Great cars. When I was 10 Dad bought Mom a new Blue 76 Caprice Estate. We took a cross country road trip in it the next summer. From TN to the West Coast and back. It was a Blast!
Grew up in a 76' Caprice round back wagon. Dad had a CB, white spoke wheels, and raised white letter tire put on it. Our CB handle was "Texas Stagecoach". Lots of great memories!
Haha now that is a cool memory! I still have this car about to winterize it and put it away! It’s not perfect but good enough to relive some good old days.
We had a 1974 Olds Custom Cruiser with a third-row seat and 455 Rocket V8 with 4-barrel, the biggest passenger car GM built at the time besides the Caddy Fleetwood Limo. Great video, thanks!
I'm in Alabama I have a 72 Kingswood I did a lot of work on mine as far as making the body look really good it still has points and somehow it's developed a misfire and loss of power so I parked it in the building with the other cars. It's green on green with a white half-painted top I added the wood grain and framed it in with chrome. I found new electric motors for the glass so I bought two of those but I could get them. It has headers and dual exhaust from the previous owner. Seems to have the original radiator it may have only 67,000 miles. And I only run non ethanol gas in it. It's a no air conditioning model but it has power tailgate.
This was the wagon I learned to drive in and took my driver license test in (it was an Impala, but just different options.) It replaced a ‘65 Impala station wagon.
Hi from Australia, a mate bought one of these years ago, a right-hand drive '74 Olds's wagon in metallic Amethyst with wood tone and beige vinyl interior, 3 row seats, wind up and down windows as I bought a '72 Caddy Fleetwood Brougham instead. I had owned a '74 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham for some years and still own it, however I had the option of buying a 19,000 mile '72 Caddy Fleetwood so didn't, buy the wagon. The Fleetwood Brougham is the Cadillac division "D" body instead of the Clam Shell. GM Holden Aust for 1971 to mid 1974 brought in Buick Rivieras and Caddy Fleetwood Broughams as "flat-pack" kit cars as needed RHD firewalls & some re-engineering to comply with Aussie registration rules GMH-A would also special order an Olds or Buick clam shell wagon kit as they could use the same RHD firewall pressings, wiring looms, heavy duty coil springs etc. All of the GMH-A Rivieras & Wagons were all manual crank windows, regardless of all other options selected. You used to see the wagons pop up for sale in the late 1980's & early '90's however now you just never see them for sale. Over her they were used for their purpose and I feel sadly they have been pretty much used up and worn out as they were the last US monster size wagons sold here in Australia after the end of the 1960's. Through the 50's & 60's we had a whole variety of factory right hand drive USA Ford, GM, Chrysler & AMC wagons to pick from. After 1970 zero US AMC or Chrysler vehicles. At Ford Galaxie LTD sedans finished in 1972, Lincoln Conti' mk4 coupes finished in 1973. Then from July '74 GMH-A stopped importing the US car kits to build as RHD versions. The next time we were able to buy a RHD factory US car was in 2010 when Ford started selling RHD Ford Mustangs.
So, my mom had a '74 Caprice Estate and she went to the dealer to buy a new "83 wagon. They really didn't want her rusty old trade in, but finally agreed on 175.00. A few months later at a school fair, my little sister (6 years old at the time) pulled moms jacket sleeve and yelled, "Mom, look that's your car"! It had been donated by the dealership, and the school was letting people whack it with a sledgehammer for 50 cents a whack.
Really like this, this is really cool! I grew up in a 1975 Caprice Estate. Wish I knew then what I know now because I would not have let my dad send it to the scrap yard. Loved that car. Appreciate that you are giving these clam shell wagons the respect that they need. If you ever want to sell yours let me know, don't scrap it or turn it into a demo derby car. Keep on wagoning!
That’s awesome! Thanks for watching, I remember my Dad buying them for so cheap to smash lol 😂. No worries this car will not be wrecked. 75/76 are good years for the Chevys
Great video and awesome to see all of these. I’ve got a 73 Custom Cruiser with 65K orig miles. Love driving it. Would love to know where this is next year to attend.
Car sounds nice. Yes you should come! Greenville OH! It’s a very nice area plenty to see and do outside of this show. Parks, bars…places to eat and sight seeing.
