snow studded tires (a must here) and it`s going to be fun to see how it handles during the Norwegian winter...
I am also looking at getting snow chains - just in case.

Anyway, I guess I will be posting soon, and also try to upload some pictures..

Welcome to the forum and hope you post pics soon. I think a lot of us like seeing the small changes and differences the export model wagons had.

If you are going to winter drive it I highly suggest you undercoat the lower quarter panels behind the rear wheels, and if possible the inner fenders and such. I know from northern members that these cars do rust out, sometimes in scary ways, but I've also been told they are great in the snow.

Good luck to you and again welcome!

-Mike

Welcome Norroof!

Glad you found us, looks like you have yourself a pretty good collection.  This forum is a good resource for the wagon.  I think you're the first Norwegian, but we do have quite a few members from Europe.

Also if you don't know about these forums, you may want to look at them.

http://www.impalassforum.com/vBulletin/   that covers your wagon

http://www.cadillacforums.com/  for the Caddy

I also live in a mountainous / ski area, that gets lots of snow.  I agree with you, studded snow tires are a must, you're wasting your time if you think regular snow tires are going to do the job.  They are pretty much useless.

Post some pictures when you can, I think you have to be a member for a week or have 5 posts.  Not exactly sure, but it's minimal.

Tom C.

Velkommen!

Thanks for the welcome! Tusen takk!

There is a few modifications on the car, some strange. Firstly, they did not allow cornering light here back in the 90`s - which is stupid. The rear turn signals have been converted to yellow. They took the back up portion of the rear lens and made an orange turn signal lens. Then they added a hideous back up light arrangement (I will show in pictures later).

Speedometer is in km. The really bad thing they did was they did not approve of the factory DOT marked seat belts, so they installed some lousy CE marked seat belts that do not look or function well when retracting.

Factory hood ornaments were illegal here in the 90s !!  They took that away!  Thank God for eBay, just found a NOS NIB Chevy ornament - on it`s way

The first owner of the car had a fetish when it came to rustproofing. I have never seen a car with such an amount of undercoating. The car has zero rust, which is excellent.

BTW, the Wife thinks the car is hideous...what do I care..(I actually suggested to her that instead of wasting money on expensive hotels we could now sleep in the back of the Caprice...you should have seen her face..HAHA!)

wow that $9.00 a gallon is rough

Yes camping in the back is possible - Welcome. Jeff

Welcome aboard. LookFForward to seeing pics. Look in the pic and video section for the how to stickey. :-)

Welcome, BTW my wife and I camped in our wagon for WagonFest New York this year. Worked out great!!

Welcome to the forum! I think it may be over looked that these cars are appreciated world wide. It is also nice to hear the differences that other countries have like hood ornaments and cornering lights. It sounds like your wagon has found a great owner. You! This forum can answer any question you have about these cars. There are members here that are so knowledgeable it's almost scary. Don't they anything else to do? Oh yeah, $9.00 a gallon makes our prices sound better however, we should all be paying a buck a gallon. Hope to see pictures soon. Paul

Welcome to Longroof! Sounds like a nice collection you have there.

81X11 wrote:

Welcome to the forum and hope you post pics soon.   I think a lot of us like seeing the small changes and differences the export model wagons had.

If you are going to winter drive it I highly suggest you undercoat the lower quarter panels behind the rear wheels, and if possible the inner fenders and such.   I know from northern members that these cars do rust out, sometimes in scary ways, but I've also been told they are great in the snow.

Good luck to you and again welcome!

-Mike

I see that you have a 81 Citation!  Well, a friend of mine had one once. My friend had a buddy who also owned a Citation. This was pretty rare in Norway. But anyway, during a trip to the US they asked if I could stop by a parts store and get some parts for the Citation(s).  I went into the store, presented my errand, and the guy behind the counter started laughing. He yelled out to the other worker behind the counter: "Hey Mike, come here..this poor guy has TWO Citations"

Welcome! Can't wait to see some photos of your "Euro" wagon.

If you need any parts I'm sure we could help find them here and ship them over, we even sold an early Datsun 240Z in pieces to a customer in Denmark this year. That was an adventure, but we learned a bunch!

Welcome Norroof. Question, people dig B-Body wagons in Norway? Answer. "Yesway!!!!" Cant promise the humor will get any better,but you are definitley in the right place for great wagon info.

Welcome to the addiction!!!!
You will quickly realize that you will never be able to live without one...

Superior Finish wrote:

You will quickly realize that you will never be able to live without one...

???

A wagon, Tom, never be able to live without a wagon...... (in full disclosure, I sold my wagon because it was replaced by the extended wheelbase Chevy 3500 VAN pictured to the left)

Thank you for clarifying Robert!

