(update: More information came to light after this article originally ran, from a commenter and from an old magazine feature buried deep in the internet, which is linked at the end of this article.)
I wrote about Chevy’s modern-era Impala SS last month. Everyone knows about that popular sedan. What fewer people know about is the fact that GM built one Impala SS wagon but never put the model in production. That car survives and is on the loose, occasionally terrorizing the roads of Minnesota. Here’s how I encountered it.
I remember reading a short blurb in a car magazine around 2009 that GM had auctioned off a number of concept cars and one-offs that they had built in the 90’s and 2000’s. Included in that list was a 1994 Impalafied wagon used as a GM Proving Grounds chase car. As a wagon guy, I remember thinking that sounded like the ultimate longroof, daydreaming of getting my hands on it somehow.
In 2011, our family drove to Minnesota for a wedding. The reception was held at my wife’s uncle Boyd’s farm, where we were staying. He mentioned to me that I might like the car his church’s pastor, Mark, had acquired. “It’s some sort of hot rod black station wagon.” Hmmm…that sounded intriguing! Since Mark had officiated the wedding, he was going to be coming to the reception.
My interest piqued, I was delighted when Mark showed up in the car (perhaps at Boyd’s suggestion) and even parked it next to my 94 Caprice wagon. When I saw it, my mind went back to that article and I thought this has to be the car from the GM Proving Grounds. He confirmed that the car had been sold by GM and was a special one-off. GM used it for 27k miles as a chase car when prototypes were taken on test trips.
It’s unlikely Chevrolet ever had a thought to offer a production Impala SS wagon. More likely is that John Moss or some other enthusiasts in the Special Vehicle team built it just because they could. If I had access to their garages, technicians and parts bins, I sure would! (edit: See Hot Rod article link and Thrasher’s comment below. He has some inside knowledge on the car and how it came to be.)
The wagon is actually an improvement over the production Impala SS in two important ways. One is the engine, an LT4. The LT4 was a version of the LT1 that had numerous enhancements including different camshaft, intake manifold, cylinders heads and more, good for a rating of 330hp and 340lb-ft (thought to be underrated, stock LT1 260hp/330 lb-ft). Since the LT4 was first offered in Corvettes in the 1996 model year. I’m not sure when the SS wagon was created, but it must have been after the LT4 was developed. (edit: according to Thrasher the car was put together by GM around 1998.)
The other upgrade can be seen in the photo below. For fun, you can examine the picture before moving on to the text and see if you can quickly identify it…
This is a three pedal wagon (OK, four if you count parking brake) because all LT4-equipped Corvettes and F-bodies that GM sold had a 6-speed manual transmission, so naturally the wagon was modified to have that drivetrain as well. Welcome to The General’s Bizarro World where wagons are hotter than sedans. Sadly, I didn’t get to drive it or ride in it, but I heard it drive away and it clearly has a modified exhaust, as well. I don’t know if any suspension enhancements were made beyond regular Impala parts.
The cosmetic modifications to turn the car into an Impala SS extended to the interior. The Impala center console is present as well as the Impala’s deletion of fake wood trim. They also modified Caprice LS seats into buckets. Why didn’t they use leather buckets from the production Impala SS? My guess would be that since that upholstery was sedan only, custom making the folding wagon bench to match would have been more difficult than they wanted to mess with. It also has an instrument panel with a tachometer and analog speedo, a feature that wasn’t given to the Impala until 1996. They appear to have used a transplanted Camaro IP which is a common mod that Impala/Caprice owners do.
Wagons came standard with a roof rack, as can be seen on my stripper 94 Caprice which left the factory with only two options (cruise and a tape deck). The roof rack doesn’t simply screw onto a smooth roof, the roof is channeled for the rack, so Chevy had to create a smooth panel for the roof.
The rest of the bodywork was relatively simple, consisting of removing the beltline trim and wheel opening lip moldings (production Impala has black moldings, but of course its rear fenders are different from the wagon) and transplanting the Impala hood, grille and front bumper. 95-96 style side mirrors replaced the inferior 91-94 style.
