June 2013 Wagon of the Month

Hi,
I was asked by Tom to write my story for June 1st. It is a great privilege for me. I will try not to bore you to death with my short story of few my cars.

Long time ago, before my college I didn’t know much about American cars, so I used to dream about Mercedes, BMW etc. Right before starting 1st semester I went to my college to sign some papers. It was Friday afternoon and I had a last comeback train from Lodz to Mikolow. I had to run fast to nearest Taxi stop to get a cab to train station which was on the other side of the City. The was only one car left on a taxi stop - silver Chevrolet Caprice Classic Sedan 1991, which I didn’t know what it was, but there was no other ”normal” cars left so I had no choice. I took the cab. I remember that I was impressed by the size of the car and so much space inside, comfort and the sound of the engine. I asked a driver what car is this. I was asking questions all the way to the Train Station, I assume the the driver was happy when the drive was over, but at this point world has changed to me. All the values I used to believe (that American cars are burning all the fuel of the world, that they can’t turn corners, they are slow and can’t accelerate, poor quality, they are thousands light years behind European technology) have vanished. This was my first year of college, 2003 year. Next two years I have spent on YouTube, Google and ebay, few forums. I knew what car I need. Full size sedan, V8, rwd and lots of room inside, and it had to be cheap and not complicated = Chevrolet Caprice Classic.

Right before summer 2005 I had all the exams passed. I have told my parents that I’m going to USA for vacations – not work and travel program but to my uncle – for fun only. My father asked me what for? I told him that I need a car. He didn’t believe, because if you need a car you buy one in the country you live, or you go to Germany for something better. What normal person would go across the Atlantic Ocean for some junk. So I went to US Embassy in Cracow for some visa-talking, I paid $100 for visa, took my savings from the account and bought ticket to Chicago. 13 hours of flight and there I was.
I started to look for my dream car, my Chevy. My budget was around $1000 so not much (I was a student). I found some guy 50 miles from Chicago who needed to sell his Caprice because of the ticket he had to pay. I took my Uncle and his Tundra and we went there. It was a polish dude (we are everywhere! ), he got $700 ticket from Indiana for speeding and he had to pay within few days but he didn’t have money, otherwise he would lost his driver’s license. He wanted $1000 but the car was in poor condition. The shock absorbers were dead and the car didn’t look good, layers of dirt everywhere. But the engine and transmission was running smooth (my uncle was a mechanic in Poland). I negotiated $750 for the car and additional $50 for cleaning. So for just $700 I had my own V8 – f*ck yeah!. Well technically my uncle had it – because the title and insurance was for him. I took some photos and emailed them to my father in Poland. He answered almost immediately; sell this c*ap fast, get some Toyota Camry, price for fuel is like $5 for gallon right now in Poland
One day I saw Station Wagon, somewhere on Irving St. in Chicago. I fell in love again, I knew this is going to be my second car, but not now. I couldn’t afford decent Station Wagon.
So this is what I bought. I cleaned the car before the photo was taken. I found few bucks in the car under the dirt, few tons of peanuts under seats and in the trunk and some other things I don’t want to talk about. It is unbelievable what people keep in their cars, or the amount of dirt inside.

This is me 8 years and 40 pounds ago…


Try to do that in European car…




The car is completely different from what I used to drive in Europe, so everything was new for me. Like parking brake, under left foot. Weird Now the fun part of getting to know begun, the hazard lights switch I found after 2 days.
Funny story here. One day I was looking for low fuel warning light so I decided to drive till the light will turn on. Well, it didn’t. I was coming back from junk yard when suddenly the engine turned off. It was on Irving Park Road, near O’Hare. I had to go on foot to next fuel station like 2 miles one way. At the station I had to buy some windshield washer, pour it out and get a gallon of fuel. When I was coming back to the car, (now Imagine some weird dirty dude running on the side of the road with some suspicious yellow liquid in bottle). I was so lucky there was no police around suddenly a shiny beautiful Cadillac (can’t remember model) stopped, window opened and a driver asked me if I need ride. It was about 95degrees and 100 humidity - sure I need a ride. He had white leather seats, I have asked if he is sure because this interior may not look so pretty in 5 min, he said no problem. So here I was sitting in white leather seat carrying a bottle of fuel. I was sitting on half of my butt, trying not to touch anything. He asked me what happened, I told him that I run out of fuel. He smiled and told me that when he was my age (back there I was 21) he had the same problems. He drove me to my car, I didn’t damage seats and everything ended well I remember this as it happened yesterday, but can’t remember this guy’s face and what model of Caddy was it, I was extremely focused not to do any damage to the interior.