Dude... You Are An Awesome Guy and SO it this vid!! This video is great Love these cars too... We have to talk more perhaps.. Had a garaged.. mint loaded with rally wheels 76 grand safari 455 in the family for 20 years and drove it EVERYWHERE. After it was sold (stupid idea i Know) i missed it SO much.. I was on a mission!!! For 11 years now I am the proud owner of a mint 76 Caprice Estate!!!! I won't smoke in it lol. Only dip in it!!! Honest. I do both. Lolol My clamshell is Garaged and every inch thickly Simonized!! Maroon/wood, red interior, AC, 3 seats Power Tailgate Door. Roof Rack. Rubber bumper strips and some power options. I rebuilt the engine, and all under the hood is new or rebuilt 400 not 454 motor. But everything works like new including the R. Window & Gate. My pride and joy for nice days!! Ive GOT to get to one of these clamshell car shows. Thanks again you have a Great sense of Humor !!! Later Brother!!! Kevin
Awesome wagons, I've had a few wagons,a 65 and a 66 impala wagon,5 05-06 magnum wagons and currently have an 06 magnum wagon rt and I had a 68 Corona wagon but mydad n mom had 2 different chevy clamshell wagons that were awesome. I li,e all o.d school wagons but prefer mine to be bowties s8nce chevy stopped wagons with the bathtub caprice I don't feel bad for my love of magnum wagons
My favorite wagons. 2nd place is the 80's GM full size wagons. Nice to see you had at least one of each brand if not 2 or more. Wasn't there 1 Cadillac clamshell made or something like that. My neighbor had one, for the longest time I had no idea where the hell the door went because I wasn't there when it was opened or closed. Not sure which brand i would pick. There were 2 others people I knew had. All 3 had Flintstone floors in the backseat 2 were gone before the 90's and the last one, one of my teachers had in the 90's probably one by 95 or 96. the latest. Then there were demolition derbies, late 90's I was horrified watching these classics getting smashed up. Ford guy by the way, and i don't really like the Ford/Mercury wagons or sedans the same. Mopar for sedan, GM for wagons... now I'm trying to think what I like the Fords for?
That's why they built those wagons with leaf spring rear suspension. That eliminated the crossmember for control arm mounts in front of the axle, giving you leg room for a forward facing seat 👍 Those leaf springs also ended up making those cars some of the best demo derby cars out there. Also made the frames sought after for early modified dirt track racecars, since leaf springs work good on the dirt track.
I know you've got all your things you got to sort out with your power windows and headlights on my Cadillacs it was always a melted wire under the carpet above the floor switch. They make an aftermarket harness that you hook directly to the battery and then just use one wire off of the harness to switch the lights on and off and high and low so it doesn't run all the power through the factory harness then I put in inboard fog lights on my 72 so I run four on low and two on high. On my 76 Caprice sedan I put a bow tie with a capri symbol used to be and put the hood ornament on it such a big Hood it seemed to need it. And on the back I put the key lock cover in 77 they really dressed him up cuz they were downsizing them. Oh the main reason for my second comment you're going to have to pull those rear side windows and re-urethane them back in it's a bear of a job but I found mine we're about to fall out the urethane shrank. And I needed to fix the rust behind it there no windshield was leaking cuz of urethane has shrank and it too I'm basically pushed it out took a spatula and wax paper it some spray lube and was able to tug the wax paper under the urethane all the way around the windshield and actually save the glass and get it out and put it back in. The replacement windshields the glass is thinner. I took out my tailgate and overhauled out all the pieces and put it all back together. I put a bow tie on my tailgate since it's a Kingswood looks classic that way. And the fake white wall tire rings are great options so you don't have those ugly black wall tires and you don't have to buy the spendy White Walls. My carpet was bad I had to take it out I'm not found a replacement yet. I took down the headliner and took Dog Food Bag string and sewed it around each bow in the ceiling and put the headliner back one section at a time that way I know it won't just suddenly fall. All the metal trim around the windows in the back and the front windshield all that came off and got repainted repainted the whole back cargo area and repaint it all the Plastics all the upholsteries excellent except for the driver's seat bottom. I need a p green 1972 Kingswood seat bottom cover from somewhere I can't seem to find an upholstery guy anywhere anymore. And the roof cap above the driver and passenger door tends to rust up in there might want to attend to that before it surprises you. And there's some generic clips for the door handles they sell on eBay made in China tiny little clips that hold the linkage together so the handles work I found some of them. I remove the bumpers and wire brush the insides of the back and paint them with bed liner and then I Collapse the shock absorbers on the later model cars and put them back on they go into inches and up half an inch and it looks really smart that way. The door strike pins for the doors don't close right I get the little plastic barrels from pool sweeps back in the day they had those white nylon pieces on them and I grind those down and put them on the striker pins and screwing back in and the door is closed smooth as glass and they don't crack or shatter it's about the toughest thing I've ever found in a way to fix the GM Striker pin problem I have eight Cadillacs so I just found a Deadpool sleep with those white nylon rings on the hoses and I'll take it all off and then I grind them down to fit flip them over the striker pin perfect fix and Nobody Does it.
Yep. Somewhere in Kentucky I believe! Unfortunately I don’t have enough time off to get it all in anymore! Next year I plan to go again if it’s closer to where we live!
Man I would love to buy it if you want to sell. I’m not having any luck finding one. I got a 75 2 dr caprice but I really want a wagon even if it’s a project car. Hit me up if you know of any for sale. Thanks looks like fun
Come to the annual clamshell wagon event. They have 50+ this year. You can try to buy whatever one you want there! I don’t have anything for sale! Thanks for watching!