While it became clear instantly that delivery driving at a busy restaurant would be the most lucrative form of income for a college undergraduate (full time drivers at good restaurants net between $30,000 to $40,000–about the average starting salary for my major), it also became painfully clear the brand new car I was diligently working to make monthly payments on was becoming a well-worn used car much too quickly.
With over 20,000 miles in the first year alone, multiple dings, thoroughly abused suspension and brakes, interior stains, and bumpers damaged in multiple places, I realized that my strippo Jetta was going to become one of those sad appliances that ends up at the Pick-and-Pull before its tenth birthday (aka: the fate of most Pontiac Sunfires ever built). Forget the cheap monthly payments… why spend $16,000 over all these years on something that will be edging close to beater territory by the time I finish grad school and get my first full-time office job?
Many of the other delivery drivers drove similar cheap, late-model cars, mostly from defunct brands with no resale value, bought from shady dealerships that specialize in 84-month financing to drug addicts with credit scores south of 550 (I hope none of them ever read this, although they’ll probably just laugh as they snort coke off the dashboards of their damaged Impalas with one hubcap–even more motivation to finish my degree!).
Seeing the horrendous condition of the five-year-old Pontiac G6s and Mercury Milans my coworkers owned–who will be making monthly payments on their sad, badly damaged sedans until they’re junkyard material, then start the cycle all over again–was all the motivation I needed to buy a sub-$1000 work beater to preserve my “nice” car.
Thus begun the Craigslist search. What can you find for under $1000, in 2015, that is fully functional and runs… aesthetics be damned? Cavaliers. Sunfires. Luminas. Any older Kia. Camrys and Corollas carried a significant premium, unless there was something seriously wrong with them. Basically any marginal compact or midsize from the 1996-2000 year range would’ve fit the bill.
But the Luddite in me kept telling myself that these cars were complicated. The had ‘modern’ electronic engine controls, glitchy theft-deterrent ignitions, complicated ABS systems… so many expensive things to go wrong for an $800 investment. Plus, they were boring. If I was going to buy an old car, I was going to buy an OLD car. I had a trouble-free experience with my rear-wheel-drive 1986 Fleetwood Brougham as a winter beater a couple years prior, why not go that route again? After all, gas is $1.85 a gallon for probably the last time in history thanks to the wonders of fracking–mankind’s last resort to maintain the status quo.
Unfortunately, those Cadillacs have appreciated in value somewhat as their numbers have dwindled, so I went south on the old-school Sloan ladder. “Chevrolet Caprice” yielded many results, one of which, a brown wood-paneled wagon owned by an old man who hardly drove it, looked like the perfect match.
I called the owner and test drove the car. Brakes? Brand new front discs and pads, smooth and grabby. Steering? Pinky-finger light, no squeals or hitches, lock to lock. Suspension? Smooth but durable, B-body style. The carbureted 305 came to life with minimal stabs at the giant gas pedal, even in the deep depths of the ten-degree Michigan winter. The transmission shifted through its four gears with that typical GM ease. All the lights worked, interior and exterior–and as soon as I popped in the cassette adapter for my smartphone and the crackly 30-year-old speakers belted Drake with surprisingly decent bass, I knew this old woody was The Car.
Reactions to this giant old woody wagon in 2015 showed it to be more polarizing than any car I’ve owned. People love it or they hate it. Objectively, I understand both perspectives. The hate camp sees it as an embarrassing, ugly, clunky, obsolete transportation machine in the same way Windows 95 is no longer a desirable operating system (although to be honest, I wouldn’t mind getting an old PC and installing that operating system just for the childhood memories that would instantly flood back).
I’ve noticed most of these people fall in the Generation X age range. Technically, I can’t disagree with them. The love camp view the wagon as a unique relic that is no longer produced or seen on every block, and which has a charming, nostalgic sort of cachet, especially in its semi-worn state (it has many nicknames at work, but one of my twenty-something coworkers always calls it the “Vista Cruiser”). These people are usually fellow millennials or, weirdly, baby-boomers with fond childhood memories. Funny that when you were born in history can have such a huge effect on what body style of car you find appealing or not.
Owning the car is a bit of conundrum because while it is in pretty solid condition for its thirty-year age and drives very well (I’d equate it to how the average ’85 Caprice looked/drove in about 1995–exactly the kind I saw bobbing down my suburban streets as a toddler), at its core the wagon is an $800 beater that is destined for the junkyard within a relatively short period of time. Yes, despite the fact I threw fuzzy dice on the mirror, adorned the tailgate with a sticker proclaiming my appreciation of it, and even bought a five-dollar custom front plate (wow!), my investment in the car is minimal and shall continue to be. They sold millions of these and I wouldn’t call them rare even in 2015, so I don’t feel bad driving it into the ground.
Still, it does make me sad when random people at gas stations say things like “take good care of it!” because that’s not the purpose of this car, even though I wish it could be. Someday, I’d like to own a genuinely pristine version–preferably from the late-1960s–but I don’t have the funds or the time at this stage in life.
Not surprisingly, the giant wagon has proven to be the ultimate delivery vehicle at the restaurant where I now work (for reasons I don’t want to get into, I no longer work at the shady Chinese joint where I began working last year). Scads of room for $400 catering orders. Spill a milkshake on a hard turn? Who cares? Accidentally back into a “no parking” sign? Genuine metal bumpers have got you covered.
The car is now the go-to vehicle for errand running–no other driver has a vehicle that can restock eighty two-liter pop bottles in one trip. Surprisingly, the fuel penalty over the Jetta is only about $10-$20 a week at current prices, considering the VW dips down to 22 MPG in the frigid Midwestern winter. Despite the lack of any safety features, the wagon is amazing in the snow, with ground clearance unheard of in a modern compact and surprisingly good traction from the relatively new tires.
If it starts to spin out (which it rarely does), it’s ridiculously easy to control, because all the body mass over the rear wheels creates a balanced weight distribution and the steering wheel can be whipped back and forth with one finger. Ironically, I drive more safely in this car than in the Jetta, because I’m very aware there’s no ESC or ABS to save me in an unexpected event.
The car could puke its transmission any day or simply not start, and unless it’s something I can do myself or it cost less than $100 to fix–it’s straight to the junkyard. I’ve driven 4000 trouble-free miles so far (the engine has burned hardly any oil–about half a quart), and if I get a few thousand more, I’ll consider my investment paid off, considering every harsh delivery mile I put on the Caprice is a mile I don’t put on the Jetta.
