1987 Chevrolet Caprice Reviews - Page 2 of 6

Well, when I bought the car, I bought it with the intentions of restoring it, so, of course, she needs a bit of work.

First of all, when I bought her, she was idling way too fast, due to a clogged vaccuum hose, which cost me about $40 dollars all together.

Now, for the bad, the motor is on it's way out, due to worn piston rings caused by the high mileage.

The car also needs a bit of frame work up front on the passenger side where the sway bar mounts to the frame, as it rusted out, causing the sway bar itself to drop about 3 1/2 inches. I checked the rest of the frame and it appears to be solid everywhere else except for that one spot.

She also has a bad grounding wire somewhere under the dash, as she keeps blowing the tail light and the dash light fuses (another typical older GM quirk).

Another big factor with this car is RUST, and she's got plenty of body rust, mainly surface rust, and a few bubbles here and there except for one bad spot, which is the worst spot on the entire car. About a quarter of my rear driver side door is missing, as it all rusted out, leaving my body panel sticking out about an inch.

So, as you can see, she's got her fair share of flaws and typical older GM quirks, but for an $800 dollar restoration project, it's not in that bad of shape (I've seen a LOT worse out of an '87).

I'll be taking the car off the road and beginning the restoration sometime soon, plus the plans for her are just about complete so it's just a matter of time and having the right funds for the project.

Chevy Caprices have been in my family for years, and have been very well loved cars with us, as they've proved to be one of the most reliable and good looking cars in it's class of that era.

To this day, the Chevy Caprice still serves it's purpose just as it did back then, and are becoming harder and harder to come by.

The Chevy Caprice was so reliable that the Government officials started using them on their fleets and didn't change until the mid '90's when Chevrolet retired the Caprice. Now granted, the Police Force still used the Ford Crown Victoria back then, but a majority of the cars on their fleets were Chevy Caprices back in the early '80's and up to the mid '90's.

I've loved the Chevy Caprice since I was a kid, for their reliability, comfort and stylish looks with a touch of old school muscle.

Alternator died, but I don't know how long it had been in the car before I purchased it.

Had a brief charging problem due to the lack of a third belt that runs the air conditioner. It created some kind of imbalance in tension on the belt that runs the alternator.

This is a very comfortable car. I also own a 1990 Cadillac Brougham D'Elegance, and as far as I'm concerned, my Caprice is just as comfortable and as roomy.

For a car of it's size, it also handles well. There is a great deal of body roll, but the turning circle is smaller than you might expect.

Although it's certainly no sports car, the relatively low output Olds 307 that powers the Classic has a surprising amount of pick up. I've had no trouble passing people on highways or picking up speed to merge with traffic on multi-lane highways.

In short, if my current Caprice died, I'd certainly not hesitate before buying another. Really, I think every young person should drive a car like this for at least a little while. The great rear-wheel drive land yachts are a dying breed and, in my opinion, very fun to drive.