The GM B/C-Bodies of this generation have been a staple here at CC from the beginning, and we’ve spent a lot of time poring over their every little quirk. But we’ve never asked ourselves the question of which exact model (and engine/options) we’d buy if the CC Time Machine would finally function properly.
My initiation into the cult of B came early. In 1977, the tv station I worked at in LA had a deal to buy cars and trucks through GM’s fleet purchasing program. Which meant that employees, friends, and friends of friends showed up to put in their orders with one of our engineers, who was a big car nut and GM-phile. One of his friends wanted a new big car, so said engineer pored over the option lists and specced out a new white Caprice with every possible goodie in the book: 170 hp 350, THM 350, F41 suspension, and every HD part that might possibly have been of some theoretical (or real) use, as well as all of the comfort and convenience options. This friend was loaded, so money was no object.
I got to drive the resulting car when it came in (friend was out of town at the time), and it was a revelation, given what just about every limp-noodle American car was like at the time. We bombed it up into the hills and along Mulholland Drive, and it was unlike anything I had ever experienced. So I’d go back and repeat that experience. I’m still mulling over the color, but then I’ve always been a fan of white.
Ok; I’m ready to take your order now. It should be ready to pick up in about six weeks.
easy pick! late 80’s buick estate wagon, dark blue, with a full load.
I’m a diehard ’77-’79 Delta 88 Royale fan. So if I were somehow transported back in time to buy one, anything with a 350 or 403 and a bold color combination (and NO vinyl top) like a Carmine Red with a Dark Carmine Red accent would be just fine. A bonus would be the F41 performance suspension.
And, as it is now Easter in most of the western world, I must offer my official greeting to Herr Professor Doktor Niedermayer: “Christus ist auferstanden! Er ist wahrhaftig auferstanden!”
Good night and have a pleasant tomorrow.
First Choice-1977-79 Impala 2 door with the 9C1 package and every option (yes you could get 9C1 in a 2-door)
Second Choice 1977-79 LeSabre Sport Coupe, all boxes checked
Third Choice 1977-80 Parisienne or Bonneville 2 door with buckets, console, snowflakes
and every option.
Wild card- A 1977 of 78 Catalina Enforcer police package with a 400. Equipped like this. Note the AM-FM radio. Pretty ritzy for a cop car at the time.
Most of them had no radio at all back then, let alone FM.
Which would you Pontiac would you prefer though? A US model with one of the BOP engines, or a Parisienne with a Chev engine? Personally, I always favoured the SBC, but Olds V8’s have always treated me well.
In high school a buddy had a mint ’77 Impala coule in silver with a maroon vinyl top and maroon interior. Nice. For myself, I’ll take a 9C1 Impala or Caprice from that era, or a ’78-’79 Le Sabre Sport Coupe – with the road wheels, naturally.
I’m in Europe, these are worth nothing here and yet (even with fuel prices as they are) do not make sense as an investment OR everyday car; standard they are not very quick or (even with the police suspension) posses good handling. So financially it makes no sense. But if i were to come to some money, a late Caprice with 350 modified for power and to run on LPG / 5 or 6sp manual box / rear Jaguar XJ suspension and Hotchkis bits to uprate the front / interior from a later Jaguar would do me.
But it still would make no sense.
But some were built with the 6cyl engine in Belgium. Saw one in a local Banger race pits 15 years ago. Lendham & Hartman sold a few from their London base in the 70s.
Perhaps one of the most reliable cars made. Canadas Lemon Guide
said ” No extended warranty required”. The only other US made car that they said the same thing about was the Fox body MUstang!.
Oh, they did sell here in Austria with the diesel 5.7 as well but would you want one?
We had this ’77 LeSabre in the 80’s-early 90’s when I was in HS & College. I’d take another just like it, but with Power Windows, Locks, Cruise & a radio with more than one speaker.
Here is my 1980 caprice 2 door. It’s got the 305 in it. It’s a fun car and been good to me.
Which one would be the best for a cross-country drive?
I have a 1978 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale which has been in the family since new. Fully loaded with a 350 (code R for Rocket) V8.
It’s always nice to have the family truckster stay in the family. I have my mom’s 74 Montego that’s also been in the family since new. At least there are no surprises concerning previous owner care.
1979 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham d’ Elegance in Crater Lake Blue Met.
Bullet-proof drivetrain and real Cadillac style.
For this and so many others… thanks Bill Mitchell.