If gas shoots back up to $4.00/gallon, it’ll also be straight to the scrap heap. In that case, I simply junk it, get $500 back for scrap, and drive the VW into the ground for the remainder of my college career. In the meantime, I genuinely enjoy watching the stand-up hood ornament bob along the snowy winter horizon as I deliver steaming deep dish pizzas to my fellow residents in the frozen Midwestern tundra.
Nice well maintained Chevy Caprice, for some odd reason I’ve thought the 1977-90 wagons looked at its best during the 1980-86 period, I always thought the coupes and sedans looked at its best during the 1977-79 period
I had an ’85 Mercury Colony Park woody as my college car. There’s something very satisfying about driving a large solid car that you aren’t worried about because you have so little invested in it.
It’s surprising seeing it next to your Jetta. The Jetta is taller with larger doors and almost looks cartoonish next to the Caprice.
And also the Jetta looks like it’s bigger, longer and wider then the previous gen Jetta.
Well hope you flushed the tranny fluid which is what I did with my $510 87 Caprice Estate in 07-09. Just try to sell it to a B-Body lover and if that fails then sell it to a Demo Derby or a scrap yard when that fails.
1) I would love to have one!
2) It looks small compared to the jetta!
Gen-Xer here. These were very popular mommy-mobiles when I was a kid. I suspect the members of my generation that respond negatively to the car are the ones whose parents owned station wagons. It’s all nostalgia from my perspective, since my Mom drove a Scamp, a Horizon, and then a 924S during my youth. My friend that had a ’79 Impala wagon handed down as his first car couldn’t be rid of it soon enough. He really didn’t like it.
As another gen-Xer, 11 years old when this car was built, I agree (and my mom also had a Horizon – the only big wagons of this era in the family belonged to Aunt Pat who also used them as work haulers, as a consulting child psychologist who carried a surprising amount of testing/evaluation materials, all of them heavy gloss paper).
Also a gen-X’r, just barely…I hated these when they were made, no way I would’ve drove one without a disguise; but now, I am beyond warm and fuzzy over them. Don’t send her to a scrapper, you could probably find some grey haired fool like me who would gladly swap the failed component and pay you more than “Fat Joe’s Cash for any Car!” Had to laugh about them being universally called Vista Cruisers.
Many things I hated in my late teens and early twenties I love as a middle aged man- even Lawrence Welk (but Liberace still bothers my clown phobia.) 😉
Love it when a young person gets what these GM cars were all about and can share those thoughts so well. Great analysis on the demos, Gen X versus Boomer and Millennials. Well done.
PS — Had no idea delivery people made so much money!
Sad you are slowly killing a nice car like that. Get a junk Kia, and sell the Caprice to someone who really likes it, imho……
Agreed.
Agreed. A 30 year old vehicle cannot simply be replaced!
It’s a non renewable resource, and given the location and condition ( in Michigan it’s spared from excessive sun damage. If not driving often and properly undercoated, the chassis could be solid for a while. senior owned reduces the chance of slipping transmission plus better cared interior ) It should find better use ( Cruise in summer, i.e. on Woodward Avenue. It could be a recreation vehicle by now )
Kia probably won’t do the job ( especially considering the rust resistance. It will fall apart sooner ) so my opinion is probably a Taurus/Sable wagon, at a similar price range but far consumable. The shortcoming of transmission should be offset by the less age comparing to the Caprice.
Nice COAL. That is a nice condition B body especially in rust country.
You mention the following “I’ve noticed most of these people fall in the Generation X age range” in regards to those that hate the B body wagon.
There is a reason for that. Us Gen X folks are the last to grow up riding in these cars. Unlike that Caprice you own with its power everything, most of us grew up in base model versions with vinyl seats, AM radio and a A/C system that was not really up to snuff for such a big car. The result was on a hot day, you got burnt just by getting in and froze on a cold day.
I would not be so quick to dump the caprice just over a trans issue. The trans is easy to have rebuilt and cheap enough to have done.
Besides it is nice to have a spare car just as a back up just in case the Jetta goes in for repairs.
You may find out you like this car better then the Jetta and decide to get rid of the jetta and the car payment and drive the Chevy
Years ago I bought a new 2001 Honda Accord in July of 2001 and was making $360 a month car payment. That winter wanting to protect my car during the winter and Maryland’s fascination with rock salt, I bought a 1989 Buick Century wagon that had 80,000 miles on its 3300 V6 (aka the good GM V6) engine and 4 speed auto trans for $1500. The plan was to drive it during the winter months while leaving my car payment car safe at home and then in the other months, I would use the Buick for Home Depot and other errands. This went on for the next year or so and one day I realized I was driving the Century more and more and the car payment car was sitting at home and that the Centry had everything I needed. It had comfy seats, power(160 hp in that car was more then enough to haul ass with it on the off ramp) and parts were cheap(especially interior parts since the designed dated back to 82)
I sold the Honda to Carmax and wrote them a check for the $500 difference from what they offered and how much I still owed on the car and it was adios car payment. i then put the $360 that I was paying each month to the bank for the car in my savings account. I kept that century for 7 more until MD rock salt rusted it out and it was by far one of the best cars I owned form a money stand point. Over those 7 years it only cost me $2000 (amount for gas not included) for repairing issues on the the car(mostly oil changes, tires, trans services etc) all repairs were done by me except the tire replacements and exhaust system.
So keep that Caprice as it might help you out when the Jetta starts to have issues (and it will start to have issues when you go north of 30,000 miles on the odometer(VW still does not know how to make a car that does not suffer from electrical issues)
Anyway good luck with the car
Maryland winter. I can feel neglectful to the rust damage there.
I bought a ’95 LeSabre last year. In Michigan, an one owner LeSabre from Maryland is sort after, because of the solid chassis. There is only some rust here and there, but the fuel lines are still full metal, with entire rocker panel intact. Usually for a Michigan car of the same model, the whole metal rocker panel has disappeared for a while. For nearly 20yrs with that amount of rust damage, I don’t feel it necessary to use a winter car unless 1) You want to keep the car in a Very excellent condition 2) the car is rust prone or quite older. My roommate’s ’01 Accord can still hold up quite few more years, with one rust bubble visible on the wheel well. If in Maryland, it wouldn’t even exist. If protected by ziebart, the rust problem can be neglected for non-hobby cars for most properly designed models.
