(first posted 7/6/2013) The role of the traditional large, rear-wheel-drive American car had changed by the mid-1980s. We’d been through the gas crisis, which led to the Japanese successfully wooing us with fuel-sipping, fun-to-drive , well-screwed-together little cars. The big American automakers responded with littler cars of their own. But it still felt sudden and strange when the Chevrolet Impala, once America’s bread-and-butter big family sedan, took its final bow in 1985.
There was a time – already fading during my 1970s kidhood – when GM, Ford, and Chrysler sold endless configurations and trim levels of their basic large platform. Cars like this two-door ’69 Impala commonly roamed America’s streets and parked in America’s driveways. The four-door sedans were more common, of course, but not to the point of squeezing out coupes as has happened today. A family up the street had a ’70 two-door in this color, identical but for slightly different grille and tail light treatments. My dad had an even bigger ’71 Impala Sport Coupe for a while. The Impala was such a common sight that it might as well have been the official car of our neighborhood. I imagine it was the same across much of America. Truly, the Impala was as endemic to our nation as baseball, hot dogs, and apple pie.
Of course, the nation’s Broughamification had begun, and Chevy led the way with its fairly flossy Caprice in 1966. The sedan shared the hardtop Impala’s roof, but the coupe wore a unique upright, formal roof with a squared C pillar that couldn’t have been more different from the Impala coupe’s sloping roof . By 1969, the Impala coupe’s roof stood more upright and was less different from the Caprice’s. You could even get the Caprice coupe’s roof on the Impala. The lines were beginning to blur, but Americans still favored the Impala. They drove a whopping 777,000 of them out of Chevy dealers in 1969, compared to 166,900 Caprices.
As the B body began its behemoth years in 1971, the tide started to turn. This 1975 Impala was one of just 176,000 that rolled off the assembly line, next to 104,000 recently-renamed Caprice Classics. Americans were turning to less thirsty cars for everyday transportation. Big cars were starting to be marketed as more of a premium item, which led to more emphasis on the Caprice and less on the Impala. Just as the Impala supplanted the Bel Air as the most popular big Chevy during the 1960s, the Caprice was now beginning to supplant the Impala. (You could still get a Bel Air in ’75, by the way, but it was a stripped fleet queen. Only 13,000 were sold. It was the Bel Air’s last year in the US.)
This is my friend Karen with her ’77 Impala. Americans responded favorably to the downsized big Chevy, buying 255,000 Impalas and 285,000 Caprice Classics that year. This was the first year the Caprice Classic outsold the Impala and the gap only widened in the years that followed.
I took this photo in 1984 when we were both seniors in high school. By this time, the early downsized Impalas had become common hand-me-down transportation for young drivers. (The car most often found in my high-school’s parking lot was the Colonnade Cutlass Supreme coupe.) My chief memory of riding in Karen’s car was that my knees always touched the dashboard. Karen was only 4’10”, so she had the front bench shoved all the way forward and tied wood blocks to the pedals so she could drive her car. This gave back-seat passengers limo-like legroom.
Karen’s Impala was a very plain car in light blue metallic with a light blue interior. I’m pretty sure the seats were vinyl. I remember the car wasn’t air conditioned; its only nod to luxury was an AM-FM radio. This was a far cry from my dad’s ‘71 – while it was no luxobarge, it was a much more nicely appointed automobile. Surely a better-trimmed Impala could have been ordered in 1977, but in 1971 a big Chevy this plain would have been a Bel Air.
By 1985, the transition was complete: Chevy moved 115,000 Caprice Classics and just 53,000 Impalas. How things had changed from 1969, when Chevrolet produced more than a million B-body automobiles. The people who would have chosen a Bel Air or maybe a no-option Impala in 1969 were choosing Cavaliers or maybe base Celebrities for their frugal transportation in 1985 – if they were still buying domestic, that is.
That this car wears (or wore, as they’re missing) Impala badges and a “4.3 Fuel Injection” decklid badge means the car is from 1985. The 4.3L V6 engine debuted that year, in time for the big Impala’s swan song. Whoever ordered this Impala tricked the exterior out as much as one could in ’85, with a vinyl roof, pin stripes, and sport wheels. But the interior is still a pretty Spartan place with standard cloth seats.
