I have owned 23 caprice and Impalas. I have a 66 impala now. I'm addicted!

We had a 1977 Impala and that was one damn fine car. Comfortable, drove like a dream, and cranked every time you turned the key.

I was a police officer in 1977 and made the switch from a starsky & hutch style Torino to 77 Impalas- talk about a shock! The impalas were as great as the Torinos were horrible, and they handled incredibly well.

I, as a 13 year old kid loved these things...my old man had a '73 Caprice Classic, and I thought we were rich! *We were not... my fave of this Era would be the 2 door Impala with the awesome rear window glass.

My mom had one so I started driving it at age 16. It had the best acoustics of any vehicle with a standard radio with four speakers that I have run into. Loved that car.

As a UK resident i traveled to Connecticut in the fall of 1978 and bought a new Chevrolet Caprice for a customer in the UK 🇬🇧 Paid just over $7.000 for the fully loaded car in metallic red with a 350 4bbr and a F41 handling package. A truly great American car that turned a lot of heads and with over 2 dollars to a UK £ at the time it was so cheap. Great video Adam 👍👍🇬🇧🇺🇸🇺🇦

This generation of GM full-sized cars was perhaps the best ever generation that GM has ever built.

These cars had excellent design and styling for their time. Reliable too.

And you can't forget the best feature of 1977 was the Caprice stand up hood ornament that always be little boys spinning it around pulling on it to eventually getting it off the car for their hood ornament collection.

It’s amazing how nicely that car rode. Made an instant impression.

These were everywhere ... and they looked good. Still look good. Loved the Chevy, Buick, Olds, Pontiac, Cadillac versions. And I am more of a Ford guy.

I like that first clay model. The production models still look good today.

My family had one of these. We bought a brand new '77 Impala wagon and drove it all over the Western US on a road trip before we even got the license plates. It was a nice car, but a bit gutless due to the smog equipment (350 CID V8). It struggled at higher elevations, especially. I surreptitiously installed an "AOOGAH" horn on the car and forgot about it until one day when we were all waiting in the car to go somewhere and my mom was lingering in the house. Dad blasted the horn and we all had a good laugh! He ended up leaving the horn in the car the rest of the time we owned it, which was about 10 years.

3:00 Wow! This design is incredibly clean and light looking. The first car that popped into my head that this design reminds me of is the Ferrari 400i.

My dad bought a 1977 Impala wagon in gold. He used it as a business car. I learned to drive in it. If you can drive that, you can drive anything. It was about twenty feet long and three people wide. With the rear facing third seat, we often had up to nine people in it. Try that with today's cars.

I grew up driving around in a 80s Caprice classic. Good memories

GM hit a home run in ‘77 with the full-sized models. I had a Caddy SdV and it was very much an improvement over the ‘76 model.

My favorite cars. Absolutely love the GM B-Body platform. My first car was a 1977 Impala. Baby blue, 305, vinyl bench seat. It was the perfect car. I've had a few other GM B-Body cars through the years and I want another

I think the success of the 77 B and C cars was that because downsizing was such a big risk in the marketplace that GM went very conservative everywhere else in the design. Mechanically they just used the midsized chassis from the 73-77 A body. This eliminated a lot of teething issues that would come with new engineering. They also went very conservative with styling inside and out. The new size was change enough so nothing else was done to alienate buyers. One area there was significant loss of space (naturally not mentioned in marketing) was hip and shoulder room. The new car was really just a midsized car and while thinner doors helped a bit they were much narrower inside. Luckily for GM this was only really a negative when you tried to sit a third passenger in either seat. Not many people thought to test this out when car shopping.

I bet the Commodore B would have really hurt Camaro sales but wow what a great looking car. Reminds me of a beefy 635csi.

The first design proposal shown looks very much like a FIat 130 coupe !

Had 77 Caprice landau , white with red roof and red valor custom interior option factory power sunroof 350 4 barrel, what a beautiful car

Another great report Adam. I bought a used 1978 Caprice in 1981 as my daily driver from College Park to Rockville, MD for about 2 years. It was a solid dependable fairly comfort ride, but the seats, interior design and ride/drive experience could not beat my 1967 Ford Galaxie, 1972 Mercury Marquis or 1975 Ford Elite...oh for the days when you got a new car ever few years!!!

Love seeing how the original concepts work into production versions. The greenhouse styling on the first two clays is very similar to the production ‘78 Malibus.

I was 13 in 1977, and my parents bought a 1977 Pontiac Bonneville Brougham, which was very similar to the Caprice in most ways. It was a nice car, but the back seat had very little legroom (we replaced a 1973 Mercury Marquis Colony Park station wagon). Ironically, just a few years later my parents bought a 1981 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale and, although it was essentially the same car as the Pontiac, the back seat in that Oldsmobile had significantly more room than the Bonneville just a few years before. They were great cars, overall!

