If the GM B-Body in general is hallowed chassis here at CC, then the B-Body wagon must be even more sacred. After all, what vehicle was ever made worse by being available in wagon form? Certainly not these in the days before the ubiquity of the modern minivan or three-row SUV.
This particular one from smack-dab in the middle of the production run of this generation is a fairly well-equipped sample as well as being fairly well used up without any single major evident issue, just lots of little things that one by one eventually pushed it over the edge.
1983 was a bit of a grim year for the Caprice Classic line as there were no 2-door models built. Only the sedan and the wagon were available and even the wagon, which previously was also available in 6-passenger form, was only offered with the third row seat this year. Could it be that Chevrolet was looking at discontinuing the model? As we know now, it ended up getting refreshed again in 1986 and stuck around until 1990 but it’s strange to eliminate models in the middle of the run and then bring them back as they did end up doing with the 2-door being available again for 1984.
The wagon in 1983 was equipped as standard with the 305 (5.0l) V8 coupled with the overdrive-equipped automatic, both were options on the sedan. Producing 150hp at 3800rpm and 240lb-ft of torque at 2400rpm, the 4-barrel carb equipped V8 was likely a smooth and decent powerplant, capable of running well for many miles and then perhaps poorly for just as many more. The whole wagon weighed just under 4000 pounds in this configuration, but there was also a diesel engine available, which presumably would have been heavier. I don’t believe I have ever seen a diesel in one of these although there surely did exist a few besides just the one in the brochure.
Chevrolet sold 53,028 of these wagons in 1983, with a starting sticker price of $9,518 apiece. So before options, these represented over half a billion dollars in revenue. The sedan version sold over 122,000 examples with a sticker of around $600 less which is interesting as I didn’t realize the model split was split so far towards the wagons with around 30% of production. Options, as we’ll see further in this post, likely drove the price of these up significantly. (Try to keep track of which options would even be available as extra-cost items in today’s market.) Every 1983 dollar is worth $2.58 today (so a base version would sticker at $24,556) and Chevrolet was offering generous 11.9% financing at that time to help you get the most out of your money.
Opening the back door/gate reveals a very generous cargo area with storage cubbies in the sides. The ability to use the tailgate as a side-hinged door is nice to be able to grab stuff that has rolled toward the back seat but could easily clobber someone if parked parallel on a road with camber. Of course twisting the handle the other way converted it into a regular fold-down tailgate. The rear window was power operated and while I’m not positive on this car, if it’s like my old Chevelle wagon and I remember it correctly, I believe the key could be used to lower it from the outside.
After donning my gloves, I held my breath, entered the chamber and figured out how to get the seat erected without reading the manual, just like the average owner in 1983. It turned out to be quite easy and I can imagine the average suburbanite not having any trouble doing so. In some circles this is billed as a nine-passenger wagon, however if one takes into account seatbelts, then it’s really only good for eight. And once people are in the back there is very little cargo area left besides around the footwell area.
Working our way towards the front, the back seat area is quite spacious and that cushion looks higher off the floor than many GM vehicles I can remember being in. Also, this wagon is equipped with the $289 cloth seat option in Sand Gray along with power windows that cost $255 as well as power locks if I am not mistaken at a further $170.
The front looks just as spacious as the rest of the vehicle, and could easily hold three abreast, especially since there is no console to get in the way.
Viewed from the driver’s side, this one is equipped with the tilt wheel ($105), rear defogger (also $105) and I think cruise control at $170 on the stalk that’s held together with tape along with intermittent wipers on the dash for $49. Wood grain was still standard this year, it didn’t change to silver and black until after the next interior refresh in 1985.
While so far very well equipped, this car notably did not receive the gauge package with trip odometer, a curious omission to save a measly $64 when you’re going to staring at the poverty-spec gauges otherwise. Speedo, fuel gauge and a whole lot of reminder space as to what isn’t there. The odometer ready 38,994 but no clues as to whether there is likely to be a 1, 2, or even a 3 ahead of it if it was a 6-digit version.
Air conditioning with the full crotch vent package for $725(!) and an AM/FM Cassette unit for $295 (if that’s an original GM Delco unit, I can’t tell) round out the interior. The Quartz clock was standard but there was an option listed for an electric version.
Droopy headliner was also included here as a no-cost option along with what is perhaps the spare riding shotgun in the 50/50 split front bench. It’s remarkable how often a spare wheel is found in the passenger seat by the way, likely put there by a shopper doing layaway.