7 years? Very impressive.
It’s funny you mention that… because I actually had a similar thought the other day. I was driving the Caprice for about a week straight, totally due to the laziness of not wanting to move my Jetta out of the carport. Then I thought, why I am making a $200/month payment for something that sits in my driveway? I technically have enough savings to pay off the Jetta’s entire lease and start financing it, at which point I could sell at value it like you did with your Accord.
But then I remembered all the emotional and financial stress caused by endless repairs from the Saturns, Fords, and Hondas (yes, they break too!) that preceded the Jetta and caused me to lease it in the first place. Plus, I feel refreshed getting into the VW after a long time in the Caprice. Modern stereo. Firm handling. Slick stick shift. Tidy size. No rattles. I really like having both cars and it will be sad to see either go – but the Caprice is not going to become another 2002 Ford Focus. I have too much other debt and other priorities to let an old $800 wagon empty my savings account while I’m still in college.
Love the Caprice wagon of that era. Great buy!
That’s too nice of a wagon to beat on and/or destroy. Also, why in the hell would you want to pay the gas for that on deliveries? Get yourself a cheapo GM with the 3800 or something like that. There’s sub 1k Cutlass Cieras on Craigslist that will last, as well.
Excusing your ignorance, but B bodies of this vintage are getting rare, and you’re not making it better. ( Because of the donk/lowrider crowd, or carelessness of owners such as yourself)
Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
I think he would have bought what ever was best at the time and this big wagon turned out to be it. I see nothing wrong with this. Gas is presently quite cheap, but this won’t last, so perhaps the car can be sold to someone who wants to preserve it (although why is beyond me) when the big wagon no longer make sense.
I agree. The car could have easily gone to someone using it as a beater without appreciating it the way Max has. Now that would have been a waste. It sounds like the author is willing to make repairs.
Sharing stories like this probably created 20 new fans who will be on the look-out for their own cheap Caprices to cherish and hold. More right than wrong and the car may not be as nice as it appears.
That said I did cringe a bit at not cleaning up the spilled milkshake!
Spilled milk (or leaky milk cartons) was the reason I wanted to get the all weather (rubber) floor/cargo mats for my car. They will contain any milk leakage.
“may not be as nice as it appears.”
Indeed. This is the tricky part, especially invisible in Michigan.
“The big wagon doesn’t make sense”
Yes, so everyone should buy a Ford F-350 when they need to haul something 1-2 a year.
Wagons make sense. This one does, and doesn’t deserve the beating its being subjected to.
Based on the article, Max is using his wagon to haul stuff all the time. Complaining that he is using the car he bought with money he earned doing the job he is now using the car to do makes little sense to me. If there were enough people that thought these cars were special, then they wouldn’t be priced at the bottom of the market for functioning cars. Lots of them wind up scrapped just because nobody wants to deal with them. Max is optimizing his car’s utility, aided by a dip in fuel prices. When energy prices are manipulated back up, that will kill far more big old cars than people using them for something they’re suited for does.
Wow, you summarized what I was trying to say in the article perfectly. Thank you.
I think this sentence is key: “If there were enough people that thought these cars were special, then they wouldn’t be priced at the bottom of the market for functioning cars”
Pricing the car properly is important also.
If the seller priced the car at 2800 and wait until summer, it would be very different.
Quit ragging on the 3800s! They’re great too!
Go find a 3400 in something.
Nobody is ragging on the 3800. I meant that they’re so durable, they are excellent candidates for delivery driving. Also, reliable as the sun.
3400 is the complete opposite.
I know, I know. No 3800 deserves to die this way, though.
A 3400 or even a 3100 would be an excellent candidate. In this line of work, long-term reliability wouldn’t matter. Something else would fail based on neglect before that came into play.
A Cutlass Ciera would be a nice choice.
Excessive salt usage dissolves most winter use Cutlass Ciera already around there ( near south Michigan where they put salt as if the salt truck tips over ) along with most A-Body Century, with very very few survivors either with luck or overwhelming undercoating painted directly over the lower body.
The bottom is pushing up around H-Body ( It will not hold up too long neither ) and G-Body, also many W-Body. This Caprice is chosen probably because of better structure against rust ( regular undercoating works better on old body on frame without plastic cladding. plastic cladding accumulates salt until it fell off ) unlike unibody cars, namely MN12 ( There is no way to preserve it on salty road )
yeah, wish I could find one like that for twice that, hmu when ur ready to sell her
Nice, but I suspect survivors are rarer than you think, especially after the US Cash For Clunkers program. Barring it being totalled, please try and pass it on to someone who will look at it as a collectable rather than scrap (at least as a donor car).
I would think if it’s been in Michigan all it’s life it must have a fair share of rust in the frame and floor boards 30 years later. It’s better than killing a still being paid for year old car. Smart move. Since the VW is a leased car you can turn it in without going over the mileage limit if you decide not to buy it at the end of the lease, although you may get penalized for body damage.
In Michigan, car leasing usually spares the body damage for the road salt ( because in some cities and counties, they put so much salt as if salt truck tips over ) and there is factory warranties behind it.
The negative consequence is leasing cars barely get washed and are the most neglected ones. Very late model Mazda gets plenty of rust here and there, but Impala is worse, especially on cooperate leasing cars. No one wants to spend a dime spray any water on those cars.
If the Caprice was sold new in Michigan, there should be a good layer of undercoating. Or better, ziebart. ( I saw ziebart protected early Sable wagon only traded in last year with no rust in chassis, and minimum rust on wheel well, after taking several deep looks ) and usually chassis is the last to rust ( if properly coated without excessive chippings ) . Some typical beater B-Body from late ’70s roams around without whole quarter panel up to the C-pillar. sigh*.
Ziebart or rustproof of that nature only works if the person applying it knows what they’re doing. Case in point: My father bought a brand new 1972 Mercury Montego back in the day, the first place after the dealership was Ziebart. They drilled holes and sprayed “something” in them, and sent us on our merry way.
Of course, by about 1974, the Montego was rusty and crusty from all of the Northeast Ohio road salt… I’ve seen other cars that were Ziebart (or Rusty Jones or any of the other imitators), some were great, others were Swiss cheese after a couple of years. We got hosed, for sure.