My study showed that my Caprice burned around 10l/100km (about 23 mpg) in Chicago, so this was not that bad. I decided to take it with me to Poland. I spent 6 months in US, during that stay I learned a lot about culture, climate, construction of your houses and lots of other things. I have visited few places in Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois, and I have met a lot of great people. Most important is that I have fixed almost everything in my Chevy before shipping. Rest of parts I needed I put in trunk, fuel up and I shipped the car to Gdynia in Poland. This was a time of my life vacation. I know I was born on the wrong side of the Ocean. A year after returning to Poland my then-girlfriend and now wife said that I came back different, I was unbearable, nervous. Everything pissed me off. She almost dumped me. Now I know that I had a small comeback trauma and I was little depressed

The shipping took two months. I had to go to Gdynia to get my car back (about 880 miles). It was hard winter, so much snow and ice on the roads. I bought winter tires to my Chevy but no one in Gdynia could install them. So I drove back to Mikolow on my Firehawks, it was fun, sometimes scary. Back in Mikolow I went to that guy who sold me winter tires to get my money back but he managed to install tires without any problems. The problem was, that the size was not standard and the guys in Gdynia just didn’t know how to do it. Wheels in American cars are bigger than in European cars.
After some time I found in the internet few crazy people like me, driving American cars daily and we started an Association. We have organized few meetings, biggest gathered almost 200 cars from whole country. Another one we’re doing by the end of June – I’ll post some pictures.

I had to do some adaptations of Chevy because of the Law. I have installed projector headlights, bi-xenon and I had to do some wire magic in rear section to get amber turning lights and rear fog light. The original American blinking red stop caused some drivers to panic on the road. Rear lights now have LED bulbs, because of the smoked covers.
I have installed IMPCO LPG system to drive cheaper. I had to import the installation from Belgium because Italian LPG systems couldn’t support V8 in higher rpms. They are designed to support 3,5l V6 at maximum. I used this installation few years, saved me a lot of money.

In 2008 I decided to customize my Chevy in the way I wanted, and the Impala clone was born. I didn’t mean to do a clone. It is how I like, black metallic and loud. Music to my ears, and everyone within 2 miles range. Louder = safer. It still had stock 305 TBI engine.
In 2010 I decided to do something extreme and unreasonable here in Poland. I decided to get more power. I thought about LT1 engine, but it was the worst moment in crisis and the prices hit the ground. So I bought LS1 engine with transmission, computer, harness and everything you need to do conversion. So I gave the car to the HPG Performance company, they build quarter mile racing cars. Three months and $4000 later I got my car. Wow. LS1 makes a difference. I have sold the old engine and I regret this decision but who could guess I could use it in my Wagon. I had to install new LPG system, it has two vaporizers and can support up to 700HP. This is also custom build.




Hear the beast


During winter I had some problems with transmission died, twice. Now its fixed and everything works as it should.
Now I think that after 8 years it’s time for some change. My Caprice LS1 is for sale now. I’m thinking about some ’95 Fleetwood. Selling my caprice will be very hard, because of the price, engine size and what I call “polish people wisdom”. Average engine displacement in Poland is 1.2L … If I won’t sell my LS1 caprice I do have plans for next modifications.

Wagon part!!

I knew this specific Wagon from some time. I have seen it several times on some American Car meetings. It looked ok. When I saw the advertisement I didn’t wait. The car had some small problems, but after 22 years it is normal. I have checked it quite well, he had some small problems but the engine was running ok. It turned out that I was wrong. The engine was junk, when I bought the cars the engine was at his last journey. it was not worth to repair it, so I bought another one from my friends Firebird, he is a mechanic and he cared very much about his Firebird. Actually he repaired my Wagon. After a year of restoration, lots of money spent, ups and downs the car looks fantastic, drives great and attracts lots of attention on the road. Lots of people driving European wagons are stopping or slowing to have a look at real wagon. When I come back to my car I usually see some people around my car.

This is the only European Caprice Station Wagon here in Poland. It has absolutely no rust, and this is why he spent all winter in garage. I could install sole LT1 but I wanted to keep this car factory stock, it’s not accelerating fast but he’s reliable. We did our first trip with our Wagon to Hrubieszow in May, it wasn’t long distance (about 1000km both ways) but I had to check if everything work as it should, and it did. The drive was very comfortable, MPG was acceptable but I’m sure if we would drive on a highway it would be even better.
Few pictures

Here he is, without engine…


Here he is after transplantation





Me and my Wife


In 2012 my father bought a 2006 Pontiac Grand Prix GXP 5,3L. It was an opportunity. The car need some repairs but it will not be too complicated. I had to change brakes (new rotors, calipers), rims and tires, solve some mechanical issues, I have installed additional radiator for transmission oil. I had to separate brake light from turning light too. Next thing will be paint restoration and installation of LPG system. But this is going to be made next year. Great car, but 300hp and FWD is not a good idea.




New rims and tires


After writing this article, I realized why I'm always broke and my Wife wants Mustang Roush…
Thank you for your time and reading this article, I hope you found it interesting. Sorry for any language mistakes.

really cool story! sorry to hear about having to sell the caprice though.

any plans to travel across the pond again?

