Here’s a truly rare bird; a car that wasn’t even listed or shown in the 1971 Chevrolet brochure. For that matter, the Biscayne was already missing from the 1970 brochure; its last appearance in those hallowed books was 1969. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t available; it was, and even still in 1972, its last year. I know it was available as a taxi, as I drove one. And the owner of this car confirmed to us that it was purchased new by his uncle in Washington D.C., and came equipped with the 250 six and Powerglide. So we now know that if you asked nicely, Chevy would build a 1971 Biscayne for you.
Some of you may get suspicious, given the bright trim on this Biscayne, which would normally have had no trim at all. This car came with a bright trim option, available on both the Bel Air and the non-existent Biscayne. The owner has all of the original documentation.
Here’s a shot from the rear showing its twin tail lights.
There’s no Biscayne in the 1971 Chevrolet brochure, and the Bel Air sedan they do show has been mutilated around its C-pillar and rear roofline. It must have started out to be a photo of another body version and subjected to some crude pre-Photoshop cosmetic surgery. Very odd. And it only has one little trip of bright trim on the rocker panel.
Somewhat oddly, the Biscayne shown in the taxi brochure also has that bright strip down there. Hmm. Maybe there was some difference in the interior trim? Or maybe the Biscayne was exactly the same as the Bel Air and was just available to those few that really, really wanted a Biscayne?
As I mentioned, I had quite a bit of seat time in one of these as a taxi driver for Yellow Cab in San Diego in 1976-1977. Being at the bottom of the pecking order, my first assigned car was a 1970 version, and it still had manual steering to go along with the 250 six, PG and drum brakes. It probably had some half-million miles on it (and one or two engine rebuilds, which were done in-house). One of its ball joints snapped one morning as I braked for a red light, shearing off half of the front suspension. That got me an upgrade to an equally tired ’71, which did have power steering!
But the ’71 felt more sluggish than the ’70, and the sagged-through rear seat bottom cushion was no longer attached to the body, which meant it would slide forward under braking. I spent a lot of time apologizing for that, and it probably didn’t help my tip income any. It’s mind boggling to think what poor condition these tired old cabs were in; it would be unthinkable nowadays.
By the way, the Biscayne was still being listed and sold in Canada through 1975.
Related CC reading:
1971 Chevrolet Bel Air Sport Coupe – The Car That Doesn’t Exist, In The US Anyway by Aaron65
Curbside Classic: 1973 Chevrolet Impala Sedan – 666, the Number of The Beast or No More Sixes by PN
And the Biscayne was shown in the 1971 Canadian brochure. Talk about mystery…
https://oldcarbrochures.org/Canada/GM-Canada/Chevrolet/1971-Chevrolet-Full-Size-Brochure/slides/1971_Chevrolet_Full_Size_Cdn-12-13.html
Interesting! The brochure has the same retouched fastback-like C pillar on one of the sedans.
It’s normal to offer low-trim models for export or fleet use, but it’s less typical to sell a series name that was officially extinct in this country.
Biscaynes were offered in Canada through 1975 (with the 350 and 3-speed THM being standard from 1973 onward). Bel Airs lasted through 1981 in Canada.
In the US, Biscaynes were fleet-only in 1972, the last year for American Biscaynes.
Here you can see a 1969 Bel Air or Biscayne being crushed; looks almost like the same color as the subject car. This film is from the early ’70s so the car was only a few years old. This is a sad film to watch. This is how it ends–the crusher vise opens to receive the damned, the car is violently thrown in, gets squished, and then these heavy steel doors cover it over like sealing the dead in a tomb!
See 2:19
I don’t know the 1960s-70s Chevy lore as well as I could, Paul, but this sort of story is always a delight.
Poking through early 1970s U.S. papers, I found several municipalities buying or disposing of them (police, it seems), but then a couple new-car dealer listings, like this one (summer 1971). “A lot of car for the money,” we would say–I’d think a well-optioned Pinto would cost nearly as much in 1971:
A few more from the 1970-71 papers. Paul, any idea what “Hydramatic” means here?
(p.s. one of the municipal purchases replaced a 2-year-old Ford that had acquired more than 85K miles. Wow!)
For 1971 – with the base 350 only, buyers had a choice of Powerglide or Turbo Hydramatic automatic transmissions.
If you got a six, the only automatic was PG, and for the 400 and 454 V-8, the only choice was THM.
One of the many unusual cars that I’ve found over the years in the parking lot of the local Fred Meyer. I haven’t seen it in a while, but I hope it’s still on the road.