Yes, it’s very important to get properly coated. But it’s hard to tell how is proper at the same time. Usually by the time it’s obvious to detect the improperly finished coating, it turns out too late.
It has something to do with usage, and model itself. Certain car is never going to find a way of rust proofing, like Ford MN12. Despite Ziebart and electronic rust proof, it doesn’t hold up in Michigan winter neither, the only way to solve the problem is putting it away.
Playing rap music in this gorgeous old queen of a car is an abomination.
Rap music anywhere is an abomination; of course, as always, YMMV.
Rap and music don’t belong in the same sentence, unless to make a comparison.
I bet your dad said the same thing about the music you played when you were young. 🙂
Yeah but imagine what Dad would have said about Rap music! And besides we could have agreed about something for once.
I was young when rap showed up and I still share their sentiments.
Don’t be an old fuddy-duddy; he can listen to whatever he pleases.
Thanks- the young man likes his rap and it is what it is. As a grey haired, I can actually say there is some good rap around. I’m not too fond of Polka one bit myself, but I sure respect it and the people who enjoy it.
I’m not going to make any kind of judgments on the relative rarity of this car vs. its current assignment, but how about just wash it once or twice a month during the winter, in case you’re able to sell it at the end of its tenure to a wagonnaire?
Car washing barely helps in a -20 F day. Everything freezes fast, including the salt in the door seals and around corners in chassis. When it’s warm and sunny outside, 10 F is still a far reach to wash off the salt properly.
But it’s better than leaving rust accumulated until April, as cars will rust amazingly fast as if dissolved.
I wash it every couple of weeks. The Jetta every week. They both turn pure white after a couple of days of driving in the salt so it’s obvious when they need it. I also change the oil at regular intervals, let it warm up to operating temp before driving if I have time, and check all the fluids every couple of weeks. “Running a car into the ground” doesn’t equal “ignoring everything completely” and I’m not sure why some are interpreting it that way.
In 10-15 years or less, that Jetta will be in the same heap as those junk Cavaliers (at least Cavs make semi-reliable beaters) and the Caprice will be a sought after classic. To the right person, you could make a tidy profit selling this as-is and instead, buy yourself a spent Corolla wagon to run into the ground.
For most of the frequenters of this website, this is akin to seeing a Rembrandt hanging in the lobby of a Motel 6. Sad, sad, sad.
Profit comes in selling during summer. In winter, sigh*.
I think the Caprice of this era will only become a sought after classic if enough of them are junked first. What I see is that the downsized full size GM cars of the 1977+ model years is that the bodies were much better in terms of safety because they dropped the hardtops. But the styling was ever so much worse because the hardtops are gone. Beginning with the mid 70’s engines were detuned to meet emission standards with carburetors. GM’s engines were not all that great for performance until they upgraded them to electronic fuel injection, which took until the mid 90’s for old full sized cars. I really think that the Chevrolets from the 60’s are far more collectable.
GM’s cars beginning in the early 70’s and continuing past the turn of the Century (2000 is the end of the century) are really a mess.
I’m a Gen X-er and I love this Caprice (actually all GM B-bodies, including the 91-96 generation, with skirted rear wheels, please).
Alas, I live on the wrong continent, so I haven’t got a Caprice such as that for myself, they are very rare here in Europe. Instead, I treated myself to a 97 Tahoe, haha.
I mostly agree that such a car should better be preserved instead of run into the ground by food delivery, but it’s the owner’s call.
Geez If I would come across something as nice as this wagon to replace my rapidly,rapidly rusting away Taurus….
This wagon would be in my garage. And knowing me it would be getting a coat of wax,and its interior cleaned.
The neighbors might consider me a bit strange when I drove it daily, but truth be told that’s a good thing.
I don’t understand driving ANY car into the ground. That’s just stupid.
It dissolves, around where he lives.
Yep. Check out any junkyard in the north and they are full of 8 to 10 year old cars killed due to rust. Our winters are brutal, salt-filled and 4-5 months long every year. Not sure how this one escaped – originally southern, perhaps?
Besides being a potential heritage from a passed away snowbird having an RV home and trailer in Arizona or Florida,
There are few other possible explanation
1) Ziebarted®
2) undercoated from factory/dealer and somehow they sprayed better on this one.
3) The old man knows how to deal with rust, or he knows some old shops familiar with the situation. ( judging from the mud flaps, one of the previous owners knew something already )
4) Something I missed. You never know how people in Michigan deals with the rust.
Being old body on frame, it has natural advantage on rust resistance too ( if the material used is better than horrible, nor designed very improperly. i.e, Toyota’s offerings like Tacoma, 4Runner, Land Cruiser, or those extremely unfortunate Hilux sold in rust belt ) especially over relatively modern unibody cars, namely those 89-97 Thunderbird with extra big holes on rocker panels.
Well my dad’s ex. 93 Legacy was too rusty save so it was driven without 3rd gear for about a year and since it had not died a used tranny was installed. A rear strut tower finally failed and that is when the car was scrapped.
It is kind of fun to drive a car into the ground because you never know when something is going to fail and how surprising it will be.
Max, if and when you decide to let this go, do consider posting it on The Brougham Society. We have over 4,000 members at this point, and many are in Michigan. Odds are you could get more than scrap for it from one of us guys and gals. Till then, enjoy!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheBroughamSociety/
Thanks, I’ll consider it. I’m pretty much just waiting for gas to go up again and it’s no longer economically viable to drive it this much (because $2/gallon IS temporary). I suppose I could probably get more than $1000 from someone who actually would want to restore it, but as I said in the comment below, it’s not as nice looks.
Love it. Far more than the Jetta. When I had my precious Fiat 130 Coupe, I also had a Datsun 280C beater which I enjoyed driving more – mostly because of the lack of worry.
I’m a real fan of these downsized bodies, particularly in the Cheb variety which came with the cleanest styling. And its a wagon which more than doubles my appreciation. I have difficulty with people telling me how to own my cars; your car, your rules. It is a car which is probably coming out of its depreciation/appreciation trough so you may find some willing takers once you’re done with it. Until then, great to read that one of these is still being put to good use and best of luck with it in the future. Thanks for the write-up.
I hate to see something being killed, but it is his right to do that.