Great write-up, MarcinV8!
Thanks for sharing your story.

Both cars look great!

Great story. I can only imagine the culture shook from one country to another. I get depressed when I come back to the kitty liter box after being gone to other parts of the Good Ole USA

Fun read! You sure did have a change of heart since dreaming of those German mobiles.

Can you show us pictures from under the hood of the LS1 Caprice?

Cool story, dude. You have had quite an adventure!

I've finally just figured out that these cars are crap and bought a BMW. Just kidding. Well, about the crap part...

I'd also be interested to see the installed pics of the LS1 in the caprice. I think I had seen them a few years ago on the big board maybe?

Nice write up and story. I will compliment you on your English writing, it MUCH better than my Polish

When I used to travel in Europe I was always excited to see American cars....as they are so rare over there.

Thank you so much for such a wonderful story.I really like how you stuck to your guns at such a young age conceriing buying an american car.You would fit in just fine here in america with your love for our cars.You sure have some very nice B body's in your collection.Next time you are here in america,please look let us know ahead of time.

Marcin

That is a great story. As we all do, I like finding good stuff cheap, like you did with your Caprice in Chicago. Then having to ship it to Poland in a container. You did all that at 21, wow.

I've had a car and a truck converted to propane (1980). It was around $1000 each back then. Propane was very cheap then around 49 cents per gallon as compared to $1.45 for gas. I couldn't get over how clean the oil stayed. I think I used to change the oil every 10K miles, and I probably wasn't necessary. The oil looked like you just poured it in. I think I had an Ensley system. I think Impco and Ensley were the two companies that made the conversions.

It looks like you converted your father, as he now has an American car. Both the car and wagon look in great shape.

Thanks again for the great story.

Tom

Great write-up and good story! As much as I love your Caprice's, I'm amazed you found a Grand Prix GXP over there! Don't know if you saw it, but I bought an '06 GXP for my wife last summer, and sadly had to sell it this past winter. I loved it a LOT, it was a ball to drive, full of cool toys, and FAST, but since we took the three extra kids in, it was not ideal for a family car (had to use the Custom Cruiser WAY too much...wearing it out), so we sold it to buy the Denali.

Hope you hold on to that GP over there. I sure miss ours!!! It took awhile to find a clean and low mile GXP here...they are NOT that common even here. Again blown-away you found one there!

That was about the shortest time I've ever owned a car! https://gmlongroof.4umer.com/t6883-new-grand-prix-update-and-glamour-shots-ha?highlight=grand+prix+gxp

Oh and hey, what's that handle in the inside of your tailgate on the wagon?

-Mike

Nice story,.

buy a 93 fleetwood,. add another LS1,..

I really want a set of those european T84 headlights,. and a set of the european tailights with amber turn signals,.

Nick

Sorry it took my so much time! I wanted to do some photos in perfect weather but it seems this summer will be bad.

Flasheroo wrote:

...Next time you are here in america,please look let us know ahead of time.

I will

benn wrote:

really cool story! sorry to hear about having to sell the caprice though.
any plans to travel across the pond again?

I always have lots of plans, sadly I often miss those litle green papers I want to drive Road 66 in some time. Or, if there will be opportunity move to US for good.

toomanytoyz wrote:

I'd also be interested to see the installed pics of the LS1 in the caprice. I think I had seen them a few years ago on the big board maybe?

sherlock9c1 wrote:

Can you show us pictures from under the hood of the LS1 Caprice?

Have a look at my power plant, sorry but its soooooo dirty


LPG Vaporisers, 350hp each


My dirty K&N, I'm so embarrassed


The engine is a bit dirty because I had small PCV Valve problem, not its solved




It's my daily car

phantom 309 wrote:

Nice story,.
buy a 93 fleetwood,. add another LS1,..
I really want a set of those european T84 headlights,. and a set of the european tailights with amber turn signals,.
Nick

Nick, there is no problem. You can find my lights on ebay, it comes in a set with the rest of the car

81X11 wrote:

Great write-up and good story! As much as I love your Caprice's, I'm amazed you found a Grand Prix GXP over there! Don't know if you saw it, but I bought an '06 GXP for my wife last summer, and sadly had to sell it this past winter. I loved it a LOT, it was a ball to drive, full of cool toys, and FAST, but since we took the three extra kids in, it was not ideal for a family car (had to use the Custom Cruiser WAY too much...wearing it out), so we sold it to buy the Denali.

Hope you hold on to that GP over there. I sure miss ours!!! It took awhile to find a clean and low mile GXP here...they are NOT that common even here. Again blown-away you found one there!

That was about the shortest time I've ever owned a car! https://gmlongroof.4umer.com/t6883-new-grand-prix-update-and-glamour-shots-ha?highlight=grand+prix+gxp

Oh and hey, what's that handle in the inside of your tailgate on the wagon?

-Mike

Nice!! It's a great car, but FWD was a mistake