Let’s see, what else? Oh yes, the paint is White over Silver Metallic two tone at $141 and this one has the $66 rubber bumper strips and the bodyside moldings.
As I’ve mentioned before, due to this site I’ve become significantly more appreciative of the Caprice Classic and all B-Bodies in general, growing up I had no attraction to them whatsoever and this one looks like it would have been quite nice back in its day.
I found it kind of interesting that the fuel flap was top-hinged. I suppose it then provided a handy place to put the cap but would cringe at the thought of people just tossing that metal cap onto the painted surface.
Looking at the number of rockchips in the front, also evident in the closer-up photo of the hood ornament from near the beginning of this post, I’m thinking this one has at least a 2 at the front of the odometer number. The little fender bender at the front may be what finally brought it here in the end but it may well have sat around the homestead for a while first.
Looking at the VIN revealed an “X” in the 11th position, indicating Fairfax, Kansas as the assembly plant out of a total of eleven possibilities which shows just what a long running (1977-1990) and popular line this was. Taking into account the options that I was able to figure out were included but omitting any that I likely missed, after inflation this wagon would have stickered for at least $30,000 or likely a little more if sold today and notably virtually every one of those options would be standard today with the exception of the two-tone paint.
Related Reading:
1986 Chevrolet Caprice Classic Brougham by Paul Niedermeyer
1977 Chevrolet Caprice Vintage Review by GN
1980 Chevrolet Caprice Vintage Review by GN
A few points of order.
If the 1st Gen FWD H-body cars (debuting in 1985) had been more of a sales success then there was a plan for the Caprice to go FWD in the 80s. The irony is that B-body sales actually saw an uptick after the Olds 88/98 and Buick Lesabre/Park Avenue went to FWD (actually Ford’s Panther got a sales boost too from GMs move). Remember that GM was still convinced that gas would be $5 a gallon by 1985.
This sales boost eventually led to the creation of the Caprice LS Brougham sedan with leather and padded 1/4 vinyl roof (Iaccoca should have sued for ripping off his Fifth Ave idea).
Dear Ol’ Dad had a string of these cars from his employer. Everything from Caprice wagons to Pontiac Parisienne wagons to Custom Cruisers to Buick Estates. In the model years when the non-Chevy versions were all sporting 307 eQuadraJet V8s the Caprices were much preferred due to the easier reving nature of the 305. The difference on paper between the engines was 10 hp but driving them it felt like 20 hp due to the SBC feeling like it actually wanted to participate in your acceleration.
Yes there’s no storage with the 3rd seat up. I remind myself of this when I see the non-existent storage in most 3 row crossovers when the 3rd row is in place.
In the B-body cars in general power seats were an absolute necessity because the non powered seat has no height adjustment and it felt like you were sitting on the pavement.
There is storage back there, not only do you have open bins on each side you’ve got the locking compartment on the driver’s side, along with an ashtray. The spare is on the passenger side as are the tools.
What I meant (to clarify) is very little storage. You weren’t going to haul 8 people and their luggage without strapping it to the roof rack.
This is much like the current crop of 3 row CUVs that only have a few cubic ft of storage with all rows in use
There actually was some cargo room with the three seats up. There was a little space between the middle and third seat you could squeeze a few small duffel bags. If you really wanted to jam the car full, you’d put the stuff in the space, then “force” the third seat up to kind of squish the stuff into place. Not recommended for fragile items, but worked okay for bags of clothing. But the reality was, with the three seats up, there was not enough room for 8 people’s luggage by a long shot.
Principal Dan’s recount of hte FWD H-body was mostly how I recall it. There were lots of reports of the B-body being gone before 1985. Initially the plan was to down size the Impala and Caprice to the A/G-platform (hence the quad headlight restyle for the Malibu and the 1982 Bonneville) and from there it would get the updated FWD B-Body (later renamed H-body) platform. I am not sure what happened, but obviously Chevrolet got cold feet on the idea and kept the RWD B-body. Pontiac sort of followed Chevrolet, bringing back the B-body on the form of the rebadged Parisienne that GM of Canada kept around for 1982.
A couple of clarifying points. All US-cars got e-Qjets from 1981 forward, while Canadian market cars kept mechanical carbs and had no ECMs until 1987 (some exceptions). Pontiac and Chevrolet’s used Chevrolet engines (some late Parisiennes ended up with 307s, but most were Chevrolet). Olds and Pontiac used Oldsmobile V8’s only. Partway through the 1986 model year all GM B-Body wagons switched to using 307 Oldsmobile engines exclusively. Chevrolet sedans kept the 305 Chevrolet engines. There were also Canadian market 1987 Caprice sedans that ended up with 307’s for some reason too.