I’ll be getting something to use as a “package” shuttle to take stuff to the Post Office (I ship a lot). These B-Bodies are pretty high on my list, though I prefer the Whale Wagons.
For hauling stuff constantly, these are great! They’re enclosed, roomy, comfortable, safe, reliable, and easy to fix.
What else can check all those boxes? And has wood paneling?
Fix the wagon and junk the Jetta . . . .
My parents bought one of these new in 1977 and it was the first car that I drove solo. I used to flip the top of the air cleaner over, drive the car 35mph, put it down into first gear and then punch it. It sounded amazing! You should try it.
When I saw the car, saw the age of the driver, and then the intended purpose to protect a Jetta I knew the story would go south. Such large wagons are rare enough as it is and as such it would be nice to save them. In fact they are probably the only type of Caprice that can be saved. I just looked on Craigslist, for the Bay Area, and suffice it to say a large majority of Caprice sedans and coupes are on 26″ rims. Pictures are absolutely some of the most hideous cars I have ever seen. Not to mention they think it takes a $2500 car and turns it into a $8000 – $12500 car magically.
Bay Area…
Considering the mild climate ( eliminating the problem of rust [vinyl roof exempt], and the sunlight doesn’t bake the clearcoat, neither interior that hard enough ) I can’t say there are good amount of remarkable cars around that area ( at the similar level to south Michigan in winter time ) and considering the economy basis, I can only guess a large population immigrating to leasing and just leaving cars as a hobby altogether.
B-Body indeed has the problem of overwhelming percentage of donk ( same for Panther. I think M-Body is largely spared for torsion beam suspension ) and that could be a reason why it doesn’t appear in car shows that frequently with appeal ( cars with close relationship between donk loses appeal faster than average. Check out G-Body Cutlass ) But a well kept boxy B-Body is still easily appreciated as a nice older car, especially where donk doesn’t exist.
However be assured, around that area where the author lives ( 100 miles radius ) there are only very limited number of old car in that condition in regular use. Usually the role is taken by LeSabre ( like mine ) or Park Avenue, Impala, Cavalier, Tahoe, Century, Sable or such. And in some cases when the vehicle must be driven ( like recent transaction ) the owner usually picks up a nice day having fairy dry ground with less salt possible to reduce the damage. Because majority of people in Michigan has closer emotion attachment to locally produced cars ( even to big lemons like Citation ) and people treats older cars generally better than national average.
Do you really think Bay Area craigslist and (any) Michigan craigslist are remotely comparable? Think about how many Caprices they originally sold in each respective market for a moment. Toyotas were a quirky blip on the radar in 1985 Michigan, whereas American sedans and wagons were non-existent in 1985 California (most of my family lives in Sunnyvale, and it’s always weird to visit them because this type of car actually is rare there).
Check out the Detroit metro craigslist and reevaluate what you’re saying. Although you will probably see even more donks, there are no shortage of “stock” examples like mine.
Bay Area craigslist and Michigan craigslist are both taken into account, backed by 71,500,000 people and 4,296,000 people respectively. The number of non-typical daily cars is relatively far less by compare in Bay Area, not only B-Body, but also MGB and Alfa Romeos ( which should iron out the problem of big Michigan Caprice VS small Californian Corolla) . With 16 times of the population, number of those cars is only double or triple ( despite winter isn’t a season for those cars in Michigan )
I love the shot with all the pop bottles. 🙂
I knew a guy who worked for Goodrich’s Shop Rite in college. He had a ’70s GM wagon, and once a week they would send him out to cruise through Spartan Village and the Flowerpot neighborhood retrieving the shopping carts that had wandered off. I guess if you put them on their side, you could get 6-8 carts in the back of one of those clamshell wagons.
Movie connection: Night On Earth.
Also a good movie for Fiat 128, Volvo 244 and Peugeot 504 fans.
Wow. Surprised by so many negative comments – kind of want Paul to remove this. Although I’m glad there are a some positive ones at least. I thought the purpose of an old station wagon was to be used for exactly this sort of purpose?
Let me clarify one thing first – it looks much better in the pictures than it does in real life. I’d call it a 20-footer. Mechanically, it drives well *for a 30-year-old car*, which means it starts, stops, and tracks relatively straight. It is far, far from perfect. The interior is pretty stained (previous owner lived on a farm), the exhaust has a loud leak, the trim between the rear bumper and tailgate has disintegrated into strip of ugly rust, most of the suspension bits are well-worn, it rattles significantly over potholes, etc, etc. The underbody structure is hardly pristine. The paint is completely faded and there are random rust spots and dents on the body (again, not visible in the pictures) Nothing that stops it from running and functioning as transportation, but this is not a cream puff garage queen whatsoever. There’s a reason it cost $800 and not $5,000. I really can’t picture anyone else who would have bought this car for any more ‘noble’ purposes, realistically.
I genuinely considered the Kia/Camry/Lumina route, but this was the cheapest car in the best mechanical condition I could find after quite an extensive search. The selection below $1000 is very bleak mechanically and this one actually worked. Drove a 1993 Camry – every idiot light was shining and the steering wheel had to be held at practically 90 degrees driving straight down the road. Checked out a coupe Cavaliers and Ford Ranger – similar issues with the suspension and electronics/ABS. This Caprice was listed for $1000, because even after gas dipped below $2/gallon, no “normal people” (I’m excluding myself from that category) in Michigan want to drive a rear wheel drive 1980s 4,500-pound box with no ABS as daily transportation. I don’t mind, because I appreciate and understand its mechanicals. I have a modern car if it gets tiring – which it does. Also worth noting that these GM wagons are not that rare in this part of the country… there were quite a few on craigslist. This isn’t a 1966 Ford Country Squire.
As an aside, I don’t generally listen to rap in the station wagon day to day, because it doesn’t fit the mood of the car. ’80s music and modern alternative match the mood of the woody much better. But rap is always a good way to test speakers on a old car.
Max, don’t sweat it. No one is being nasty, even if they don’t agree. It’s a good piece, written from a younger perspective and I hope you don’t try to delete it.
Looking forward to your next piece.
I agree, a 20-footer can head to very different directions. I got 3 20-footers so far, except the Chrysler New Yorker Fifth Avenue ( maybe it’s only a half 20-footer though ) the rest two serves the purposes fairy well. Which direction it heads is based on many different conditions ( year, model, interior condition, mechanical condition, price… ) and only the current owner knows the best and it’s up to him to make the decision ( but the current owner needs to choose wisely also ) and it’s very hard to judge from the photos.