The design of these cars is pretty timeless. They still look good today and it's hard to believe they came out 37 years ago. I'd love to have a nice one in my garage. So simple to work on and reliable. With the F41 suspension they handled extremely well.

The B-body vehicles (1977-1991) were perfect cars at perfect time for the European market in the late 1970s: more manageable size, weaker dollar (against European currencies), and long list of standard equipments. Swiss people bought them in droves, and they were common sight in the Switzerland.

That first drawing of a downsize full side really looks like the 1980 Malibu 2 door.

I went with my mother to order a 77 Caprice Classic. I saw one at a dealer and I drug her to the local Chevrolet dealer and she fell in love with the car. She ordered a 4 door in the light blue metallic paint with almost every option that was available. It took about 10 weeks to arrive, but that was just a beautiful vehicle. As I remember it was around $7200. It was a great riding and handling car and it gave many years of faithful service. The only real problem was that the fast idle tended to hang in really cold weather and wouldn't kick down until you had driven it for about 5 miles. They could never correct the problem. That was a challenge when it snowed. You had to throw it into neutral at a stop sign because it would fight so hard that the back end would break loose and send you towards the curb. One of the few vehicles in my lifetime that I really miss.

Had an 86 Pontiac Parisianne with the 4.3 V6 I bought used from a fellow that had belonged to his dad. Was an excellent car and survived 2 teenage sons.

Just wanted to say that I love this channel. Your mastery of automotive history and astute observations are really next level. Keep it up!

I don’t think I’d ever seen those full-size clays before. Some really nice lines there. But even the finished product was a master stroke of design. We were a Mopar family, but I had to give respect to this new car. I’d love to see one of your excellent interviews with any designer (still-living, obvs) involved in this project.

My uncle bought a 77 caprice brand new, silver very nice car with the 350. I will say not only was th200 a problem, cam shafts in 77 to 79 305 and 350 wiped off the lobes quite frequently. Never fond of the blue sm block chevys. The blk one piece rear main engines were much improved.

I'm glad you confirm that the intention to downsize these vehicles started before the '73 oil embargo. Like you said, Americans were different back then and didn't necessarily favor huge vehicles the way they have for the past twenty-plus years. I, too, remember people saying in the early seventies that companies were making cars too large and awkward. These kinds of widespread public sentiments are also what led to the replacement of the Ford Mustang by the Mustang II, among other downsizings. Americans even liked their pickup trucks small during the 1980s peak of downsizing, something unimaginable today. Today, people blame the seventies-eighties downsizing on overzealous "big government," but there was a lot of favorable public sentiment behind it.

Thank you Adam. I liked the design proposals you shared and the connection to Opel. I liked the images you put together and the information you shared about the development and how it proceeded. People really do like the 1977-1990 versions of the B and C body cars. I especially like when they were all updated for 1980 model year and made more aero. They all have their own flavor. The Caprice interiors got better with time with trim and features. I liked the 1987-1990 Caprice Classic Brougham LS. would take the Pontiac and Oldsmobile versions. I remember those ads too. Thank you Adam.

As a new owner of an '83 parsienne..I'm in love! Coming from driving a '73 ltd..the handling is light years better!

Our high school driver ed car was a 1981 Impala sedan. I really liked it, and my teacher could see I was a car nerd, so he'd let me have extra time behind the wheel after class.

These cars sold like crazy and looked great back then.

It's funny how it was considered 'downsized' in 77, but in the mid 2010's when I had an 89 Caprice, it was considered a barge. I had that, and a 79 Pontiac B body in the late 80's. Both of them are my favorites of all the cars I've owned.

Awesome closing commercial. And Jerry - so young!

An incredibly good chassis. Quiet, tight, smooth, and roomy and comfortable. Great handling as well.

I had a green/green '78 Caprice Classic in high school that was legendary!

THIS is the car that even a GM loather can love ps It took me 20 years to learn that the 'all new'/downsized' 77+ GM 'B' bodies were just 73-77 'A' bodies (right down to their 116 inch wheelbase) with a new...body. Saved GM billions in chassis design. Im very surprised Adam did not mention this.

The Buick and Pontiac dash designs were the best of this generation's dash designs.

We bought new 1978 , a new Chevrolet Monte Carlo.. It fit in the garage like a dream.

I bought a 77 Caprice in 1989 for $300. It was a real durable, comfort ride, but pretty much shot as you would expect - a gross polluter but even then it rolled.

I had a very similar 1978 Bonneville 4 door. Great car with a really nice ride and very cushy velour interior with the power options.

