Am I in the wrong place?

By the looks of things I may have taken a wrong turn. It seems my '87 Caprice is a little out of place here. Some great looking rides here but the body styles seem to be considerably different than my "box".
I was looking thru the Wagon Fest photos 'cause I would like to take part in such an event but I'm not sure I would really fit in (like a pair of brown shoes in a room full of tuxedos).

Anyway, I'll browse around a bit, if nothing else I may get some ideas for my new ride.

Hey Man, boxes are more than welcome here, too!

Let's see some pics!

It's GM, it's a longroof, definitely the right place

We have love for the boxy wagons too - always good to see a fellow car nut.

You are definitely in the best place to be if you love GM wagons.Welcome
Jim Gordon

You're worried about your brown shoes, and I don't even WEAR shoes!

You're safe here, so c'mon in. The water's nice. It's a little bit warmer around Crovo, but still, nice.

Welcome.................

Bewber wrote:

You're worried about your brown shoes, and I don't even WEAR shoes!

We are not really sure if Bewber wears underwear either. No one has volunteered to find out.

I was checking this forum and saw you comment about your car so I figured I should join with my 77 impala wagon so you are not alone to face the bubble cars

ooo that's a nice clean 77 you got there ^^^

welcome aboard!!

Embrace the bubbles.

Welcome to the madhouse.

That is a sweet '77. Welcome

Hey don't run off! Love the boxes too. Check out this link to see my '89 Custom Cruiser.

https://gmlongroof.4umer.com/pics-and-video-f11/custom-cruiser-before-and-after-t1796.htm

Glad to give any simi-useful advice I can. Lots of folks on here had or have box wagons.

Hope you hang out!

-Mike

Hey Donzie, some history!

Here's a list of "box cars" I've owned. Loved them all!

- 78 Grand Safari Wagon
- 86 Buick Electra Estate Wagon
- 79 Bonneville Brougham Sedan
- 78 Impala Sedan
- 77 Caprice Classic
https://gmlongroof.4umer.com/pics-and-video-f11/tonight-s-long-pointless-rambling-car-story-and-related-pics-t1757.htm
- 79 Buick Electra Limited
- 89 Custom Cruiser
https://gmlongroof.4umer.com/pics-and-video-f11/have-307will-tow-t1776.htm
- 86 Caprice Classic
https://gmlongroof.4umer.com/other-f3/salvage-yard-runners-t1931.htm

-Mike

oldgmc wrote:

I was checking this forum and saw you comment about your car so I figured I should join with my 77 impala wagon so you are not alone to face the bubble cars

Thanks to everyone for the warm welcome.
I'm surprised how little the profile of these cars changed in 10 years (yours to mine).

77 was the year they changed the body shrunk it by about 10" in length so I guess they kept the style for a while not sure when they switched to the bubble style

Nothing wrong with boxies, I've had a few.

my former 77 9C1



my 79 impala coupe

I LIKE that Impala coupe. Loved the rear windows on those.

I loved that coupe, it was an all original survivour clean clean with a clean interior. 8 months after I sold it thenew owner accidentally set the interior on fire and the car burned.

Man I hate hearing that.

I like that 9C1 too. Neat toys.

yeah that old 9C1 was a fun car, it was ok light to light but phenomenal on the highway. The speedometer only read up to 200kph but the needle would go all the way past that and hit the shift indicator needle.

The fist boxy B body I ever got to drive was an armoured 79 Caprice back in 82 when I was living in Geneva, it was fast, heavy but quiet. Black with a light blue velour inteior. It was a lot of fun being taught push the car to it's limits on the narrow cobble stone roads at a minimum of 55mph (Convert to deisel Bill had a hand in the making of that car)

My buddy Laird got a near-perfect 39K mile 78 Impala sedan at age 16, back in the 1990. His Dad bought it for him, because he wanted a "safe" car for him. It had been traded in at the local Honda dealer in Madison New Jersey. Had to have been an old persons car, and had to have been locked in a garage, it was totally rust free.

He was mortified, being a teenager, he'd wanted a Camaro or Firebird...something sporty. He felt like he'd been given a taxi. His Dad said "that's it, take it or leave it". He took it, and we tore into it.

I personally learned a lot from that car. When he got it, it was in amazing condition, really like new, but man it was SO plain. Silver over red vinyl bench seats. Very basic red door panels, hub caps, power steering and brakes but manual everything else. The 305 and a/c were about the only options it had.

Over the next two years we really worked on that car...as teenagers will do. First replaced the single speaker AM radio with a Pioneer tape deck, added rear 6x9's, and then learned how easy it was to add options using junk yard cars. We added two dash speakers and a Caprice dash pad, for the two speaker openings. The Impala dash just had the single speaker hole in the middle of the dash, and that's what led my Dad to take us yarding. That dash pad was what started our salvage yarding, and we dug through just about ever yard in North Jersey and eastern PA over the next few years.