I would want a 1985 Buick LeSabre like this. (source: http://momentcar.com/buick/1985/buick-lesabre/)
It’d be a tough call. For me it’d be one of two choices:
1977 Chevrolet Caprice Classic 2-door, LM1 350, TH350, F41 suspension, posi and all other HD mechanicals. I’d want my car fairly low option, I’d be fine with standard interior, and I can live without most of the power accessories. Definitely no brougham options.
1989-90 Chevrolet Caprice 9C1, L05 350, TH700-R4 (4L60), 3.42 posi. Again keep it simple in the interior and no vinyl top or brougham options.
Great question!
I like the last model year cars of the B Body design.
The 1986 Pontiac Parisienne Brougham in full black and tufted champagne interior is my favorite sedan while the 1985 Pontiac Safari Wagon and the 1966 Caprice Wagon are my favorite early B Body Wagons.
Of course, my 1996 Buick Roadmaster Limited Wagon which was featured in the Curbside Classic Last of the B Bodies last May is the best B Body vehicle ever made.
My hope is that GM will reinvent itself and make these great cars again!
This Roadnaster Wagon is 20 years young and will look great and run forever!
Gary
I’d like a 98 coupe with a 403 or a Sedan de Ville with the 368.
We had a lot of these in my family, and this picture at the top bothers me because it shows the shoulder belts from the ceiling when they always fastened to the B pillar on this model.
I think I’d love having wire wheels or caprice wheels instead of these on mine, full car is few pics up too. I figured out a good way though to polish it with rib injuries, bring the car up to me. 🙂 love the car but it’s a magnet for trouble especially in the cities. I don’t know much about the 2door ones though, I’ve had 3 others that were 4door(1impala,2caprice.) So this has been fun seeing. And my back window is the concave one. Living in Minnesota you come to realize why they stopped making concave, its really hard to scrap the back glass. Does anybody know if the concave glass was in any other yr caprice or make? Mine is a 1980.
1978 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale Holiday Coupe (but without those body-coloured wheel covers).
Finally found a proper pic of the Holiday Coupe; just hate those body-coloured wheel covers. They offered a very nice set of chrome wheels (not the Super Stock) as an option that looked much nicer.
77-79 Caprice 2 dr slick top two tone blue 350 v-8. these early caprices had nice short nap fabric, beautiful grilles and dashes and alot more character and better interiors than the ’80 and beyond caprice IMHO.
Oohgeeze, I’ve wasted a lot of time pondering exactly that question. Since we’re in dreamy-dream land and the terms and conditions of the day don’t apply, mine’s a ’79 Caprice Classic 4-door sedan, utterly loaded with every heavy-duty, comfort, and convenience option, no vinyl roof, ordered from outside the US with the export equipment group (larger/folding sideview mirrors, taillamps with amber turn signals as shown here and here, real headlamps, no emission controls to speak of, etc), the EFI 350 engine (Seville), and the TH350 transmission. Two-tone metallic medium/dark red or medium/dark green. And with a ’78 grille installed.
Or if it’s hold-the-pickles–hold-the-lettuce–special-orders-don’t-upset-us but only within limits and I can’t be quite that free with my optioneering, then maybe I’ll just jaunt over to Europe and pick up this export-spec Olds as-is:
Too bad Chevy didn’t offer an ‘SS’ or equivalent package for the bent window ’77-’79 Impala 2-door, with the F41 suspension, buckets, floor shift and Corvette-style slotted wheels.
BTW, Daniel, the ’79 Caprice and Impala had crappy grilles. The ’78’s looked best, good choice.
Yep. The ’77 grille was wrong (vertical emphasis…nope) and the ’79 grille was too busy with its assorted-weight grid lines. The ’78 Caprice grille was the best of the bunch. The Impala grilles of all those years (plus ’80-’85) had a much cheaper and uglier look about them than the Caprice setups, which of course was intentional.
Tough call for me on the ’77-’78 header panel with its deeper headlamp recess or the ’79 panel with its much less recessed headlamps and revised upper front contour for better aerodynamics. Either looks fine with the ’78 grille, though.
I’d look a little closer at that export model if I were you…..it’s a diesel!
Geck. Good catch. Perhaps I’d special order it “minus engine”.
Don’t know how much, but this one is for sale in Gainesville TX right now. Phone number is 940-594-0796.
Grill shot.
THIS one might be fun…
1985 Pontiac Parisienne wagon, red on red, with Di-Noc on the sides, all the trimmings, and a Pontiac 350.
“Which 1977-1990 GM B/C-Body Would You Go Back In Time And Buy?”