Mark bought the car at the 2009 Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction, where it sold for $13,750, a very high amount for a Caprice wagon at the time. Today, even adjusted for inflation, that would be a steal for a B-body wagon with 27k miles, not even accounting for the unique provenance and equipment that this car has. I told Mark if he ever wanted to sell it, to let me know. It’s been 13 years and I haven’t gotten a call yet!
related reading:
Hot Rod ran an article in 2000 about which was brought to my attention after this article ran. It gives quite a bit of added details on the car and its backstory.
Curbside Classic: 1996 Buick Roadmaster Estate Collector’s Edition – “B” There ‘Til The End by Brendan Saur – Good writeup on Buick’s final whale wagon
Curbside Classic: 1991 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser – Last Act For A Long Roof by me – deep dive CC on Olds’ last wagon
I previously found the original B-J listing for the car, but they appear to have revamped their website and apparently purged it. There is scant evidence online of its existence. This page contains a complete list of all the cars GM was selling. It’s quite a long list.
When I looked for the mentioned interior upgrade I quickly noticed the floor shift rather than a column shift, but then thought “that’s a downgrade, not an upgrade” so kept looking and noticed the Caprice Classic velour seats. That’s an upgrade in my book, even from leather. I didn’t notice the third pedal.
Really, GM should have offered the Impala SS as a wagon, or at least offer bucket seats and performance upgrades in a Caprice, but GM thought wagons couldn’t be sporty. Much like how if you wanted bucket seats in your ’70s GM car, at least in mid- or full-sizers, you usually had to buy a coupe. There were occasional exceptions (’74 Fleetwood Talisman!) but by and large buckets/console was for coupes. I did read about someone who special-ordered a colonnade LeMans wagon with bucket seats and console and somehow coaxed the factory into building it.
I’d agree the velour seats are better, they just don’t look nearly as sporty as the Impala seats. The floor shifter they gave the Impala for 96 is also debatable if it was actually a functional downgrade. The 96 tach was definitely an upgrade, and necessary upgrade for the switch to manual gearbox here.
I hope this car is never driven in the salt
Mark’s family owns a Chevrolet dealership and he has several collector cars. At the wedding, he loaned his 1959 Impala coupe for the bride and groom to drive away from the church in. The wagon lives a hobby car life, definitely not a daily driver in the winter,
Thats pretty wild!! Does it have a title/plate/registration?? I know GM sold a bunch of its Indy Pace cars with no titles earlier this year at one of the big auctions. Most were C5/C6 Corvettes and some 90’s Monte Carlos that were pace cars for the Brickyard 400.
The wagon had this disclaimer on it: ” THIS IS A HISTORICAL VEHICLE. NEITHER GM NOR BARRETT-JACKSON MAKE ANY WARRANTY OR REPRESENTATION OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, CONCERNING THE VEHICLE, INCLUDING NO WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. BUYER WILL TAKE POSSESSION OF THIS VEHICLE ‘AS-IS.’ THIS VEHICLE HAS BEEN USED PRIMARILY FOR STATIC DISPLAY AND BUYER IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ENSURING THAT THE VEHICLE COMPLIES WITH ALL APPLICABLE LAWS AND REGULATIONS PRIOR TO ANY USE OF VEHICLE ON PUBLIC ROADS. **TITLE IN TRANSIT**”
There were other cars that had this disclaimer: THIS IS A MODIFIED VEHICLE. NEITHER GM NOR BARRETT-JACKSON MAKE ANY WARRANTY OR REPRESENTATION OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, CONCERNING THE VEHICLE, INCLUDING NO WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE VEHICLE IS NOT CERTIFIED TO COMPLY WITH ANY FEDERAL, STATE OR LOCAL LAWS, RULES OR REGULATIONS AND MAY NOT BE DRIVEN ON PUBLIC ROADS. This vehicle will be conveyed to Buyer with a ‘salvage’ title. Buyer is responsible for ensuring that the restored vehicle complies with all applicable laws and regulations prior to any sale or use of vehicle on public roads. **TITLE IN TRANSIT**
What an excellent find! And wouldn’t it be fantastic if Pastor Mark called!