My first 20-footer is a ’78 Volare. It stayed somewhere in Arizona getting the paint and dashboard baked from late ’70s until early ’90s, barely accumulating miles. The son the inherited the car ( in his 40s ) and drove few more years and around 30k miles in Michigan until late ’90s as a daily driver ( It sounds like how people nowadays drive Ford Crown Vic ) accumulating quite bit rust around door legs and quarters/lip of one wheel well, few small spots on trunk lid also. But the undercoating does the purpose and the only rust spot on chassis is around frame rails, not worse than many 5yo cars you see in a Michigan dealership. Originally intended as a temporary ride, I decided to keep the car longer as a summer car ( based on 100% properly working condition, solid chassis, very nice interior, relative rarity, good MPG among ’70s cars, and one speaker AM radio playing AM580 plus AC blows cold achieves a good balance between classic car and a practical car. ) However the body shop didn’t quite do a good job on that wheel neither the quarter, having hard time to blend color also, they repainted the whole car somehow. Another story. Photo attached, taken on the first day and few days after acquiring.
New Yorker Fifth Avenue is an okay looking car, drives okay, feels okay. $700, a shy half comparing to the Volare. No single spot of rust visible, which is pretty good for a Michigan car ( I think it has something to do with low mileage also, at 90k) And the transmission didn’t shoot itself neither, with quick heat it could be a good winter car, until 3 months later the fuel line gave up with the rusted chassis in a brown chunk spilling gasoline all over at 9 Mile Rd. Head directly to junkyard at $350, no more words. ( I kept the crystal hood emblem though ) I don’t feel bad for the car at all ( But I do feel bad for Chrysler, as during the 3 months ownership it was far from reliable. No more Chrysler for me )
To replace the role of New Yorker 5th Avenue, ( also protect my pristine Lincoln Mark VIII and myself from notorious rear end of Mark VIII in snowy days, not helped by lacking of optional traction control ) I chose an one owner ’95 LeSabre from Maryland with 81k miles, in pristine condition externally and mechanically ( except AC. sigh* explains why it remained unsold for three years ) In photos, it possibly looks better than the Caprice Estate with shining paint. In reality, it has typical amount of rust here and there, but far from serious ( especially the fuel lines/brake lines are intact. Muffler is good) It can’t be better for a role of a winter car ( even better for the role when AC doesn’t blow cold in summer ) despite the far better than average look. I can imagine others would say the same to me like how people said to you if it’s 2020. I can’t find a better winter car with the comfort I need capable of traveling 450 miles on interstate on a weekly basis with one single mechanic failure ( water pump, during two winters and 19k miles) so far at a price tag of $2500.
For the Caprice Estate, it’s even harder to judge from the photos because of vinyl wooden panel: It hides rust perfectly like how plastic rocker panel does!
Photo attached is super-sized at 6MB.
Don’t worry, you’ll do fine. But you have to be aware that your stance is quite provocative for some people? Knowing that, it is easy to be prepared for the oncoming shitstorm. It’s just the way it goes with provocative questions, and knowing that, nothing no one ever says then have to be taken personally. On the contrary, one could say that the entire scope of the discussion is part of the piece. You’ll have to see it as an all encompassing experience, being inclusive to the discussion for both the positive and the negative. It’s a kind of happening, in a sense…
“On the contrary, one could say that the entire scope of the discussion is part of the piece.”
Good point, I suppose I did prompt that. I guess the polarizing opinions I get on the car in real life are similar to the polarizing opinions I get on this website about it’s current assignment. I have thick skin in person, but it’s kind of weird being criticized by strangers on the internet.
If anything, posting this on CC has made me want to sell it right now for a fat profit. I’m seriously considering listing it on The Brougham Society for $1500 since apparently these are “so rare and desirable”. I never expected people to view this car like a Corvette.
I enjoyed reading your article, it makes me miss my old wagons. I had two B-body wagons aver about 25 years, so I know these cars well. This one in particular reminds me of my old ’84 Parisienne. Living in the great white north, I can attest to how good these cars are in the snow. With proper rust proofing, the bodies held up pretty well too, neither of mine had any rust issues. I remember being able to get to places that many FWD cars couldn’t with the good ground clearance, well balanced chassis and excellent traction even with all-season tires.
Pretty much all the fullsize wagons from GM and Ford have long since left this area, so I hate to see another on it’s way to it’s demise. That said, it’s your car, you can do with it as you please, and I commend you for at least using the car as it was intended; as a reliable workhorse. It certainly is a better fate than cash for clunkers. And you seem to be properly maintaining it and caring for it. I just hope you have some mechanical skills as I think time may take it’s toll on this car with the use it’s seeing now.
Although many criticize you for not saving the wagon, when I was trying to sell my Olds Custom Cruiser I had almost no takers. The car was priced very cheap, and it was in excellent condition (rust free, excellent mechanical paint and interior). I didn’t have the room to keep the car anymore, but the only interested people were those looking for a cheap beater.
Considering the Caprice is a MI native I figure it is already a “goner” since people who want these cars are not going to look in the Rust Belt for at least a few more decades. Now if this was a Caprice bought in NM then taken to MI to be driven all year round then I would be annoyed. Even a T100, Miata, Typhoon or any number of desirable have already had the salty kiss of death by living up there long term so the only thing left to do is wring out all their use.
That philosophy is why I did not feel bad beating up my 87 Caprice from 08-09 since it already had terminal rust, the only people in Central New York who wanted it were scrappers or demo derby drivers, and I decided to have as much fun as possible. I did feel a bit bad when my folks and I tried to Cash for Clunker her which was not successful so I ended up selling it to a family friend who drove in Demo Derbies.
One off the best soundsytems I heard.
Another Gen Xer here and I really enjoyed reading the article. I think some of us who may be negative about the car may have grown up in B-bodies that fell apart. We all know GM quality was pretty crappy in the 80s and those of us who watched our parents deal with idiot lights, oil leaks, and imploding transmissions have been scarred for life. My parents had G-bodies and if you bought a Malibu wagon I probably would have raised an eyebrow.
That being said, I applaud you for making this Caprice go out with a bang. I have much respect for honest vehicles that are used for what they are designed to be used for. May it give you faithful service for many more months, if not years.