I like that it’s still going and being loved .
In the rust belt a 5 year old car back then was worthless as it was assumed to be rusted out .
-Nate
My biggest curiosity is the bright trim on the frames around the door windows. The side trim was probably either a standalone option (popular as a defense against door nicks) or maybe dealer installed.
What a rare and fascinating car!
Boy is that grill close to Lincoln of same period.
The letters across the hood weren’t cheap to do. Surprising they didn’t just stick a bowtie there. Edit: the Caprice has no letters but a bowtie in the grille.
At least the bumpers aren’t black plastic.
Biscaynes were definitely available in Canada until 1975. In fact I seem to remember them as being more popular than Bel Airs and many Bel Airs were the Canadian only two door hardtops. My Mom’s cousin had a bright green 1974 Biscayne which I think had the narrow chrome strip on the rocker panel. In the fall of 1975 my father went car shopping. GM cars did not sell well earlier in 1975 as they were all equipped with catalytic converters that required un-leaded fuel which was hard to come by if not impossible to find in rural areas like northern Saskatchewan. As cataylitic converters were not required to meet Canadian emission standards GM removed the catalytic converters from a bunch of the unsold cars and sent them to the dealers in the summer of 1975. I think our local Chev-Olds dealer had about 50 new full size Chevrolets arrive in August all without catalytic converters and able to use regular leaded gasoline. Dad and I hurried down to see what they had. As I recall there were three or four Caprice including a convertible, one Bel Air two door hardtop (which I think had a vinyl rub strip mid body), two Biscayne sedans one of which had two tone paint with a white roof and the rest were Impalas of various styles. Dad picked out a beige Impala sedan with a white vinyl top, 400 V8 and Comfortron air conditioning. One colleague of his picked out a nearly identical car but with a painted white roof and a 350, another colleague bought a white over maroon wagon and the parents of one of my brother’s friends bought the white over blue Biscayne. The Impala replaced a 1970 Meteor Rideau 500 wagon with a 390 and the Impala itself was replaced by a 1985 Dodge Omni.
I think the reason Canada (specifically GM and Ford) kept low line big cars available for longer than the U.S. was because up north, customers were (and still are to a lesser extent) generally more budget conscious than their American counterparts. In addition, more people (especially in rural areas of the country) still preferred big cars at this time over the compact and midsize offerings.
I can understand the removal of catalytic converters from Canadian-spec cars when the U.S. got them. While most smaller and rural communities in Canada got unleaded fuel by the late 70s-early 80s, I was still able to see “catalytic converter delete” listed in various vehicle option lists up until at least the mid-80s. The delete probably was something no dealer or customer ever requested (or even brought up) when ordering new cars.
Not a Biscayne, but when I was a kid, the first new car I remember my parents getting was a 1972 Chevy Nova sedan. 250 inline sixes and an air-cooled Powerglide.
It was mainly my mom’s car and she drove it everywhere. I took my driver’s test in that car. We had it for about 10 years, before trading it in for the then-new Chevy Citation.
Not a Bowtie guy, but an equally underwhelming car, I’ve seen in person….a ’69 Ford Galaxie 500 4 door, 240 in line 6 cylinder & 3 on the tree, no power steering. Was brought in the auto shop by a fellow student, picked it up in the Chicago suburbs for a college daily driver, already had 150K on the clock, needed a good tune-up, radiator flush, Think it had manual drum brakes too. Bodywise, wasn’t bad for 15 yrs old, most everything worked.
Two related stories though….both Chevys…..a friends dad liked it simple, he was an imposing 6 ft 7 tall, so as a daily driver for him that would fit, he sold the ’53 Vette (??!!) in favor of a new ’65 Checker Marathon, 250 6 cylinder & 3 on the tree. Drove it til either 74 or 75, when he bought a Nova, also a 250 & 3 on the tree, may have had power steering because there was no option without, no A/C either. The next one was an X body Citation, the Iron Duke & 4 speed, also plain jane…. Quite a menagerie……
The seats in our two “Biscaynes”, would never have held up to “taxicab”, use. Not even for a month or two.
General Motors sold a lot of ’71;-’72 Chevrolet models . One of our relatives purchased a 1971 Impala new ( demonstrator car .). That car lasted them 15 years and was still going strong there after ! I’m not sure if Ford sold as many or more models as Chevrolet that year ?
Those Chevrolet Biscanes were the lowest priced models of all the Chevrolet line. Still , reliable cars !