I love the slick roof on this. Seeing it does make me realize that I’ve never seen a slick roof on one of these wagons in the wild. Now I know why. I’m often mixed on whether wagons are better or not without roof racks (I have the rails on my BMW, but my Volvo is without…and I like them both equally). I think the Caprice/Impala is better slick.
As much as this car is a true unicorn, it also occurs to me that it wouldn’t be impossible to make one of these for oneself. Particularly if you did it soon before the relatively common availability of the parts vanished. In fact, you could probably make one of these (the roof being the hardest part to replicate….bondo?) for much much less than it would cost to acquire the real thing.
I’ve seen a lot of wagons with Impala wheels and mechanical mods to Impala spec or better. I don’t know that I’ve seen or even heard of a full on Impala wagon clone, though I’d be surprised if no one has ever done it. The biggest hurdle would be the interior color swap. These days, it would be challenging to find a suitable donor sedan to take the interior out of.
In 2001 I modified a 95 Caprice police car into a sort of Impala. 9C1 to Impala SS clones were pretty common. Again, interior was the biggest challenge as most cop cars didn’t have gray interiors. Some people used salvage interiors (cheap but limited availability) or even NOS parts (expensive!). My approach was to make a “Caprice SS”, which retained the car’s tan interior but swapping in Roadmaster leather seats, which I got out of a wrecked car, then cut down the driver seat to make it a bucket. Roadmasters had the same highback seat frame as Impala’s, just a different upholstery pattern. Caprice SS logos were available NOS because the Impala SS was marketed as Caprice SS in the Middle East.
Extremely cool, thanks for sharing! I’ll mirror the comment above, I sure hope this isn’t driving on salty MN roads!!
Thanks!
No salt! See my reply above.
What a cool car! I’ve always had a thing for the sportwagon concept but the manufacturers never seem to think it’s a viable concept. I remember back about 1995 or so “Car and Driver” commissioned a pair of Taurus station wagons into SVO vehicles. Reportedly, the public reaction to these vehicles was overwhelmingly favorable, which surprised Ford. Had Ford seen fit to build these I would have snapped one up. Just the thing to haul the dog to dog shows with.
I’m also a bit fan of performance wagons. Cadillac did offer the CTS wagon in the V series, even with a 6 speed available. Not surprisingly they weren’t huge sellers, though definitely considered a cult classic from day one. That one is on my wishlist.
When you give the right guys access to the right parts bin, magic happens. This is my new favorite wagon!
I assume these were sold by GM as used and modified vehicles? They were certainly (technically) non-compliant or at least non-certified. For both FMVSS safety and EPA emissions and CAFE purposes.
Oops, missed Jon’s reply on the disclaimers. Though I’d think that might work for B-J but as a manufacturer GM lawyers might struggle with it.
This wagon had the advantage of being previously licensed, since it had been used off of GM property when they had it.
Coincidentally, I have been looking at a lot of B-Bodies lately, Impala SS and wagons being two of my favourites for the whale bodies – so this might be the best of both worlds. It is really cool that you got to see this car in person. It looks to be well done, although, the Caprice upholstery is a little out of place in my eyes. One note, that F-bodies didn’t use the ZF 6-speed. Only the C4 Corvettes got that, the F-bodies used the T56. I’d assume that this LT4 powertrain has the ZF 6speed too, but I am not sure. I wonder what rear axle ration they used and what suspension mods were done? Did you notice if the car had a rear sway bar? Normally wagons don’t have them because the sedan sway bar doesn’t fit the wider wagon axle.
Thanks for the info. I corrected the article. I thought I had read that all LT4’s had the ZF. I went back and read it again and it does actually only say the Corvette got the ZF, and doesn’t say what F-bodies had. Of course, I’m not sure what this wagon has. My guess would be whichever would fit more easily. If Mark told me what rear axle or suspension mods it had, I’ve forgotten, though I doubt he did. I did not note if it had a rear sway bar.
I recall this wagon has the T56 with a 3.73 rear end. I was around when Scott Leon and his team put the T56 in back in 1998 I think? I don’t recall that it had a rear sway bar and I don’t think Scott would’ve put one on because he wouldn’t have had a source for one being that the sedan sway bar wasn’t long enough and he wouldn’t use another manufacturer’s bar (i.e. Ford).