In ’86, a non-Classic Caprice took the Impala’s place as the entry-level big Chevy. It was probably not much different from the previous year’s Impala, but by 1986 the Caprice name had more equity. It seemed strange to live in an America where one couldn’t buy a new Impala. But the Chrysler minivan had debuted two years before, and Ford’s Taurus had just bowed. America had moved on. A new generation considered cars like these to be traditional family transportation.
It might be a good opportunity to mention the Impala (hard to said if it’s a 1984 or 1985 model) used in the car chase scene of the movie “To Live and Die in LA” 😉
Arrggh, you beat me to it, I was going to post the same, this vintage Impala is burned into my head as the William Petersen’s getaway vehicle from their botched robbery in 1985’s To Live and Die in L.A, great chase, which includes a good ol’ B-body vs Panther scenario. With an Impala vs Grand Marquis chase scene.
According to IMDB the Impala was a 1985 9C1 rented from the LAPD.
With the drubbing this car took in the film, you have to wonder if the LAPD wanted it back.
The fall of the full-size sedan is an interesting story. I was never around when they were one of the preferred choices of family car. When I was a kid it was minivans, front-wheel drive wagons, and SUVs, and now it’s mostly crossovers. Full-size cars in my lifetime have mainly been for retirees (as Jerry Seinfeld joked, the older you get the bigger the car and the slower you drive).
Decades ago, it was standard practice for most consumers to trade up to a bigger car and more prestigious brand as they aged and presumably retained more wealth. It was the dream to go from a base Chevy to a Cadillac by the time you retired. That seems so logical now, as that often isn’t the case. In the present, many people often downsize as they don’t need big family cars, jump all over the place in terms of brand and style of car, etc. The full-size car is no longer something to aspire to. I recall reading somewhere a few months back that full-size sedans only make up somewhere around 3% of total new car sales in the U.S.
Well-written piece by the way, and great find! I’ve always appreciated a generally-low line car loaded with every option available. They are truly rare breeds.
True, I see more and more old folks driving around in smaller cheap SUV/crossovers, my friends mom went from a several Oldsmobiles and Cadillacs to a CR-V, because it was cheaper now that she was retired and it was easier to see out of and get in and out of, I imagine that’s why Buick just came out with its own little crossover.
Good piece. One correction though, what you indicate are sport wheels on the last car, I think are plastic (but very attractive) wheel covers.
When I was in high school auto shop in the late 80s we worked on a Mi. state trooper Impala, for some reason I thought that Chevy sold Impalas to the government & Caprices to everyone else. I never saw an 80s Impala driven by the general public, but I worked on many Caprices in the 90s.
That was the only 80s B body I’ve ever seen with a factory 350. Did the Caprice get a police package too?
I believe the caprice police special was called the 9c1. Basically uprated suspension, downrated interior(unless ordered for top brass) more power and a bigger battery for all the cop stuff. Im no pro in cop cars so I could be wrong or missing a few things but Im sure somone will add or correct me where I went wrong.
Police models were Impalas until that name was dropped and then they became Caprices. Just as the Bel Air and Biscayne before it the Impala had been moved to the bottom and did become the fleet car of choice but there were still retail versions to the end for the penny pinching consumer.
That is a bit wrong — it’s not that the police models were called “Impalas.” Back in the early 1980s, the Chevrolet Impala was the cheaper car but it was available to the public and police. The 9C1 police package was available on the Impala. The “Caprice” was the same basic car as the Impala, but was a higher trim level basically (more plush interior, etc.). Meaning it was just a matter of name and the badge on the side of the car, and the Caprice was slightly more expensive. Then in 1986 the Impala name went away and that model was only called the Caprice. So the 9C1 police package started becoming available on the “Caprice” (even though it was the same basic car as the 1985 Impala). It was just a name change. Impalas while around were always available to non-police purchasers, but many such purchasers opted for the slightly more expensive Caprice. The 9C1 package was also offered in the early 1980s on the Chevy Malibu, although they weren’t as common as the Impala / Caprice. So it’s not that police models were called “Impalas” — that is a bit misleading. It’s just that after 1985, instead of the slightly cheaper Impala (on which the 9C1 package could be ordered) and the slightly more expensive Caprice (same basic vehicle as the Impala), there was only one name for that model, the “Caprice.” So the 9C1 package became available for 1986 and forward on the “Caprice” … again just mainly a name change .. while it continued to be sold to the public of course. I grew up in the 1980s and remember those cars well.