Yet another great video. Well done sir. I had a 1984 police special ( was a detective car never a patrol car ) one of my favourite cars ever. Very fond memories. My parents had 1989. Once they switched to fuel injection they were way down on power. Or that’s how it felt anyway

It was a car that I fell in love with and wished I could find in excellent shape. I was 15 years old at the time and hoped that my dad would buy one with a 350 cu in V8 and the F41 suspension package. Thank you for doing a story about this car. Sadly as the years moved on, the updates they made to the Caprice took a lot of the styling details away.... namely the front end and tail lights. The sort of kept the shape but you could tell they were trying to take cost out of the car.

We had a ‘78 Caprice Classic. It rode and drove great. Completely reliable and the build quality was better than the prior generation. Acceleration with the 305 was ok for the era.

10:27 Unless I missed it, I was waiting to hear about the rear window area design being so similar to an Olds Cutlass. Just a passing thought.

My Dad had purchase a 77 Impala used and gave it to one of his salesman as his official company vehicle. That vehicle was bulletproof with no problems during the five years they had it.

I had a 1979. Hand me down after one year to me from my brother. It took me to college in Indiana. Survived multiple crashes. Took me and a uhaul carrier I towed to Atlanta where I still live. Had it for ten years and 160,000 miles. Still ran when I traded it in for a Beretta which was a piece of junk. The Caprice Classic was a great vehicle and never once stranded me.

I have one of those unusual rear windows from a 1977 Impala coupe in the garage attic, saved from a car being scrapped. Also a factory *black* instrument panel top pad that didn't have any cracks in it (the last time I saw it), which is rare. Even the front center speaker punch out area hadn't gone to crumbs.

The wagons were great cars for the family. I remember riding back home from Daytona in the back of Dad's. The "Rear facing back seat" gave you a good view.

The magic of a smaller exterior and larger interior was how cgev sold them and boy did it work.

I love the 1980 redesign of GM B Bodies.

That Opel certainly looks like the inspiration for the model at 4:00... and the BMW 633. My first thoughts on the model were: Euro headlights before we even had rectangular sealed beams, and no whitewalls... Ahhhh!

I owned a 79 Caprice and after the transmission gave out in 1996, bought a used 1987 Caprice in 1997 with the 305 V8 and still have it. I drive it weekly, love the ride, handling and comfort, and the highway gas mileage is about 25 MPG during warm weather. These were great cars and it seems like every time there is something tried and true, GM kills it off. The 1990 redesign was actually a bit bigger and looked horrible. The should have just downsized it a bit more and left it alone.

My mom had the exact car Jerry Orbach was showing in 77. I remember it fondly and she had it as soon as they were on sale. I was 12 and thought this Chevy was the finest car ever. My mom loved it so much and kept it spotless all the time. Thanks for the awesome memory Stay well sir

In the Netherlands they used these as Taxi’s until end of 1990s and it was very common to teach 1000000km on the odometer but they all where drivin with lpg instead of regular gas! Excellent quality technically speaking!👍

Wild that you and Steve Mags have the same video topic today. I think it also happened once before not terribly long ago.

This was my first car, '77 Chev Impala! I absolutely loved it. Silver exterior with red interior was the bomb. Id give anything to get a '77 reconditioned in good shape. ❤

I wanted one of these cars very badly and finally got a 1978 Caprice Classic (almost identical to the 1977 model) in 1984. Even used it was a remarkable car. No rattles and noise, vibration and harshness was negligent. It had the F-41 Police /Sport (so-called) suspension and handled very and surprisingly well. For a large sedan it was almost "tossable. I still have all the articles I collected from the trade magazines from when these were new. But I agree the instrument panel was uninspired. I much preferred the instrument panel of the Pontiac version of this car.

My grandma bought 1979 caprice new. I inherited it in 1996 with 60k on it as my first car when I was 16. It started my love affair with classic cars. I daily drove it for the next 8 years. I still have it. Only routine maintenance. water pump,alternator brakes etc. it has 160k on it now and still drives like a dream. I have had 63,67,72,78 coupe devilles and 74,79 Lincoln town coupes. The 79 caprice is way peppier (it has the 350) and drives like a car half it’s size . It’s the only big car that doesn’t feel like a floating barge. My 80 mark VI is comparable.

I had a 1977 chevy caprice 2 door , very nice dependable, look at all the beautiful molding it had , very well made....Now adays

My father went from a 68 Bel Air to a 77 Caprice. His first new car ever. He was in his 50's at the time and he deserved it. He had loved it.

I will never forget the ride along I had with a friend of mine that was a police officer in a older Caprice, and when he turned the red and blue lights on it just died. I still laugh about it to this day.