I’d like to have a full-size wagon in my fleet.
Daily delivery use for a car lie this makes no sense to me unless you need the abundant space in the back. If it’s just pizza you’re delivering , go small there is so much out there that Is smaller and cheaper on fuel. Cavaliers are like flies up here. Donor cars for parts in every wrecking yard. That would be my choice. Leave the old wagons for Collectors.
Max, drive it and ENJOY it.
It’s not a one-of-300-built million-dollar Bugatti. Or a ’53 Corvette. It’s a 30-year-old mass-market vehicle of which – in the grand scheme of things – there are many left.
Being a wagon…if it’s like the two B-bodies I owned, it has some C-10 truck components underneath, like the brakes. The 305 isn’t exciting but keep it maintained and it’ll last. There’s a reason many Caprices were used as taxis for years.
One important piece of advice: WATCH THE TRANSMISSION!
This is assuming it’s the original tranny…and I’ve been in this rodeo a couple times:
You may have a Turbo 200-4R, which was, when originally introduced, junk…but became greatly improved over the years. 1985 may be new enough where, if you’re running a TH200-4R, it got the improvements and you should be good.
BUT you may be running a Turbo 700-R4. (aka 4L-60)
If so, and if anything goes wrong with it, I advise you replace/rebuild with one 1987-newer (1993 or thereabouts is when they became the 4L-60E and being computer controlled, will not work in an ’85).
Beginning sometime in the 1987 model year, GM updated the “700” with numerous upgrades. These trannies are virtually bulletproof where the earlier versions were trouble-prone. Hopefully the previous owner crossed this bridge and you’re good ’til you part with it.
And remember…POR-15 is your friend. 🙂 Enjoy. I would. I once did.
Even 53 Corvettes were cheap beaters at some point I assume which meant they were let to wear out or hooned to death.
seems to be a common theme around here. this entire website is dedicated to the appreciation of older vehicles and stuff you don’t see every day, and yet every COAL is about how the author bought an older vehicle in reasonable condition and then refused to spend any money keeping it alive. just bagg the shit out of it. it’s a strange mentality considering the subject matter of this website.
and when people talk about customized cars like they would rather see it run stock I guess this is what they mean? I’m not a huge fan of donks or rat rods, but I would rather see an 80’s box like this with an engine swap and some suspension work than just driven in to the dirt.
rant over
Love these ’77-90 B-body wagons, and despite my reservations on this being a future ‘classic’ it’s good seeing it used for what it was built for. Grew up with two of these wagons in the parents’ garage, a light blue ’83 and charcoal gray ’88. Also adding to my affinity toward them is that my grandfather bought many of these wagons for his John Deere dealership rather than pickups. They couldn’t be beat for their utility, towing capabilities, and general tolerance to abuse. Presently I’m the owner of your car’s little sibling – a 1990 Celebrity wagon with the 3.1. Bought it with 109k miles on the clock for less than $1000 primarily to use as a Home Depot/wood/other cargo hauling ‘truck’. Not as capable as a B, but does the job. It’s a decent 20-footer as well, but does have random rust and peeling paint just like your Caprice. While I’ve done a couple of ‘upgrades’ to it (swapped in a full gauge cluster – I hate having to rely on an idiot light for engine temps, put a set of Eurosport wheels on it when I got new tires), my plans have been just to drive it, keeping up on its maintenance along the way. I’m definitely not treating it like a garage queen ( my wife’s ’98 Lumina LTZ has that title presently as i have it torn down for a transmission rebuild) and not let it just sit since I bough it to use it for its utility. I do try and keep it washed, as we do get enough of winter here that the rust kills cars. I’ll likely drive this one to its end, as any major mechanical failure will easily exceed its value, but if a B body wagon pops up in similar condition/price to yours, I may just have to snap it up and unload the Celebrity – more than one person has approached me while out on errands asking if I’d like to sell it.
Here’s my wagon in its current state:
Yours really looks very nice, especially considering it’s a celebrity. Around where he lives, celebrity usually looks like this, if it’s still on the road.
The status of celebrity should be around where my volare used to be 10yrs ago. If somehow the car just survived in a good shape, maybe someone else can have some fun in the distant future
Poor car.
I’m torn here – I love the fact another young person is enjoying an old 80s B Body, but it saddens me how the author is so ready to junk it, and is purposely driving it into the ground. I know they made a lot of these, but 30 yrs later, there are only a finite amount left, and they are a type of car (BOF, ful size, V8 station wagon) that will probably never be made again. If I were you, keep driving and enjoying it, but let the Jetta take old man winter’s wrath.
I also think its funny how I did pretty much the exact opposite. When I was in High school, I purchased a 1990 Brougham as my first car, as I too love the big old full size GMers. However, I quickly realized the car was too nice to leave outside, drive everyday and essentially just subject it to daily driving. So, I went out and bought a 02 outback to take the evils of winter and daily driving. I dont care where I park it or if gets a ding here or there, which is the opposite of how I feel with my Cadillac.
I know you said the caprice is old and tired, but please just dont just junk it after youve had your fun with it. Theres more fans of these cars than one would expect, and I bet someone out there would snap it up and keep it on the road a while longer.
If the Caprice is still running and driving I’ll bet he can get most of his spent money back by simply sticking it up on Craiglist.
I’m a fan of big american cars, as well as wagons–I’m one of the kids whose parents didn’t have a B-body wagon (I was an only child, we had no need) but kind of wished we did. There was one friend in particular whose mom had an Electra Estate wagon, dark blue with woodgrain, tan leather, alloys, power everything–I was quite jealous of that one! So on the one hand it’s a shame that this one is near the end of the line.
But on the other hand, as Max noted, it was an $800 car for a reason. If it was rust-free and pristine it would have been worth much more. And it’s kind of cool to see a car this age still doing what it was designed to do, carrying loads, working for a living. Functionality plus retro charm for a limited investment–how can you go wrong with that? And after all we can have our opinions but it’s his car and his decision–and I don’t think it’s a bad one.
The only thing I’d advise is to, even if something goes south or gas skyrockets again–at least try to sell it elsewhere than a junkyard. If you’re willing to let a vehicle go at not much more than scrap price, even if it needs something, there will likely be takers.