Just tried to post pictures...but they won`t let me upload until I`ve been a member for a week...grrr..

That is the "anti-spam" function. You can get around this by using an external hosting site like photobucket or flikr. Let a mod or admin know and we can add the link for you.

OR, you can wait until Wednesday and all restrictions will be lifted.

Superior Finish wrote:

That is the "anti-spam" function. You can get around this by using an external hosting site like photobucket or flikr. Let a mod or admin know and we can add the link for you.

OR, you can wait until Wednesday and all restrictions will be lifted.

I did get an account with Photobucket and I followed the instructions in the picture posting thread..I guess I will have to wait until Wednesday or so.

Frontview with Norwegian HUGE license plate. Just waiting for the new hood ornament

She's a beauty, nice find!

Tom

Norroof wrote:

81X11 wrote:

Welcome to the forum and hope you post pics soon.   I think a lot of us like seeing the small changes and differences the export model wagons had.

If you are going to winter drive it I highly suggest you undercoat the lower quarter panels behind the rear wheels, and if possible the inner fenders and such.   I know from northern members that these cars do rust out, sometimes in scary ways, but I've also been told they are great in the snow.

Good luck to you and again welcome!

-Mike

I see that you have a 81 Citation!  Well, a friend of mine had one once. My friend had a buddy who also owned a Citation. This was pretty rare in Norway. But anyway, during a trip to the US they asked if I could stop by a parts store and get some parts for the Citation(s).  I went into the store, presented my errand, and the guy behind the counter started laughing. He yelled out to the other worker behind the counter: "Hey Mike, come here..this poor guy has TWO Citations"

Hahahaha! It's worse here now, the folks at the parts stores no longer know what a Citation is. I guess that's kind of a good thing in a way...instead of telling me what a piece of junk my Citation is, like happened up until about 5-7 years ago, they now ask me what it is, they have no idea! Getting old I guess! Ha! Happily since they were mechanically the same cars at the Celebrity/Ciera/Century made well into the 1990's, I can still get some mechanical parts easily here.

-Mike

Wow that's a sharp wagon! Great color, great shape. Those European headlights are very sought-after here, and sell for crazy prices on Ebay.

I hope you keep that put of the really bad weather. Would be a real shame to see that rust after all these years. It's too nice!

I love the speedometer, very cool. Not crazy about the back-up light setup, but understand that's how they had to do it. Funny about the hood ornament. You'd think they would have used an LTZ-style flat hood emblem on it, not just left a bare hole. Glad you have one on order!

Keep the posts coming, and again, welcome!

-Mike

Great color for our rides...Love your background scenery.

Your car needs Impala SS wheels and window tint!  

Very nice wagon I like the color. Jeff

Thanks all for kind words!

And if that is not enough, I went ahead and purchased another 92 Caprice. A regular sedan with 22k miles. On it`s way to Norway as we speak.

Crazy, crazy..when will I grow up?

22k original miles, original paint.

That is stunning! From the US?

Tom

Wow, both are very sharp and were well kept! You have a couple of great cars there. Interesting that they required the gate release from the inside but not sure why they required the lower net holders. The side rearview mirrors are interesting too.

The lower net holders are integrated into the channels between the 3rd seat lid and the side panels. Not sure why yours were added later?

Norroof wrote:

Oh my! She is beautiful!

Noroof-

On your dash, what does the switch do that is to the immediate left of the lower radio button? It does not appear to be factory.

Wagoninabox wrote:

Wow, both are very sharp and were well kept!  You have a couple of great cars there.  Interesting that they required the gate release from the inside but not sure why they required the lower net holders. The side rearview mirrors are interesting too.

Thanks, the rear view mirrors are just cheap add-ons, but the power mirror adjustment does work. The inside gate release does look OEM, so I thought this was standard on other wagons?

The switch next to the radio is the red fog rear lights. Fortunately. the "new " Caprice (from PA) does not require other modifications other than orange rear turn signals. I don`t have a clue how I`m going to do that, I will have top figure out something.

Superior Finish wrote:

The lower net holders are integrated into the channels between the 3rd seat lid and the side panels. Not sure why yours were added later?

I haven`t found any lower net holders that look factory. The previous owner said he added the black ones. They sure serve a purpose, they are great when out shopping so that I don`t have to crawl all the way getting up front getting groceries..

OH, yes. The hubcaps are from a 67 Impala. I am saving the wire hubcaps for the summer tires. Everybody here has two sets of tires. Planning on getting whitewalls.

The snow tires are just fantastic. Even if they are studded they are very quiet. Normally studded tires make a lot of noise inside the car.

silverfox103 wrote:

That is stunning!  From the US?

Tom

Thanks Tom,

Yes, It was owned by an old lady - naturally!! - in Pennsylvania.