Prolly none as I don’t like big cars .
That being said , I was lucky to be there when L.A.P.D. ran these in their Fleet and they were simply incredible cars , they out ran and out handled pretty much everything else except Sports Cars and Hot Rods , they’re were fucking _INDESTRUCTIBLE_ and believe me , the Boys In Blue tried , they tried daily and really hard .
I’d go for a ’77 ~ ’79 Coupe with the full HD/Police RPO package , rubber floor mats , the comfy and firm 60/40 front seat with the water/blood proof fabrics (we liked that fabric so much we bought bolts of it in various colors and re trimmed many City Vehicles with it)
Prolly in white because I spend a lot of time in the Desert .
As mentioned there were scads of really obscure options , L.A.P.D. was too cheap to buy the gauge packages and fancy radios etc. but I would .
ther , smaller Departments bought them with power windows and fancy interiors , those looked o.K. I guess but if you want a true American car , buy a CHEVROLET from back when they made good ones .
If you want luxury , that’s what the Sloan Ladder was for .
We’re phasing out and Salvaging the Panthers as fast as we can and the older Cops often ask me if I have any of these fine Chevies salted away that will be available for purchase….
-Nate
I was very young at the time of these cars. However, I later on liked the 1987-1990 Chevy Caprice Classic Brougham LS model, with the full-boat load of suggested luxury styling touches. That model included a 1/2 vinyl Landau roof, coach lamps, white walls, hood ornament, and fancier interior (and more). Along with flush headlights, I thought this was quite a head-turner!
The Caprice Classic Brougham filled the void in the market when GM ended the “B/C” based Buicks and Oldsmobiles. You got a full sized RWD car that was darned near Cadillac in content without “showing” off (and paying for) a Cadillac Brougham!
1978 Buick Electra 2-door…had a white vinyl roof over baby blue with white/blue interior that I have always wished I had kept…even had the factory 8-track player. The 400 cu. in. V-8 motivated it just fine, too! My fav feature were the fender mounted fiber-optic turn signal indicators.
Such a tough choice, I could have a whole fleet of B-bodies and still want more. If I had to pick my top picks from each division, I would probably spec them out as follows:
Olds – 88 Holiday Coupe, with 403, buckets/console, gauge package, towing package, super stock wheels
Buick – LeSabre Sport Coupe, 350, towing and gauges once again, road wheels
Chevy – 77-79 Impala sedan, 350, gauges, f41, posi
Cadillac – 78-79 Fleetwood Brougham d’elegance, 425, black with dark red leather interior, loaded, color keyed wheel disks
I really don’t know which I’d pick if I could only have one. I’d like the Cadillac for the going out to dinner and road trip car, and probably the Olds for a daily driver. You really can’t go wrong with any of the gas V8 powered Bs though, especially the early 77-79 examples. GM absolutely hit a home run with these cars, and to me they’re up there as one of their greatest successes.
And honorable mention – the 90-92 Brougham d’Elegance, 350, wires, leather, painted in that midnight blue (monarch blue firemist IIRC) with matching dark blue interior. Falls out of the year range specified but really a great example of the C/D body cars, and the last of the really well adorned, elegant, chromed out and classic Cadillacs.
I think the 90-92 Brougham is qualified for this, I think the cut-off is simply because it’s the last year that the “B” retained it’s (mostly) original body. The “D” bodies of the 90s are really a 1980 update of the 1977 “C” bodies anyways!
Make mine a 1978 or ’79 Chevy Caprice coupe in Firethorn Red, that lovely deep red metallic color. I always the loved the creased rear glass. Give me the F41 suspension, and the 350 V8 if available.
Wow–tough choice. I’ve got it narrowed down to three possibilities–
-1979 Caprice Classic coupe with the bent glass window. 350, F41, black/silver two-tone with no vinyl roof “cap”, red interior.
-1979 LeSabre Sport coupe. 403, silver over red interior, road wheels, buckets/console.
-1988 Buick Electra Estate wagon. 307, midnight blue w/dinoc, tan interior, alloy wheels.
Outside the letter of the question, but perhaps inside the spirit, I’ll give honorable mention to the 1992 Cadillac Brougham d’Elegance. 350, Charcoal gray with burgundy leather.
1977-78 Caprice equipped as the F41/350 white one, but in navy blue. The 79’s front face is to over the top. Or, the last ones, 1988-90 police package, and still had the “fleur d’ lis” emblems.
