Tuesday, July 27, 2010

The Next Caprice for the General Public? Nope.

My chop for a 2011 Chevrolet Caprice passenger car. This automobile actually exists in very similar form, but is only sold in Australia and the Middle East. So far.

C H O P — This Chevrolet Caprice is soon to be introduced in the United States. For realz! BUT, and there is usually a 'but' in everything, it will only be available for use as a police car. It seems odd to go to the trouble of certifying a car for sale in the States and not sell it to the public, but that's the case for this car. I can only assume that the final price might be too high for Chevrolet's 'usual' market, as it would probably have to be sold for $42-50K. IF you enlarge the image above, you can see that at least in the Middle East, this Chevy comes with a rear seat DVD video system with monitors in the rear headrests, a pretty nice touch. I can only assume that this car will be subsidized heavily for the police fleet market to make it affordable for American communities. A slightly shorter version of this car/platform was recently sold in the US as the Pontiac GTO, and was withdrawn after a few years due to low sales and ultimately Pontiac's demise as a marque.

When I heard rumors of this police car coming to the States, I created this luxury version for well-heeled Bow Tie buyers, adding more trim along the rocker panels with darker rocker panels to make the car seem lower and longer, and I added full-width taillights with some extra chrome too. Full width taillights are not necessarily a Chevy styling cue, although some smaller Chevys have used it before, but I felt that the entire car was not very  Chevy-like, so I went with what I thought would look good regardless.

The actual upcoming United States domestic market Caprice in police-car trim. I think this might be the first time that a police-car will be sold in the United States without a related passenger car on sale as well. You can read a bit more about it in today's Autoblog here.

U P D A T E — An anonymous comment below corrected this post. The last version of this platform sold as a Pontiac, a short wheelbase version of this Caprice, was the G8, not the GTO. The GTO was an earlier coupe version of the Australian Monaro coupe. Thanks, Anonymous!

13 comments:

  1. It's a pity the US doesn't get the Caprice, because its a really nice looking car. Really stately looking.

    I have to say though, those lights you've put onto it in your chop makes it look rather old school

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  2. lol, I don't mind that. i AM old school! I was trying to get away from the sort of 'cheap' looking single unit Impala taillights the police Caprice has. maybe they could be sequential LEDs or something.

    speaking of LED taillights... I just got back from my nightly 5-6 mile bike ride and a brand new E63 passed me going pretty slowly-we were right near the swim and tennis club where everyone was walking and riding bikes. The LEDs really stood out and the BURBLE of the god almighty V8 was just like a classic old inboard motorboat. omg it was so desirable and I really don't even like the way the new E looks. the SOUND was amazing though. I can only imagine the sound at speed!

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  3. always click on your links from autoblog.com and i am always impressed, but this one. Damn sexy and those taillights.... they need to hire you

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  4. Inktownlegend: thank you! I always wonder if anyone at autoblog looks at what I post, lol. thanks for the confirmation and the compliment!

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  5. I'm sure you have NOTHING else to do, so here's a thought for a project for you: Recreate and update the 1955-57 Chevy for the 2010s. As an aficionado of extra-large cars, I think Chevy should bring back the Caprice as a full model line -- sedan, coupe (I owned a '75 -- 18 feet, 4,300 pounds, 13/18 alleged mpg), wagon (even a Nomad -- can you put a '76 Caprice Estate and a '76 Caprice two-door together?), convertible, etc. With Ford no longer building Crown Victorias, this seems an opportunity for GM.

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  6. Thanks, Steve. Yeah, I'll add it to my list, lol. I've had so little time lately to chop anything, it's just a good thing I've done close to 700 in the past, so I can keep posting 'em. Not sure if you saw my Bel Air. It's made from a Mercedes. Beneath it is my take on a new Crown Victoria, also made from a Mercedes, as is the Tbird at the bottom. Your idea of a 2 door Caprice wagon is a good one. I love huge cars too. I've had several including a '68 Cadillac, '64 Tbird, '85 Town Car. Enjoy:

    http://artandcolour.blogspot.com/2010/06/once-mercedes-always-mer-not-so-much.html

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  7. I think I've found the '76 Caprice Nomad, or something close: http://www.car-nection.com/yann/DBas_drm/1972/72waga.jpg (from http://www.car-nection.com/yann/Dbas_txt/Drm70-74.htm) which is a custom Cadillac Eldorado wagon. Or "shooting brake," since it has two doors.

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  8. that's a very cool website! I think George Barris should be in a Hall of Fame of kitschy kars, and he probably is! My god, he probably wears steerhorns and wide-whites on his shoes, lol. The man makes tacky seem classic, lol...

    I promise you my Caprice Nomad will look better than anything there when I get to it! I bookmarked that site thought, there were so many cars to be found! I had a '68 Sedan de Ville for 10 years which I loved. It would be cool to have a real wagon version someday... a tasteful one!

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  9. The '75 Caprice coupe had such massive doors that, as the car aged, one had to pull up on the door to get it to open. The two-door also had a trunk large enough to store bodies. And as for, you know, getting in the back seat, my girlfriends and I never got to the back seat. Didn't need to. (Draw your own conclusions.)

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  10. The SWB was not the US GTO, it was the Pontiac G8. The GTO was based off the Monaro a two door coupe.

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  11. That red version is really a nice car. When I was selling Chevrolet and the 2007 SS Impala was in front of my office the first word from anyones mouth was if it was RWD. there was alot of disappointment there as I am sure thats why there is not a 2010 SS available.

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