I brought one like this in Seattle 1988 and drove it 14,000 miles around the States, sleeping in it most nights A great adventure. Took me four months.
The Caprice Wagon and the convertible came with an Impala interior and offered no upgrade.I preferred the Ford LTD Country Squire which offered the Brougham interior trim with individual split bench seats. You could even order dual power seats with passenger recliner. Now that was class.
Thanks for the memories. My parents bought the 1972 Impala Kingswood Estate, same color as the video but tan interior. The first car we had with A/C and the car I got my driver's license with.
Wow, what a great memory for me! Mom n Dad had nearly the identical car, but there's was white and had power windows and driver's seat. I well remember the trips we took in that car!
Absolutely beautiful wagon. I own a 76 caprice with the rectangle headlights in maroon. Also have the three rows of seats and the power tailgate.... This car is going to need a new gear cable that runs from the wheel well up into the roof, so that the rear tailgate glass operates more smoothly, and tighter.
This generation had Impala interiors with no Caprice upgrade option. 1977 downsized Caprice was the first year these cars shared the Caprice interior making them more luxurious wagon offerings.
Parents had a '73 Impala 9 pass. wagon & I took my driver's test in it in 1976. It took on 2nd car status & we had it until 1985 & I drove it a fair amount. I see the 3rd seat in this one is as I remember. The seat bottom was articulated, attached to the seat back. When you put the seat down, the bottom slid down behind the cabbage. In videos of a 1976 Pontiac wagon, the seat bottom appeared to be fixed in place, and there was no padding over the cabbage. Rationalizing/cost reduction/cheapening? Were later wagons '8 passenger' cars? Were there differences between the divisions' 3rd row seats?
This was the era! My father had a mint-green one this same year back in '81 or 2, rusted a bit, a shark on gas, but little did we know the future cars would be crappier, and defaulted intentionally. My brother would've gotten one if he saw it in 2017, but instead it happened to be a '73 Oldsmobile.
Too bad they all rusted quickly. But great cars. We had the same only only white on color growing up. Thing was super fast with the 454. You could watch the gas gauge move when you floored it.
Absolutely amazing! The only thing I can't believe is it doesn't have power windows, I didn't know Caprice wagons came with crank windows... guess the original owners were kinda cheap... otherwise, an outstanding great American car!
>Hank Austin: Power equipment was optional on most cars back then. Even the olds and Buick wagons had manual windows and manual locks as standard equipment.
Did you ever notice that Caprice Wagons and the convertible came with Impala interiors only. In 73 Ford LTD came with an LTD interior which was only slightly more luxurious than the Impala. However Ford had the Brougham interior option with split bench seat with passenger recliner. You could even order dual power seats with this option. Way classier than the Caprice which offered no interior upgrade.
@@larryhawkins3294 Fords of the era had crappy handling. GM had upped its game substantially. These wagons were huge and heavy, yet the steering was nicely weighted & had quick ratio, provided good road feel, gave confidence.
@Black Buick Clamshell Wagons (71 - 76) never had a tailgate that opened sideways like a door. Most Wagons from the 50s - 90s had that feature and I've driven a few that did. Additionally, some Wagons (like a 73 - 77 Malibu) had the tailgate lift above your head like a modern Minivan.
Beautiful! My neighbor had one just like it, fond memories of being a kid in the 70s. I always thought it was fancy, my mom's vw didn't have power anything
I called mine "Jaws" because of the clamshell.. I'd operate it while driving down the road... and without a muffler fire would come from under the car... it was an Awesome first car.
We had one also and I still have it but mine is a 76. I know you can operate the window while driving down the road but the tailgate door has a safety switch that will only allow it to operate if the car is in park... (so that you can't accidentally open it with children in the back). I remember one time we thought our tailgate was broken but the car wasn't all the way in park. I love the fact that you called it "Jaws"....That's a GREAT one. THANKS!!
It's unfair that this car not starting in a Lige like US Ponycars! I never heard a word or i write nothing over the 70's Cars ! But our Mercedes is sooo much interesting!? No not for me! I like the USA and the cars was better,have more hp and more places if a German Car ever had! That's real!!! Thank you for this nice Video!! Andy
@Black Buick you could get a manual tailgate on ANY model GM wagon if you didn't order the power tailgate, which in 1976 cost about $62.00..... in 1975 and 1976, Only Chevrolet would give you the power tailgate if you ordered the nine passenger model, ( Caprice or Impala) which cost about $285.00 extra. I also currently own a mint 76 Caprice Estate.
I wpuld drive that w no problem and get 20 mpg out of it as well that was what those old cars gave you back in the day if you drove it normal like an old lady and it was tuned right the mechanical advance all working proper and keeping the motor running happy ans efficiently i had many of them that gave me really decent milage like i said 20 or more on the highway ok now for as many miles as i saved gas i burmt twice as much with my foot to the floor and the quadrajet. Carburetor moaning. Loudly as the giamt secondaries are wide open just dumping fuel down its throat those carbs make a moanimg noise you can hear for miles and miles lol and the cars back then could take abuse hell you could run the snot out of it all day every day and especially the small block chevys would just suck it up and keep purring like a kitten
If its a small block its more than likely got the 400 i Doubt its a big block car they were already trying to phase the big block out of rhe passenger cars but knew they needed something w a lot of torque for a boat that sized so the 400 made ot imto a lot of regular capri lces actually till 79 or so
All the full size 71 through 76 Chevy wagons come with 125 inch wheelbase. All the full size 71 through 76 Pontiac, Buick and Oldsmobile wagons come with a 127 inch wheelbase.
@@kevinlynch1227 Yup! From the firewall back was identical, but the front end was longer on the BOP cars. Olds Custom Cruiser used the longer Delta 98 front end rather than Delta 88 which was shorter like an Impala/Caprice. Pontiac used the longer front end from a Granville rather than Catalina. LeSabre was the shorter front end Buick, guessing Electra was the longer one they also uses for wagons
Would it have killed them to put a temperature gauge in? I guess telling the time was more important than seeing if you were overheating... at least you can tell what time you did overheat... Sheesh.. what cheap bastards
You could get a gauge package if you were an engaged owner. But as we all know most people would drive the damn thing until it over heated wether it had a gauge or just a light. “ hey honey, there was a red light on the dash that said HOT The whole time is was driving home. Wonder what that is about? “ These cars were made by the millions and were well engineered, wasn’t really an issue.