I wasn’t able to edit the above comment since it went to trash. I should have written all Olds and Buick (not Pontiac) used Oldsmobile V8s only. These comments only apply to the 1981 to 1990 cars and Pontiacs from 1982 to 1989.
A FWD H-body Caprice/Impala would’ve been an interesting thing to see. Had GM gone that way, we might have seen Caprice or Impala used for a Chevy sedan on the FWD G-body in the ’90s/’00s (with the Bonneville/Aurora/LeSabre/Seville) and Monte Carlo used for both the W-body coupe and sedan like Grand Prix was. (I still maintain that the 1990 Lumina could’ve been called Monte Carlo.)
Liking these junkyard Classics, JK…keep ’em coming, having had a 78 Caprice Classic wagon, this one is the best so far. Though we bought it used in OK shape, a few trips to the junkyard to brought it back to it’s former glory… it was a great hauler.
I keep waiting for him to find a junkyard classic of a model I used to own
Great car. Sad to see it in the boneyard, but it looks like it had a long life of heavy use.
I always found the dash/steering wheel of the Caprice’s sister divisions much more appealing, particularly the Buick and Olds. GM did a good job making a noticable upgrade with each step up in division in the part of the car the user most interacts with.
Having had a couple of this generation B wagon, a minor correction: to use the tailgate as a door, you use the outside handle. To use it as a flip down gate, you turn the key in the door to lower the window then use the inside center handle to lower the gate.
On one of my cars, I made a modification. From the factory, if you wanted to lock the doors after taking something out of the rear, you would have to go back to the front door to hit the power lock button. I ran wire from the front swtch to the tailgate area and installed another power lock switch. Much more convenient for a car from the pre-keyless entry era.
I attempted to find a take rate for the 5.7 litre diesel in the 1983 Caprice to no avail. Presumably, it was down by 1983 as the engine’s reputation had gone solidly sour when its take rate peaked across GM lines along with the 1979 -1980 oil price shock. GM was done with it entirely after 1985.
With its clattery sound and tendency to spew soot, the diesels were obvious and reasonably prolific on the road for a few years. A friend’s parents had one in a 1980+ Caprice wagon and it generally lived up to its reputation and wasn’t around for long.
The Chevy 305 with the 4 barrel in this wagon was about the best engine offered in any GM B – C body after 1980. The THM200-4R automatic overdrive transmission tended to be a bit fragile, I had to replace the one in my 1982 Oldsmobile Delta 88 – the shop swapped in at THM-350.
When big GM diesel cars were briefly popular……
Here’s another Caprice diesel wagon ad. I don’t recall ever seeing (or hearing) one in person.
The only place I remember seeing the diesel wagon ads were in National Geographic magazine. It the late 70s/early 80s it seemed like GM was dumping a decent chunk of change into advertising there.
It was also the only place I’ve seen an ad for the 1982 Chevrolet Celebrity as was my first car. The advertising carried the tag line: “The Small Car with the Big Car Ride.”
My Dad bought one used and we had it for a brief time. It (the engine) was a piece of crap. I think it stranded us three or four times with fuel issues; I remember that it was due to water in the diesel. It was a gutless, noisy, smelly lump.
Thanks for going the extra mile here and setting up the 3rd row seat! Just a few weeks ago, I was walking around my neighborhood and saw a ’90s-era Roadmaster wagon driving along the road. To my surprise, it was fully loaded with passengers, including two kids in the way-back seat. That’s something I haven’t seen in decades.
The featured car was among the best-looking B-body wagons in my opinion — the two-tone paint job made a big difference here.
These wagons seem to land here in hearse mode then just become collectable used cars not many ever achieve wrecking yard status, there really are not many about sedan wagon or ute are collector cars imported in ones and twos and kept as pets.
I generally prefer cars to any other vehicle type. Wagons are as practical as a car can get.
But our ’03 LWB Town & Country was so immensely practical and efficient, I can understand why wagon styles took such a hit in popularity. There was just no beating a comfy, cushy, ultra-roomy minivan with a high driving position for family use.
Having said that, my favorite style of car is still a 2-door, RWD, V8-powered coupe with rally wheels and white-lettered Radial T/As. Practicality be damned. But I haven’t had one in a long time and my opinion may change because I’ve grown to really like the smooshy-gushy ride of my Avalon. It is very easy on my back.
