Caprice is off to a new home

[Shannow]

Put an add in Gumtree (Oz Craigslist), and had to reboot it a couple of times, no takers. Yesterday a bloke rang me and haggled for a bit, then he and his son got up at 3AM, and took 6 hours of train rides to get here, only working off photos. Naturally, the battery died, so he sat in the back seat while I bought a new one (decent, not a cheapie). It was great to see his and his son's eyes light up when they saw it...apparently exactly what they were after, and he's already booked it in for a respray. Clear coat was fading, Mrs love tapped an SUV, thus the green up front...rego due in 70 days (costs about $1,000 for compulsory insurance and rego)...I was never going to do it up really, so it's great that its gone to an owner who appreciates it.

 

[HangFire]

Nice. What's a rego?

 

[ls1mike]

Will you miss it?

 

[JustinH]

Reminds me of a cross between a Cadillac Catera and a Buick of similar vintage.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: JustinH

Reminds me of a cross between a Cadillac Catera and a Buick of similar vintage.

I'm thinking oldsmobile cutlass (W-body) and 1st gen saturn SL1. The curved rear window does it. Maybe add a little Chrysler Concorde.

 

[nthach]

Originally Posted By: eljefino

Originally Posted By: JustinH

Reminds me of a cross between a Cadillac Catera and a Buick of similar vintage.

I'm thinking oldsmobile cutlass (W-body) and 1st gen saturn SL1. The curved rear window does it. Maybe add a little Chrysler Concorde.

I was about to say that too. That Caprice is the Oz equivalent to a Cadillac, but it's sold as a Chevy in the Middle East and Korea. GM had a laissez-faire approach with Holden and Daewoo.

 

[Shannow]

Originally Posted By: ls1mike

Will you miss it?

I felt quite bad about it going...but it's $1,600-$1,800 a year to keep it on the road with registration and insurances. 16MPG US, on 98RON premium was costing a fortune for my wife's rural commute...the Captiva does 25MPG on much cheaper diesel. So it was getting about 50 miles a week on it, and as stted, I was never going to dress it back up.

Originally Posted By: HangFire

Nice. What's a rego?

Registration.. $70 in Registration "fee"... $440 in orad tax $410 in Compulsory third party personal damage insurance that must be paid before you can pay the above to the Govt ($6-700 in the big smoke). Then insurance goes on the top of that if you want to cover yours and others property.

 

[4WD]

Seeing and riding in this model around MEL ... think they are sharp and such a smooth/quiet car …

 

[earlyre]

Originally Posted By: JustinH

Reminds me of a cross between a Cadillac Catera and a Buick of similar vintage.

if i'm remembering correctly, when Holden designed these, they adapted (mainly lengthened) the Opel Platform that the Catera was built upon... but that front end screams Chrysler LeBaron to me...

 

[Silk]

Originally Posted By: JustinH

Reminds me of a cross between a Cadillac Catera and a Buick of similar vintage.

The Holden Commodores were Opel based, and modified for local content. The flattened top rear guard line originally came from the Vauxhall version because they needed a wider body. The Statesman and Caprice normally had the V8 (here), but driving them you couldn't pick if there was a supercharged V6 in there or not. In NZ we have a similar yearly (or monthly if you like) rego fee. It's not much, but really stacks up when they add in the ACC levy (accident compensation). We have no compulsory insurance, but you are personally covered for injury, regardless of blame, so no sueing here.

 

[Shannow]

Originally Posted By: 4WD

Seeing and riding in this model around MEL ... think they are sharp and such a smooth/quiet car …

Old girl was 20 years old, and I was still amazed how smooth it was this morning...

 

[daves87rs]

 

[4WD]

Hated to see them shut down … I have used your Barista serving their Hairdresser analogy a couple times … Perhaps I’m just too much the old industrialist to get it …

 

[dlundblad]

Originally Posted By: 4WD

Seeing and riding in this model around MEL ... think they are sharp and such a smooth/quiet car …

Those are sharp sharp cars. Really wish they still made the SS for here.

 

[dlundblad]

Shannow, that's not a bad looking car either given the age and color. What engine did it have? Caprices of this vintage here are pretty rare now. The ones that are still around are either wagons or ex cop cars.

 

[Shannow]

Was the L67 Supercharged V-6 and 4L60E tranny. The supercharged 6s got shotpeened diff componentry. I put a 10psi pulley, and 1.9 rockers on the intakes on it.

 

[Kira]

Had me goin' for a minute. Thought you meant one of these: https://images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=A0LEVvAb8gZaSBcAnw0PxQt.;_ylu=X3oDMTByMjB0aG5zBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzYw--?p=1996+chevrolet+caprice&fr=yhs-iry-fullyhosted_011&hspart=iry&hsimp=yhs-fullyhosted_011

 

[Langanobob]

Originally Posted By: Shannow

Originally Posted By: HangFire

Nice. What's a rego?

Registration.....

Never could figure how you blokes can turn "afternoon" into "arvo." Only language I've had a harder time learning is Patois spoken in Jamaica.🙃

 

[fdcg27]

I love the greenhouse. Glass all the way around which must lend a very open and airy feel to the cabin. The roof appears to float atop the car. Pretty dated looking, as most nineties cars are, and the LeBaron front end doesn't match the Catera rear, but the side profile is nice, although the curvy front fenders seem unmatched to the angular lines aft of the A-pillar. Still, the amount of glass area is a very nice touch. What is that goiter sticking out over the front passenger side window?

 

[JustinH]

Originally Posted By: dlundblad

Originally Posted By: 4WD

Seeing and riding in this model around MEL ... think they are sharp and such a smooth/quiet car …

Those are sharp sharp cars. Really wish they still made the SS for here.

I did not take a picture, but I did see a new Chevy SS with Texas Manufacturer's plates on it yesterday driving in Austin TX. It looked exactly like the car in the picture with only badge differences.