It’s very hard to say why it’s priced at $800. Probably it doesn’t get any interest and the priced reduced again and again. Selling an older wagon in winter doesn’t help neither, as nearly nobody is really looking. There is a similar wagon at a similar price and I can just guess it has plenty of rust, well hidden by vinyl wooden panels. http://flint.craigslist.org/cto/4862677280.html
I saw an early ’80s stripper Ford LTD coupe with a similar fate, the car was priced at $2500 at first, but it drops all the way down to $800 after nearly half a year, even though it’s rust free, as shown in photos around door seals, frame rails, fuel tank and so. But as the ad disappeared around autumn, probably the car had a better use, or the owner just kept it. ( It’s not hard to imagine for an owner having an R-Body New Yorker too )
The fact that you’re driving and keeping that thing up at even a base level has probably kept it out of the junkyard already. $800 wisely invested.
Sorry, but I don’t believe a delivery driver is netting 30,000 to 40,000 a year. Between fuel, insurance, vehicle maintenance, taxes I just don’t believe a driver nets 30,000-40,000 a year. I’ve been a delivery driver for several pizza places, very busy and neither I or anyone I worked with made anywhere near that kind of money.
It completely depends where you work, both regionally and the specific restaurant. I never expected it either until I got into the service industry and found the right restaurants. Want me to send you my income tax papers? One co-worker who keeps diligent track of his tips made just over $36,000 in 2014. I know because we did our taxes together in January.
At some restaurants, you barely make more than minimum wage (most corporate places, like Dominos or Jimmy Johns). So I quit those jobs in a week and found the lucrative ones. You have to work at a busy restaurant in a good location (a dense city or college town) with a low amount of drivers and high food prices – because most people tip by percentage. A lot of “ifs” which is why I’m cherishing the money I make at my current job. The current place I work at is a full Italian restaurant that delivers more than pizza – although that’s their main item. We deliver $300-$1000 catering orders every weekday to offices, stadiums, etc. So you’ll make a $40 tip in one run for 15 minutes of work (my ‘record’ tip is $93 to the Ohio State football team at the MSU stadium – an $1100 order). Add in all the piddly $5 and $10 tips plus base pay and delivery charges – it’s quite profitable. And guess which drivers get the huge catering orders? Those with trucks and 1985 Caprice station wagons.
Gas is a minor cost overall when you make $35k. At 20,000 miles a year figuring 20MPG at $2.50/gallon -that’s only $2500 per year. (a small car would use less than $2k) And if you pick your car right, maintenance is similarly cheap. Why would you factor in insurance unless you own a car only to deliver? That is an expense you will be paying in life regardless, like rent and groceries. Btw, it’s $20/month on the Caprice. Dirt cheap.
Trust me. I’ve done the math. It’s definitely closer to $30,000 after gas/maintenance, but that’s still twice as much as you can make standing at a cash register for $7.40 an hour…
MSU. That explains a lot.
A lot of business suddenly became lucrative these days around there, namely those car dealerships selling big brand Germany/Japanese exotic cars local people generally didn’t buy many.
Yeah, MSU pretty much summarizes everything. It is not a poor university whatsoever. And the East Lansing/Okemos/Haslett suburbs are firmly upper-middle class – they always buy huge orders and tip well. The government office towers and business HQs in downtown Lansing yield great money as well, for the drivers and for the restaurant. There are lot of educated people with money here. The exotic car dealership in Okemos sells a ton of Mercedes, BMWs, and Maseratis to wealthy international students. They also tip well when the salesmen order from us 😉
If it were a Dominos/Jimmy Johns/any chain (who tax everything beyond belief – even your cash tips!) in some small isolated town of 30,000 people, there’s no way you could make $35k a year.
This article is better said, in both ways.
http://www.mlive.com/lansing-news/index.ssf/2014/04/michigan_state_chinese_student.html
I love wagons (Gen x). I have owned several and completely understand why people are upset that Max is “driving the car into the ground”. His choice of words may have been a bit overly provocative. A well designed and charismatic car like this will have a certain number of very nice survivors after 30 years. Cars that were either from very kind climates, or were lightly used and well stored, or just extremely well maintained and preserved by original owners. This car doesn’t sound like one of those survivors. It is a survivor, but probably not nice enough to have real collector appeal (he didn’t mention how many miles it has). I think his use of the car is appropriate. The only thing I would ask of him is to make a real effort to sell it to another user when he is done with it and try to keep it out of the junkyard. That said, death may be unavoidable, especially if it has a catastrophic mechanical failure.
Save the Caprice! I completely understand that the car probably doesn’t look as nice in person as it does in the pictures, but it looks a LOT nicer than the car I’m currently driving, a 1991 Cadillac Brougham (Chevy TBI 305) It was rear ended several years ago and I didn’t have the $ then to get it fixed and now I’ve decided rather than replace the vinyl top, have it painted, have it upholstered, have the steering wheel recovered, it would be less expensive just to buy another one. I’ll trade you this Brougham for your Caprice . . . I’ve had this car 7 years. I put over 750 miles a week on it now that the Caravan got stolen (again). . . and it starts up every time and goes through way back dark country roads and places where there are no roads. I’d put my money on this Caprice outlasting your Jetta- these B-Bodies are basically Cast Iron. I really do not think your car can possibly look worse than mine (there’s a large part of the trim behind the rear wheel well held on with packing tape, which sometimes comes off and flaps around) and then I go to court all over Georgia in it and astonish my co-workers. Yes, I will trade you straight up for your Caprice.
Make the caprice your weekend car. You do have the ideal vehicular setup. A fwd 4 banger and a big piece of rwd american steel. I have the same, and they complement one another nicely
Not a demo derby junker.
I guess I kinda get why someone would think so. Not so special, they just were kinda… there all the time. Still, it’s now 30 yrs old and more intact than a lot of other cars a third its age.
As a Gen-X-er I gave these cars moderate respect. At least they had a full frame and a V-8. Not like that aborted Greyhound-Bus fetus Taurus wagon thing.
There is something liberating about owning a beater, and if you are going to get one, by all means, get something unique. I agree, forget the Sunfires and the Kias…go for the 80’s. All metal, simple computers, easy to maintain.
I had a Pontiac Parisienne wagon..which is essentially the same car as your woody. It was a gas hog, and terrifying in adverse conditions, and impossible to park. But I sure loved driving it and it never gave me a bit of trouble. Well worth a purchase if you are in the beater market.