All I used to see when looking at these wagons, are the 12″ disc brakes which can be mated to an early GM A-body. Now that they are so scarce on the road, I see them as classics in their own right.
I vastly prefer this tailgate design to the mandatory hatchback of our beloved “tall wagons”.
Yes my TourX would be even better with a true honest to god “magic door-gate” as Ford used to call their design. Even if the glass just swung up and out of the way instead of retracting into the tailgate.
It feels odd to participate in “tailgating” parties without an actual tailgate.
My employer back in the day had a couple of these in the fleet. Grey over grey stripper models. A/C was the only option. I never did like the rear ends of these, It’s like they had no idea how to make it a wagon and give it a little style out back. perhaps make the rear window line up with the side windows a little better. It just looks weird to me.
There was also a pair of Caprice classics one in maroon over whorehouse red with the vinyl roof that was well optioned. I hated that one because there was a cassette jammed in the deck that played on continuous loop. Psychedelic Furs, I shudder at the mere mention of them. The other Caprice was a bare bones model, except for A/C, in white over red vinyl that had crank windows and rubber floor mats. I liked the white one best since the OPP cars were all white Caprices. I could cruise along the highway and everyone moved over a lane if they saw you approaching behind.
The company was not big on maintaining the fleet. Most were one year leases and they generally put over 100k km per year on them. They got no maintenance at all. Not even oil changes. One of the wagons was returned with the engine mostly in the back seat area. It sat for months after the mechanic they took it to dropped it off when they asked him to make it run well enough to return it. Not possible with two pistons hanging out of the block. I pleaded with them to fix the brakes on the white one and finally refused to drive it. They just took the keys from me and gave it to someone else.
I got assigned to return the white Caprice and pick up the replacement. I refused to sign the form that states that the vehicle was being returned in good mechanical order. The white one suffered nearly $7000 in body damage at one point and surprisingly it was not written off. It was not quite the same after that. After the Caprice era it was Astro Vans and one Lumina sedan that met the same fate as the wagon. A pair of thrown rods. They paid dearly for that one, $3700 in 1992 money for an engine.
I had one of these with the diesel. Big headache until I dumped it.
Nice find. This was actually very close to the 1984 Parisienne wagon we had in our family. It has the same cloth interior, but ours had the once piece front bench seat. Ours was also a stripper wagon, about the only options being a rear window defroster and block heater. It didn’t even had a radio or carpeting in the cargo area. We ended up adding extras after the fact, including an aftermarket radio, cruise control (our first car ever with cruise), and cargo carpeting.
The LG4 305 was a great engine in these cars. Ours served us well for 14 years and about 300,000 kms before it was sold. The engine was untouched, not even a carb rebuild. The LG4s weren’t overly powerful, but good on fuel and very reliable. Interestingly, the Canadian market cars (ours was an Oshawa built car) had 6 digit odometers, while US market cars had 5 digit. Later once all the B-body cars were built only in Arlington TX, then even the Canadian cars got the 5 digit odometers. You’d think GM would have just switched them all to 6 digit. On that note, the Parisiennes, also all got the round gauges, while Chevrolets had the horizontal speedometer as standard and was upgraded to round speedometer with the optional gauges.
For a family of six, our Parisienne worked very well as a family car. We never used the third seat other than for short trips with friends or family. Otherwise, we had three in the front, three in the middle. We drove on numerous long trips that way, including the East coast of Canada and the southern US. The cargo area with the third seat folded flat is quiet generous on these cars, comparable to large SUVs today. Plus you had extra storage under the floor in the third seat footwell.
Once of my earlier posts went to the trash. Can an admin please restore it.
I wonder if the fact that about 1.61 Kilometers = 1 Mile was a rationale for the extra digit?
I am sure that was rational for the extra digit
I just don’t know why GM wouldn’t have updated all odometers to have 6 digits. Then like I said the late 80s when all production went to Arlington, even the Canadian cars in kilometers went back to the 5 digit odometers.
Great junk yard find Jim! That gauge cluster is positively demoralizing, even more so than today’s prevalence of “dead buttons”. It is also surprising to learn that some 30% of 1983 Caprices were wagons. One has to wonder what that percentage was just a few years later after Chrysler introduced its minivans.