Good story. The Impala has always been a favorite of mine from the first ’58 model. We had a ’73 Impala Custom coupe – dark blue with a white vinyl top, and the nicest interior of any car we’d ever owned up to that point. It was the first car I drove when I was 14 or so. Unfortunately it rusted out quickly and was off the road by 1980. I was glad to see them resurrect the nameplate for 2000, and I’ve had a few as rentals over the years. I took my dad for a drive in one 4 years ago and he really liked it – I commented on how you could likely park it inside our old one and have room to spare. I still miss the big old Impalas and I’m always happy to see the occasional well-kept example on the road.
@bob – Civilian Impalas were pretty common here in Ontario, and the Caprice was a common police cruiser until the last of the big ones were built in 1996.
I did not even remember when the Impala quietly slid beneath the waves. I have always found it interesting how much better Ford did with the LTD, which overtook the Galaxie 500 years before, surely by the early 70s, and the Galaxie was gone by, what, 1975? That the Impala stayed or another decade, and continued to sell at such a healthy percentage is interesting.
I guess I am of the age that remembers Impalas everywhere. Actually, there were not that many in our neighborhood, that seemed to have more Pontiacs and Oldsmobiles. The Impalas seemed to be second cars, where the better car was a Bonneville or an Olds 88.
Full sized cars in general were king in the 60s, and it was the rare family in our area that did not have at least one. Mid sizers (which we called intermediates) were second cars or cars for younger people. It is interesting to me that my own mother never owned a “full sized car” until her 85 Crown Vic. Of course, the Vic was on a shorter wheelbase than the 74 Luxury LeMans, and was on the same wheelbase as the 64 Cutlass.
I applaud you in your spotting efforts. There is no way I could have ID’d that car as either an Impala or as an 85 at 20 yards. You are to be commended.
Every fall, our local newspaper would run a section in the Sunday paper on the new cars for the new model year. For some reason, I have a vivid memory of reading in the fall of 1985 that the once mighty Impala would not be in Chevy’s 1986 lineup.
The last year that Ford used the Galaxie 500 name was 1974, but it wasn’t really dropped, just folded into the LTD line. Until 1982, there was a clear difference in appearance between the lower-line LTDs that were the successors to the Galaxie 500 and the upper-line LTDs that represented what the LTD had been before 1975. From 1980-1982, the latter were called Crown Victorias. From 1975-78, the upper-line models had hideaway headlights while the lower-line models did not. From 1979-82, the upper-line models had quad headlights, the lower-lines dual. All in all, despite the disappearance of the Galaxie name after 1974, Ford didn’t really reach the point Chevrolet did in 1986 until 1983, when all LTDs became Crown Victorias.
The above having been said, I think it is true that the late ’60s/early ’70s LTD sold much better in relation to the Galaxie 500 than the Caprice did in relation to the Impala, and this probably explains why Ford phased out the Galaxie 500 name so much earlier than Chevrolet eliminated the Impala name.
I grew up in a working-class neighborhood, so Fords, Chevys, and Plymouths abounded! And I didn’t know this was an 85 upon spotting it. I had to do some Web fu to figure that out.
While I was born in 79, I do remember seeing some older caprices and impalas in the roads here. The ones I remember had rust high up over the rear wheelwell and continuing on to the back. In the early eighties this would have been unacceptable to the Nova Scotia inspection people and would be kicked off the roadways for being unsafe.
There is a older fella here in the town I live in with a 75 caprice that seems to have been treated to a Nova Scotia body job which includes a trip to Canadian tire for the big jug of bondo and as many rattle cans of close enough colored paint, in this case silver. This car looks messed up because the silver the fella chose is for wheels and looks really off, it also sits really high on its 15″ steel wheels. Also could you have either a impala or caprice two door without the viynl top in those years because this one does not have any sign of it ever being installed, the big jug of bondo could have taken care of that though.