After the radio we found a set of nice red Delta 88 door panels with pull straps and chrome door handle trim. Added those, and MAN what an improvement. As much fun as it was to Armour-All the vinyl bench seats and torture our friends flying around turns, those plastic seats looked hilarous next to the Olds door panels, and were soon yanked for a set pillowed LeSabre Collector's Edition seats. The headliner started falling and we nabbed a set of lighted vanity visors with clips and had those and a new headliner installed.. Ha, what a fancy Impala!

A Caprice steering wheel replaced the plain Impala unit soon after, later followed by a Celebrity Eurosport wheel. We also replaced the plain Chevy turn signal and shift levers with nicer chrome Buick ones, and even added a tilt steering column as our mechanical skills improved. Also replaced the red Impala dash trim with wood Caprice trim. Such fun.

On the outside of the car we blacked out the grey plastic grill and the buckets of the headlight bezels around the lights, and also blacked out the panel around the tail lights and license plate. Next we went to Carlisle and bought a set of 15-inch Chevy rally wheels, and turned the existing white-walls around to black, later followed by RWL Eagle ST tires, which really made the old Imp stand out.

After going to Englishtown we beat Chevy to the punch on the 4dr Impala SS idea and added a 71 Chevelle SS emblem to the grill, and 70's Nova SS black decals to the front fenders and trunk lid lip. We added chrome valve covers to the little 305, and a chrome GM air cleaner lid with a vintage "305 Turbo-Fire" red air cleaner decal. Funny stuff.

Laird drove that Imp to his senior prom, and he took a girl I WAS CRAZY ABOUT. In a fit of jealously I and a buddy totally filled the interior of that car up with foam packing peanuts I'd snagged from a local factory's dumpster. Holy Lord was Laird PISSED. Good memories....

Laird drove that car all through high school, loaded it with friends, through the salt and slush. He and I and a couple of girls used to to go to Cape Cod to celebrate high school graduation. A LOT of memories from that trip for sure.

Laird took it to college in Norfolk Virginia in 1992, and the salt air really did a number on the silver paint. One summer he had the car repainted at Maaco, and we re-decal'd it. It looked pretty good again. He also made some friends who in North Carolina and ended up swapping the 305 2brl for a built 350 4brl, and added dual exhaust. For the first time ever the car would really run.

After college Laird moved down here to Austin, and I helped him move the Impala and his 67 Pontiac Executive down here. Great trip from NJ to Texas. The Impala still drove great....the 350 had tons of power, but the steering was getting loose, and now with 150K miles on it, rust was showing up under the new cheap paint....it was a Jersey car and then a Norfolk car, and was rusting from the inside out.

He sold it in about 1998 down here. Rust was really getting it, but the inside was still clean and at 200K it still drove well. I was really sorry to see all those memories from my youth drive away. As a teenager, when I wasn't in one of my cars, I was most likely riding in that 78 Impala with the guys. That car taught me so much about what "option pegboards" GM cars are. It also gave me a real appreciation for how tough B-body cars are and led to many of the cars I ended up buying myself.

I sure wish I had some pics of that car. I need to bug Laird, he has to have some somewhere. And he still has the B-body bug. Went from the 78 Impala to that '86 Parisienne and now has my old '86 Caprice.

Such fun.

Oh I just remembered another boxy I owned it was an 82 Caprice coupe

Sharp.

That picture made me cold.....

I miss my 81 Impala Sport Coupe. Less than 2000 made. Wish I could have kept it. Got my license in that car. As with 81X11, lots of good memories. The 267 2bbl V8 sucked, but it was a good car to learn with. Not enough power to get in trouble. Also super base model. No AC, no power other than brakes/steering. AM/FM only. One side mirror.

Looked really clean! I'd forgotten about that tiny V8....have not seeon one in years.

I had a 260 V8 in my '79 Olds Cutlass. Wish I still had that one too, lol.

I remember a kid back in high school had a big colonnade 75 or 76 Cutlass with the 260. Much like my '88 Cutlass....it only looked quick. My Honda Trail 90 would out drag it. ; )

My car is a 95. Am I in the wrong place?

Yes, as we all know the 95's were crap.

Bewber wrote:

My car is a 95. Am I in the wrong place?

have you ever been in the right place?

Yes. Australia was definitely the right place for me.

Just a side note. the lady I bought my '87 wagon from said her husband had bought it new. He drove it daily as his work vehicle (an electrition) until he retired. He then bought a Geo and parked the wagon. Last May he was killed....in a car accident.

Ouch...