For BOP’s
77-78 Bonneville with Pontiac 400
77 Delta 88 Pace Car, with an Olds 403
77-78 LeSabre Sport Coupe with Buick 350 4 bbl
’77 Bonneville 2 door with the handling suspension, hands down.
When we were first married, we had a 1977 Olds Delta 88 Royale Coupe. 403/350 THM, FE3 suspension, black over lemon yellow cream (calling Tom Klockau) with a black interior. Growing up in various Fords/Mercurys, I had never driven a big car that could handle like that one. Blew. My. Mind.
We had a company car at one of my jobs that looked just like a 9C1 Impala (yes, Impala! Just like the blue ones that the Pennsylvania State Police used). But ours was a fleet special, 305/700R4 (or whatever they used in 1984). The car wasn’t fast, but it did get respect from other drivers, especially if I was moving fast through traffic. It looked just like an unmarked PA State Police car. I was never late to a press check or a marketing meeting.
As much as I love Pontiacs, and the right Bonneville would be great too, I’d want that Oldsmobile back, for more than just sentimental reasons.
My second-ever brand new car (at age 21) was a very sweet, loaded-up 1981 Caprice with a gas V8. When I began shopping for one, I called up a buddy who worked in the service department of a large Chevy dealer and asked him for his recommendations. He said avoid the diesel (I wasn’t considering that anyway) and also pass on the standard V6. He said that engine/tranny combo was meant for a lighter car (Malibu) and they were seeing a lot of unhappy V6 Caprice owners coming in with rough idle complaints and transmission problems. He said I’d be much happier with the V8 and most likely would never have a problem with it. That was good advice.
I had to wait a while for a V8 Caprice to arrive in dealer inventory at all, let alone optioned the way I wanted it, but it finally paid off and I got a sweet V8 right off the truck. It was during the gas crisis in the winter of ’80 – ’81, and they weren’t selling many B bodies at all, let alone with gas V8s (they had a waiting list for diesels). On the other hand, they were selling new Chevettes and Citations (yuck) as fast as they could, and their pre-owned lot was full of traded-in, gas-guzzling ’70s land yachts. A Caprice buyer that winter got the red carpet treatment, especially one who was trading in a two-year old VW Rabbit. Going against the tide got me a great deal.
I had that Caprice for only a couple of years due to a job change that forced me to temporarily downsize, but out of the 40-something motor vehicles I’ve owned so far, that car is still one of my favorites. I sold it while I lived in Southern California, the land where cars can live forever, so there’s a chance it still exists. However, if it’s now a lowrider or donked out like so many SoCal “box” Chevys of that era ended up, I’d rather not know about it.
I also had the privilege of spending a lot of time in brand-new 9C1 Caprice “company cars” from ’85 – ’95. Those were some great cars, especially if you weren’t paying for the gas.
From a nostalgic perspective, I’d get a ’77 LeSabre Custom Coupe like this one; my Grandpa often drove me and my sister to elementary school in a very similar one with a Pontiac 301.
Of course, then there’s my uncle’s ’77 Caprice Estate wagon in orange, or my parents’ brown ’83 LeSabre Limited Coupe…nope, I’ll stick with the ’77.
1977 Catalina Enforcer with the Z code 400 and all of the HD goodies.
Option 1
1978 Olds Delta 88 with Holiday option, 403 V8, optional rear end of 3.08 with limited slip, Olds rally wheels, full power, no vinyl roof in dark blue
Option 2
1978 Bonneville coupe with bucket seats, 400 V8, gauges, snow flakes and of course the suspension upgrade and larger tires
I’d pick a black ’77 Caprice Classic Coupe, F41, 350, the plastic spoked wheelcovers, no body side molding, gold pinstripe, gold Custom interior (velour), A/C, and dual sport mirrors; probably cruise control and the best factory radio.
Next, I’d pick a ’79 Bonneville coupe with buckets and console; no vinyl top, no optional striping or moldings; and whatever Pontiac called their version of F41.
I can remember the first ’77 Caprices I saw, out back at Bob Mayberry Chevrolet in Sharon, PA. One was a white Estate wagon; the other was a two-tone gray/silver coupe with bright red velour interior. Both had a small crowd of people around them. At the time, I thought no Buick or Olds could better that Chevy interior. 🙂
Here is my 1978 Chevy Caprice Classic Coupe, 24k Survivor.
All Original, 305ci Th350, and “odd” factory a/c delete car.
I’m the third owner in 40 years 🙂