I briefly worked for a federal law enforcement agency and was assigned to ensure that maintenance was performed on a blue ’82 Impala. This car had a heavy-duty suspension, but the standard interior which was very nice matching blue cloth. It was larger than I would have preferred, but it was excellent on the highway: smooth, quiet and responsive. The styling of this car was timeless and I am certain that there are many former owners who would pine to have their cars today.
Someone did an excellent CC a while back on the 9c1 Caprice. I wouldn’t mind seeing it again – I remember that they were built at the GM plant in Oshawa and were equipped with an upgraded 350 and heavy duty suspension. There’s not too many of them around here anymore, and some were shipped to Iraq for official use.
I am amazed that your friend Karen was actually able to drive the Impala. Never mind reaching the pedals, how could she see over the dash? I would “tower” over her by a whole five inches, and I once had to turn down an otherwise great deal on a ’77 Impala wagon because I found that I was looking UP in order to see out the windshield, and my neck hurt after a 3 mile test drive. Admittedly, this was sometime in the early 1990’s so the seat springs may have been collapsed some from use.
Although these cars are fantastic in many ways, they were also victims of interior cheapening — including, among other things, the horrible felt headliners that all started sagging after a few years, especially if the car spent any time parked in the sun. Back when box Chevys were still commonly seen as taxis, it was always interesting to see the various creative makeshift ways cabbies tried to reattach it or at least sorta hold it up. The thumbtack method was not my favorite; something about riding in a cab on city streets with blown-out shock absorbers and 200 thumbtacks over my head.
Karen may have had a thick pad on her seat to boost her head up enough. That may have been a major reason the blocks were needed on the pedals. Something like that; the memory is dim.
Impala’s in the sixty’s and early seventy’s were what Camry’s are today, except with much more variety. As was common with Ford and Plymouth, you could order them in many body styles (several 2 doors, two 4 doors, convertible, station wagons), many engines ( from the straight six to the big block), several transmissions (3 speed, overdrive, 4 speed, powerglide, turbohydro), and a long option list that included most of the power options available on the more expensive cars. Of course, most of them were the 4 door variety with the small V8 and the basic options. But they were everywhere. I dealt with many in the used car business in the early to mid seventy’s, and have owned as best as I can recall 6 full sized Chevy’s (2 ’63’s, a ’64, ’66, ’70 & ’73). They were an excellent used car value. You could always sell a used Impala for a good price.
A good write-up but I do have a minor nit to pick. The Caprice actually came out in ’65 as a trim option for the Impala Sport Sedan to compete with the LTD. 1966 was the first year as a separate model line.
http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/static/NA/Chevrolet/1965_Chevrolet/1965_Chevrolet_Caprice_Custom_Sedan/dirindex.html
Your comments always bring to mind my youthful self. My Father was a dealer in a small Idaho town and we always would go on introduction day (remember the hoopla?) to see the competition’s cars. I remember thinking how luxurious the Buicks and Pontiacs seemed in comparison to our Ramblers and Chryslers. Of course, as I aged, I found my taste being changed by something as simple as an Austin-Healy Sprite. The transition had begun. We of the boomer age group were not completely accepting of the made in America ethos. Too bad, as I want to spend my money on something that perpetuates our own middle class. I don’t think I’m the only one with that mindset.
Great write up Jim! My Dad ordered his brown 1977 Caprice Estate wagon with those same sport wheel covers. I was only 10 at the time – I used to look and see if other Caprices and Impalas had them – they were rare! I can still remember them always falling off and rolling down the street! In fact, the dealership gave him a new set because he had so many issues with the originals falling off! Dad ordered that car strangely too – it had no bumper guards or strips so the bumpers were all metal with the rivets showing (kinda cool actually now that I think about it), no rear defroster (we live in RI – what was he thinking?), a power vinyl bench seat, power windows and locks, tilt, cruise, digital clock, 350 V-8, those rare sport wheel covers, no 3rd seat (again what was Dad thinking?), lighted passenger vanity mirror, delay wipers – I guess it was a nicely optioned car – it started to rot along the back windows after a few years and Dad replaced it with a 1982 Country Squire. I do remember him saying that the 350 was bulletproof and fast too. As soon as I saw the feature car with those hubcaps all the memories of Dad’s Caprice quickly returned!