“That gauge cluster is positively demoralizing”
Agreed! Everyone today talks about the gauge packages that many of the GM cars of this era offered, but for those of us who were around then, they seemed to show up on something like .02% of production. The GM classic panel was a speedo, a gas gauge and a bunch of black plastic (or before that a bunch of chrome). Seeing a GM car with full gauges back then was like seeing a car with an actual interior color now.
My aunt’s low end (“America” version) 92 Plymouth Sundance had more actual gauges. Hell that Sundance had more instruments than the 89 Cadillac Brougham I had at the time!
I agree with you JP on the optional gauges. I owned and parted numerous B-bodies and I only owned one with the optional gauges. On these Chevrolets ordering the optional gauges got you a round speedometer.
I like gauges as much as the next guy, but these clusters never bothered me. Heck in 14 years of service our Parisienne never had a warning light illuminate once. Most owners didn’t care there were no gauges. A lot of the gauges in modern cars are really more like warning lights, in that they don’t actually show proper readings, but act as a binary switch from normal to warning.
Notwithstanding the fact that those horizontal speedos are 100% accurate when compared against a gps reading. My ’83 wagon’s speedometer read the actual speed, leaving my ’20 Jetta wishing its speedometer read just as good. It reads 4 mph too high at 65. To me nothing matches the elegance of an accurate speedometer as you drive.
I 100% agree with you. I always found it interesting how GM would put large faceless blank gauge backgrounds in the instrument cluster as a constant reminder of the always optional gauges you did not order. I also like the Automatic Overdrive next to P RND321. Most vehicles had the circle around the D to show overdrive.
That is one tacky looking dash from end to end. Although a lot of American cars had such dashes like that in the late 70s and early 80s. The wood grain just takes it over the top.
My parents had one of these when I was growing up. I spent a lot of time in that back seat looking back at where we had been. It was a decent car as far as I can recall and that 305 would regularly get 26 MPG on the highway. Of course, those were the 55 MPH speed limit days. It did rust some. It was replaced in 1990 with a Lumina APV which despite its reputation and plenty of faults was actually a better vehicle.
My mother replaced her ’67 Valiant with a Caprice Classic wagon in 1980 – two tone beige and brown from Malcolm Konner Chevrolet in Hackensack. Brown vinyl seats, AM radio, no air conditioning. I remember sticking to the hot seats in summer. Crank windows. Once, Dad tried to move the parking spot of the car in Mom-mom’s driveway from the front passenger seat and rammed the house with the left fenders.
The car made it to around 130000 miles by 1987, but the lifters were chattering and promised needed engine work, and it was replaced with a significantly more comfortable ’87 Safari from Colandrea Pontiac in Newburgh, which I took over in ’94 (buying it for $4000 from my parents).
Ultimately, the brother of the owner of the garage that maintained it took it for 1500$ and I heard it was still tooling around Brooklyn into the mid1990s.
I liked those wagons. Great date cars.
I only ever saw ONE with vinyl seats and no 3rd row, but it had A/C (the only option that I could see that it had) it was actually an Impala wagon from early box B-body production. (Like a 78-79 model.)
I always figured it had been special ordered.
There was definitely some scrimping going on. There was a five year old and a one year old and a new medical office to renovate and Dad’s ’77 Cutlass Supreme was a gigantic piece of shit that needed replacement (he ultimately drove my dead grandfather’s 1970 Chevelle for four years). I remember comparison shopping trips to Arthur Glick in Mountaindale and Middletown Chevrolet. I think it was eight thousand? Would have been April 1980. And it was a three-row wagon. I remember Mom driving it up logging roads in Catskill State Park to the blueberry patches.
We sold quite a few wagons just like this along with its other 3 cousins over at Pontiac, Buick and Olds. We would look for versions with the LG4 305 but from late 1986 on up they only had the Olds 307 which was a bit more difficult to sell because they were so slow. if they were cheap enough at the auctions or back row wholesale units sitting in the back of the dealer we got them anyways and usually ended up tuning those 307’s up so that they at least felt sort of peppy. It was not unusual to see some of these that went around the horn 3 or more times!
Anyone knows which digit indicates color on the VIN? I just bought one of the 53,028 sold in ’83 as stated above, here in Mexico where it’s been imported since 1992. It’s a project car but overall a completely driveable solid wagon in excellent mechanical shape and fading white over green paint but I’d love to bring her back to her original shine sporting her stock color(s). Thank you.
Paint colour is not encoded in the VIN. For that you’d have to find the body data plate. On the sedans it was often on the inside of the trunk lid; I don’t know where they put it on wagons.