Wow – this is just about my dream car!
I’m not really a GM guy but I am a wagon guy and really loving this one!
Totally awesome! Love Chevrolet wagons with horses to haul in more ways than one. I remember my Dad’s friend in electricians apprenticeship school had a 1970 Chevelle wagon back in ’79 or ’80 that I rode in to Bonneville Dam with them for a class. He claimed it was factory built with a LS 5 454 and TH 400 transmission, 425 horsepower. At my age of 12 or 13 it was a blast!
The ideal machine for those times one needs seven cops in a high-speed chase. (“Say, Sarg, I’m gettin’ a little queasy back here.”)
A great car, and a great cobbling, though you’d have to think the seat bases would get a bit puckered during high-speed manouvres: that’s a lot of extra weight in tailgates and glass – and, potentially, a couple of hunched-up coppers – up high, where it’s not welcome. Be pretty easy for those rear-facing patrolmen to end up with the forward view, I reckon.
Interesting choice for a man of god, though, now i think of it, what with that color scheme and the acreage behind the driver, I guess he could do a side-line in quickie funerals. Or perhaps he just fills it with bibles and feels that the word of his god needs spreading real fast?
Here’s another factory 400+hp V8 manual GM wagon in Minnesota also, about a year ago, according to the webs of inter.
I noticed the “97 Rock” bumper sticker on the window of your white Caprice wagon; were you living in the Houston area at the time? I grew up there in the 70s and was in high school in the early 80s and the two big rock radio stations were KLOL 101.1 FM and 97 Rock, with Moby as the afternoon drive time DJ. KLOL had a cool sticker too then, with a Mylar lightning bolt and the Silver Surfer’s head on it. I had one of these on our ’82 Buick LeSabre Estate Wagon, and I got a lot of comments on it. Somewhere I think I still have a couple of those stickers….
That Impala SS wagon is definitely a cool piece, and I agree that someone who knows what they’re doing could (somewhat) duplicate it. And at least in Texas, these cars are old enough to be exempt from the emissions inspections, being over 25 (and we’re doing away with the regular safety inspection next year too, not sure how well that’s going to work out!).
I was a kid in Houston in the 80’s, moved away for about 20 years and found my way back here. I still had one of those stickers in my drawer, so I figured it would be neat to put that on there for the benefit of any old time rock and rollers. When I replaced that car with my current 96 Roadmaster, I was able to transfer the sticker, so it is still on my car though getting a little rough around the edges. I looked into it and you can get reproduction stickers and NOS stickers on ebay.
I was pleasantly surprised when my wagon didn’t need to pass emissions a few years ago. I also am a little nervous about no safety inspections. I see enough sketchy cars and burned out lights even with the inspections, will it get worse?
What an awesome car. Nothing beats a long roof Caprice but this one is certainly over cool. My pastor drives a Toyota, poor guy.
I have a 94 1A2 caprice Special Service wagon. It formerly was a Maine state trooper car but lived the good life without road salt eating it away. Manual windows, rubber floor instead of carpet , just a cool ride .
Thanks for the article , loved the read.
Very few pastors drive interesting cars. Probably mostly a matter of personalities, but also limited incomes. Even poverty is not necessarily an impediment to having unusual cars, as my early adulthood testitfies. I had a pastor in the early 90’s who daily drove a 56 Chevy post sedan. Not a real expensive car at the time (probably not too expensive even today).
I envy your 1A2. That was always my dream to find a nice one of those. Most of the ones I saw were ex-NYSP. They had a decent sized fleet of them, but they were rusty by the time they hit the auctions. I have seen Maine versions before online. Never seen a 1A2 in person. Were there a lot of them? I’m sure you noticed my 94 wagon in the article had the 9C1 wheels. I put those on there, and that car looked like it could be a 1A2 with it’s crank windows and general Spartan vibe. I had that for 10 years and no one ever asked me if it was a police package car. Guess that is a highly obscure thing!