Those 350’s were far from bullet proof, that was right in the middle of the era when GM was not properly hardening the camshafts and lobes would frequently go flat. I replaced a ton of them and my parents 77 Caprice Classic wagon had its cam go bad at 60K or so, though ours was the 305. The annoying thing was the fact that the shop that did the work put the valve covers back on the opposite sides so you couldn’t put oil in the car with the air cleaner in place.
Eric, I never once had a 350 fail. Lots of 305’s yes, but the 350s is these cars were bulletproof. I saw many go 1million km or more without anything major.
I replaced the cams in lots of late 70’s 350s though mostly in pickups and vans.
I’ve replaced at least a 100 350s and only 1 or 2 of them drove in, they mostly came in on the hook with a pan or block that was ventilated by a rod trying to escape the engine. In the fleet I used to work on the norm was to replace the 350’s every 3 or 4 years.
My buddy maintained the cab fleet,water and municipal department fleet for 3 major towns from 1981 until 2002. He always told me the rear wheel drive fleet Impala & Caprice 9C1 350’s were die hard often rolling over 300K with no problems with proper maintenance. I owned a ’63 Impala with a 283,’65 Impala 327, 1970 Impala 350,1974 Caprice 400 and a current driver ’86 Caprice with a 9C1 350 to keep the miles low on my newer BMW. Out of all of them the ’74 Caprice 400 was a piece of garbage. Unlike my ’70 Impala I foolishly traded in for the ’74 Caprice in 1977 (logged nearly 200K on the ’70 Impala without a sweat) The 400 in the Caprice at 27,000 & 42,000 wiped out 2 cams in row and overheated often for some reason. It had 21,000 miles when I bought the ’74 Caprice when Chevy dealers were getting overfilled with these as trade ins for the new 1977 Chevy’s. They were practically giving them away in place of the ’77 body style. Owned my current ’86 Caprice for 10 years and still going strong at 278K original 350 and all.
The problem with the Impala from ’77 on was that it was blatantly the strippo fleet car. After the Bel Air disappeared, the Impala took up the slack and it showed. From ’77-’79, the Impala was arguably cleaner looking than the Caprice, but after ’80, it was just blah. I swear every non police/taxi model was some variation of green/green like the feature car and all had the 4.3 V6.
It’s inevitable, I guess, but it was a shame to see the Impala meet this kind of (temporary) end after being the 800 lb gorilla of the car market for ~15 years.
A beige ’78 sedan bounced around my extended family for almost 20 years. It was unremarkable but unkillable. That car was usually replaced by a 3rd generation Accord LXi lasted just as long. Go figure.
It seems to me that in something like 9 out of 10 times, that the initial version of a car body design is the best.
I remember in 1984 when mom and dad were looking to replace our 76 Chevelle as primary family transportation, they looked at a brand new Impala, or a brand new Delta 88.
We wound up with the Olds, as it wasn’t much more green, and we all liked the Delta 88 better.
The comment about those sport wheel covers flying off brought back a few memories. A two-tone red ’78 Caprice sedan with these covers – a Caprice crest in lieu of the bow tie on the center – floated around my family for almost 20 years. My grandfather bought it new, and bought snow tires on new rims from a tire store. The rims were just different enough from factory that they would not hold these covers when spinning the wheels on ice or snow. The snows didn’t see much use until my mom and I were using the car, and I seemed to have a knack for throwing the covers. My dad went to the dealer and got a couple of OEM steel rims, problem solved.
The ’80 -’85 Impala cars really were blah, and looked cheap just about everywhere. Our neighbors had a white over light blue ’78 Impala coupe that was loaded, including power windows and these wheel covers. That car was the exact color scheme of their home – a white upper half on vertical siding, and light blue below on lap siding. That was a nice car despite its era colors.
The neighbors across the street had a two-tone gold / tan ’79 Caprice that beautifully matched the paint and stone on their house.
Thankfully our house was not two-tone red!
I like this one… cool color, Impala badge, fuel-injected V6. I’m even into the patio furniture pattern on the upholstery and the white vinyl top. I drove a Caprice with the Chevy 4.3l once and didn’t think it was really all that much of a downgrade from the 305.
