1969 Chevrolet Caprice

Description

For those of you who are fans of the heavy cruisers, this 1969 Chevrolet Caprice hardtop should be just the answer. With a matching-numbers 396/4-speed powertrain, an upscale-looking paint combination, and surprisingly potent performance, it's the luxury cruiser for motorheads who have grown up but haven't forgotten what it's like to be juvenile.

You just don't see many full-size Caprice hardtops, and especially not many that were built for combat like this one. With a strong pedigree behind it, they stuck to the original script for the restoration, including code 65 Olympic Gold paint to give the full-sized coupe a bit of a serious demeanor. There's an awful lot of sheetmetal here, and every inch seems to have benefitted from some quality time at the body shop, resulting in a super-straight car that looks far more sporting than something this size should. Gaps are tight and the contrasting black rub strip that runs from nose to tail lines up well enough to use it as a straight edge. There's not a bad line on the entire car, from the slight kick-up behind the doors to the super-cool concave rear window. Combined with a new black vinyl top, this car has a lot of presence, and when you hear it rumbling into the cruise night parking lot, watch how many people do a double-take. OF course there's plenty of chrome, including heavy bumpers fore and aft, but isn't that sort of the point of owning a luxury car?

There aren't many things cooler than seeing a big luxury car like this with a 4-speed Hurst shifter sticking out of the transmission tunnel, but that's exactly how this car came from the factory. Black bench seats ensure there's plenty of room for all your friends inside, and the door panels, carpets, and dash pad are all in extremely good shape. The wood trim on the door panels and dash is richer and darker than the stuff you're used to seeing in these cars, and the aftermarket Grant GT steering wheel is a pretty good match. Options include a tilt column and a rear defogger, both welcome in a luxury boat like this, and somewhere along the line, the original radio was replaced by an AM/FM/cassette unit. Factory instrumentation is basic, so they wisely added a pair of auxiliary gauges under the dash where they actually don't look out of place at all. The massive trunk is nicely finished and includes a correct mat and full-sized spare that might date back to this car's early years.

The original, matching-numbers L66 396 cubic inch V8 was rebuilt and detailed, then stuffed back under the hood. With a few subtle upgrades like the Weiand intake manifold and Holley double-pumper carb, it's a little more robust than it was originally and it moves all that sheetmetal effortlessly. Detailed with a chrome dress-up kit and Chevy Orange paint, it looks great in that giant engine bay. Ceramic-coated long-tube headers feed a Flowmaster dual exhaust system, and as I mentioned, the 4-speed is also numbers-matching. There's also the original 12-bolt rear end and a luxury-oriented suspension, and it's hard to think of a better highway cruiser than this. Classic Rally wheels give it a sporting demeanor and are wrapped in appropriate 225/70/15 redline radials for a period look.

This is an easy car to love simply because it causes so much cognitive dissonance. Luxury muscle? Not many cars can do it better. Call today!