This wagon was built by Scott Leon at GM’s Mesa Desert Proving Grounds (DPG) roughly in the summer of 1998 if I recall. I always wondered what happened to Scott’s fleet of toys so it’s good to know they survived the closing of the Mesa DPG in 2009 (& GM bankruptcy) and were auctioned off and still live somewhere!
Scott Leon’s team in Arizona was sort of an internal rival to Jon Moss’s team in Michigan at the Milford Proving Grounds (MPG). Moss’s team was well funded and tied to Marketing (hence all the free press) and was an official group (GM Special Vehicles Group) while Scott Leon had no budget thus his cars were built much more “under the radar” (hence almost no press) and were unofficially known as the “Chevy Raceshop”. I think that name was actually given to them by the writers at MotorTrend. I don’t know much about Moss’s crew but it’s my understanding that since they were an official group his guys were dedicated to building his toys full time using “new” vehicles whereas Leon and his team were all officially assigned to working on “real” production development stuff so they were a much more “skunkworks” team and their builds always started with used development vehicles destined for scrap and built in their spare time when things were slow. Basically Scott didn’t have a crew assigned to him so his people consisted of other interested techs that often worked after hours on their own time with parts salvaged from scrapped development vehicles and if needed, order whatever parts they could sneak through GM SPO (Service Parts Organization) hidden under the budget of a real development program.
This is why while Jon Moss incorporated many aftermarket performance parts into his builds (since they had a budget tied to marketing), Scott Leon’s builds never used any aftermarket parts (no budget or connections for that) and only parts out of the GM parts dept repurposed from other vehicle models. Scott was always quite proud of the fact that he was able to build projects that looked “factory production” unlike Moss’s creations which represented more what the aftermarket would do and thus show hot-rodders what could be done by solely raiding the GM parts bin using actual warranty certified production & PPAPed parts instead of using aftermarket parts of questionable quality.
Jon Moss was a high level group manager of his Special Vehicles Group team with work all done by his techs, thus I always thought his projects reflected a bit more of the “GM Corporate” signature to them while Scott Leon was not in management and “just” an engineering tech; he was the lead tech for all his builds and I always thought his projects had a more “grass roots” feel to them and more closely reflected what the average hot-rodder could do in their shop or home.
I was a frequent visitor to the Mesa DPG as a development engineer back when they put the T56 into this wagon and painted it black (I seem to recall the original color was red?) One thing Scott and Mark McPhail pointed out to me that I’ve never seen written about is the difference between the left and right sides. If you look closely, the left side has Buick Roadmaster trim around the wagon rear window (chrome window trim is 2 rings) while the right side has Caprice (single chrome trim around all the windows). Scott purposely did this because he wasn’t sure which he preferred so he did both and just left it that way wondering if anyone would notice.
I’ve attached a photo showing the differences between the left & right sides, The left side is the Buick Roadmaster trim. The chrome trim ring consists of 2 rings and the plastic trim between the rear seat window and wagon cargo window has the curved rounded edge. Notice also the Arizona Manufacturer’s plate starting with MT.
The right side shows the Chevy Caprice trim side. Chrome window trim is a 1 piece large trim ring, plastic trim separating the rear seat window and wagon cargo window has sharp angles and no curved edges.
Seeing this wagon definitely brought me back to reflecting on the “good ole days” at the Mesa DPG before GM shut her down in 2009. I think Scott Leon retired when they closed and unfortunately I have no idea what he’s doing now or what projects he’s been creating at home. I think he lives in the Queen Creek, AZ area so if anyone knows him let me know! Other folks involved with the “Chevy Raceshop” also retired when DPG closed including Jim Contes, head of DPG development engineering who became a professor at ASU, Mark McPhail went to Volvo engineering, and Bruce Jones went to Allison Transmissions. Unfortunately with the “new GM” we’ll not likely see the likes of a Chevy Raceshop or Special Vehicles Group turning out interesting project vehicles again!
Thank you for filling in the story! That’s interesting info. I may update the article slightly.
I lived in Tempe during the 90’s and early 2000’s. I had a friend who’s brother was an engineer at DPG. I always hoped he would get us in for a tour, but it never happened. His last name was Hendrickson, I don’t remember his first name. Maybe you crossed paths with him back then.