After ’85, it was strange to see Caprice taxis and cop cars, after years of being top lux model for retail. 88-90’s even had hood ornaments on the base models.
The 91-96 is a different animal [whale] altogether. The French-ish badge was gone, and to me it lost character.
In 1977 my father got a new Caprice as a company car, and it had those wheelcovers. I loved that car (350 V8, dark green, no vinyl top, tan vinyl interior, sport mirrors and the lacy wheel covers, fully loaded). I was a huge fan of all the downsized GM big cars, but preferred the Caprice to the Impala due to its much nicer trim. In early 1978, the green ’77 Caprice was hit by an out-of-control truck (it was parked and luckily no one was hurt), and the car was totaled. It was replaced by a 1978 Caprice in silver (with a silver vinyl top, light blue “custom” interior, the 350 and virtually every option, including, once again, these lacy wheel covers). That car became my new favorite, and it was also the first car in my father had with cloth seats–so much more comfortable than vinyl in the broiling New Orleans Summers. My parents had a sadistic obsession with getting “easy-to-clean” vinyl seats so the ’78 velour-lined Caprice was welcome change. The company cars were on a 2 year cycle, so it was replaced in 1980 with a 2 tone blue Caprice, with standard Caprice wheel covers (boring), vinyl seats again (!?!?) and worst of all, a comparatively anemic 305. Never warmed up to that one as much…
Had an ’85, 4.3 V6, silver over blue interior, base wheel covers. Loved it. Back then I believe you could get a 350 in a non-9C1 car if you “knew” the “right” person.
Nice post! I just want to ask how one can discern an 80 or an 81 from an 85 of these cars. Except for a small numbering imprint on a taillight I have never been able to figure these out. There are really no visual cues I have ever found, unless a Chevy aficionado is able to point to a wheel cover style or something not so obvious.
I liked the style of these cars, but I’m sure many missed the huge size of the previous generation. At least at the time.
At least you had an Impala in the US…We really had to suffer with the Bel Air!
Dean, is that your Bel Air? It looks to be in good shape.
My family ran a fleet of thirteen taxi cabs 1981-1997 and we went through dozens of these things. The 1977-79 cars were by far the best. The Impala was our preferred model since it had more often than not cranker windows and no options other than AM radio, defogger and 305 V-8.
Fuel prices climbed all through the 80’s and lots of people were ditching sleds like these to save money on gasoline. We were in Victoria, British Columbia, the land of mild weather and no road salt. There is also rarely any sun so the cars stay looking good, too. I recall buying a basic Impala like I mentioned above, even with the truly nausea inducing green interior and 70,000 km for all of $1200. That was in 1986. A year later I got a 1977 for a friend for $800. She drove it for a decade.
There was quite a bit of difference in the Canadian and US cars. Ours had less stringent emission requirements and ran quite well. I didn’t see any 4.3 V-6 cars as they didn’t seem to have been built by GM Canada. I don’t think it was much different in performance than the 305. Either engine had enough torque to get you around quick enough.
The 350 was a whole different car in many ways, or at least it felt that way. The ones I knew were all Oshawa cars and boy did they go well for the day. They had gobs of torque and the 3.08 axle was actually lower than the 2.47 in the 305 equipped cars. Burnouts were even possible. The 350 also used at least 20% more fuel so we avoided them if we could.
The 305’s were notorious for crapping out at low kms, so we would rebuild them specifically for LPG, with 10:1 compression and an LPG cam. Most we did 2 bbl carbs but my own car was a 305 truck block with an aftermarket intake and cam and a 4 bbl carb. They cars ran beautifully on LPG and the whole system was incredibly simple.
Trends and people move on. There really wasn’t a place in the world for a big V-8 car that got 15 MPG on a good day.
This is still the coolest and best car add I have ever seen. The romance of the Impala: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy7FaeHVD8o
This brings tears to my eyes every time I see it.
When we were picking up wholesale cars from an Olds/Chevy dealer back in the 90’s I remember driving a beautiful dark blue 1985 Caprice coupe back to our dealership as part of a package deal. Never looked under the hood and assumed it was a 305 like most were. Imagine my surprise to see a 4.3 FI churning away. It felt like a 305 with a slightly rougher idle
85 Impala parts are hard to find I wish I could just find a couple of pieces