Junkyard Find: 1977 Chevrolet Caprice Classic Coupe
Published: December 3rd, 2018
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GM shrank its B-Body full-sized models for the 1977 model year, including the massive-selling Chevrolet Caprice/Impala. This proved a wise move in light of certain geopolitical events a couple of years later, and the 1977-1979 full-sized Chevrolet coupes got a cool “fastback” wraparound rear glass treatment.Here is such a car, spotted in a Denver self-service wrecking yard.
Though this car was once someone’s customized pride and joy, with metalflake green paint and aftermarket wheels, its glory days are decades in the past. After a long downward spiral, during which its interior got thoroughly mangled and faded, it ended up in the scrap-metal ecosystem.
Most junked General Motors cars from the 1970s and 1980s have tattered headliner cloth held in place with thumbtacks.
Under the hood, a 350-cubic-inch (that’s 5.7 liters, for those of you who don’t speak freedom) V8 engine generated a depressingly small number of horses. I don’t even have the heart to look it up. Actually, chances are this is the car’s third or fourth small-block V8, since these engines get swapped the way some people change their shoes.
This piece of glass is worth something, but the nightmare of shipping one to a buyer (who will have a 97 percent chance of being angry about some minor flaw) rules out all but the most industrious and patient parts sellers. I went back to this yard a couple of weeks after shooting these photos and the rear glass was still on the car.
Try to imagine this car when it looked cool, not the way it appears today.
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GM did a big advertising blitz on the new, smaller, full-sized Chevrolets.
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Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Hagerty and The Truth About Cars.
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I love these big Caprice coupes. As I recall, the 77-78 had an elegant grille with vertical bars and the taillight wrapped around to the side with an angled shape. For 79-80 they put in a cheap looking egg-crate grille and squared off the taillight. Minor details but made a big difference. Overall the shape the 'beveled' edges, the wheel-openings and proportions were fantastic - a better looking car than the similarly themed Rolls Camargue and Aston Lagonda of the time. I drove a number of these and the F41 suspension option really made these fun to drive.
BTW the $ value of that bent rear window has much to do with someone knowing how to remove it without breaking the glass.