Chevrolet does not build many cars like the Chevrolet Caprice: a 2-door coupe / 4-door hardtop / 4-door station wagon with 283 cuin Chevrolet small-block engine (first- and second-generation)#283, built from 1965 to 2017 in the decade that gave the world the pony car and the mid-engined supercar.
The story
The Chevrolet Caprice is a full-size car produced by Chevrolet in North America from 1965 through the 1996 model years. All versions of the full-size Chevrolet models reached their peak in 1965, with over a million units sold. It was the most popular car in the U.S. in the 1960s and early 1970s, during a time when its production also included the Biscayne, Bel Air, and Impala trims. Introduced in mid-1965 as a luxury trim package for the Impala four-door hardtop, Chevrolet offered a complete line of Caprice body style versions for the 1966 and subsequent model years, including a "formal hardtop" coupe and a station wagon.
The 1971 through 1976 models are the largest Chevrolets built. The downsized 1977 and restyled 1991 models were awarded Motor Trend Car of the Year. Production ended in 1996. From 2011 until 2017, the Caprice nameplate returned to North America as a full-size, rear wheel drive police vehicle, a captive import from Australia, built by General Motors' subsidiary Holden. The police vehicle is a rebadged version of the Holden WM/WN Caprice. The nameplate also had a civilian and police presence in the Middle East from 1999 until 2017, where the imported Holden Statesman/Caprice built by Holden was marketed as the Chevrolet Caprice in markets that included Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
What is underneath
Under the skin sits 283 cuin Chevrolet small-block engine (first- and second-generation)#283; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 119 in. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Its place in the line
Where it sits in Chevrolet's history is not in doubt: the Chevrolet Impala (Argentina) / Chevrolet Lumina (Mexico) / Pontiac G8 (U.S.) came before it; it was built at Flint, Michigan, United States. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Ford Transit, the Nissan Silvia, the Ford Bronco. Nearby in the Chevrolet catalogue sit the Chevrolet Adra and the Chevrolet C-10.
The money
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Chevrolet Caprice has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.