The "That's more like it." ads were one of the few advertising campaigns with a suggestion, however subtle, that the previous offerings were not quite what the public wanted. The only other campaign I can name with hint of contrition were run by Dominoes Pizza a few years ago, apologizing for the shabby ingredients ("sauce that resembled tomato soup") for which Dominoes had become known.

I bought a 1977 4 door Impala for $5,500. It was a great car with one exception. The air conditioner compressor was horrible. It had to be replaced every year. The replacement cost $1,000. Over the 7 years I owned the car i spent more money keeping the A/C working than I spent when I bought the car. When the engineers designed the compressor they used cheap bearings which leaked out the refrigerant causing the compressor to seize up. I traded the car after the wiring harness caught fire in 1984 with only about 70,000 miles. I went to a Pontiac Parisienne station wagon which was an even better car until the freeze out plugs rusted out. The freeze out plugs only cost $1.75 at the time, but you had to pull the entire drive train to access them making that an extremely expensive repair. That was my last American car. In my experience, GM had a problem with using cheap parts in critical places. After that I gave up on American cars and have had many Honda cars and never suffered the demise of a car over cheap parts in a critical places.

My dad worked at the GM proving grounds In Milford, MI. He tagged a pep 1982 Caprice Classic sedan with the 350 olds Diesel. Driven by an engineer for a company car, so, it was loaded with options. I think it had 3500 miles, and my dad paid $7500. As it was a snail in acceleration, but we averaged 25 mpg city, and 29 hwy. Not bad for a full size car.! And then my dad bought a 1985 Suburban the same way, with the 6.2 Diesel. With 2wd, and a 3.73 rear axle. It too gave great mpg for a brick wall. 23 city and 25.5 hwy. We barely can achieve these numbers today with some 4 cylinder and V6 with port fuel injection and advanced computer systems.

My sister had a ‘77 Impala coupe, I had a ‘79Impala (Aerocoupe), my parents bought a new ‘77 Impala wagon and my brother had an ‘88 Caprice sedan. Beautiful cars, excellent styling for the time, and reliable. Wish I still had mine.

I really like that first concept car! Reminds me of a couple of the Italian coupes with American engines. I think Monteverdi was one of them that this really looks like. Sadly, the body seems to have grown about 3 inches vertically.

My family owned a maroon Chevrolet Caprice with a red interior when I was born. The thing I remember the most was how EVERYTHING (steering wheel, door panels, carpet, headliner, pillars, EVERYTHING) was that magenta-red color on the inside. And yes, I distinctly remember the cracked plastic on the front dash. We had it 'till about 1983 when my dad traded it in for a new Honda Accord (he heard all the hype) and immediately regretted it. He missed the roominess and smoothness of the big American car, and after a few months traded it at a huge loss for a Chevy Impala (a car I hated as a kid because the A/C wouldn't reach the backseat through the high bench front).

Excellent presentation. The concept pictures are really mind blowing.

Perfect cars for the time. Yes, count me in as a person who loved the interior of the 77 Carpice.

Would love a 77 or up 2dr Caprice with F41 suspension and a slightly built 5.7l engine with minimal air restriction.

That is a smart good looking car. I remember 1977, I was 9 and just moved to the chicago suburbs (Deerfield) with my family. I was able to recognize the new model year because the headlights became square. My Dad had a 1977 buick LeSabre. Brown, white gages background on the dashboard. A nice car.

Man these were just everywhere for decades! As I get older I understand better the intent and execution of the downsized GM's. My personal favourite? The plain Jane police editions. Nothing spectacular. Just good old durability. Another informative video Adam.

Have a 1979 2 door Caprice Classic, been in the family since it drove off the transport truck in late March 1979, at City Chevrolet San Diego. Still drives very well.

Although I am a ford fan, the Chevrolet Impala is definitely an American Icon.

The “building” on said cover, is the entry to the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park. At that time, there were large Chevrolets in San Francisco.

The '77 b-body was a success because the older models were a bit excessive. I liked the '73 Impala, but it was pretty big. The little old ladies that drove these could barely see over the steering wheel. I thought the size of the '65 to '70 was good.

The '73 Embargo overnight changed buying direction and rapidly expanded import sales at the expense of American cars- particularly Japanese. Those buyers never returned as the quality was superior. That styling study is very handsome!

I had a silver 1978 Caprice Classic with this exact red interior 5:00 it had a 350 4 barrel. It was an outstanding vehicle.

Love these vehicles. I got lucky on my 89 Caprice Classic brougham that’s my baby it has the 305 it’s fully loaded apart from the leather seats and it has the performance package on it so the different diff ratio, handling suspension and bigger front rotors

It’s a shame these cars weren’t offered without the then recent impact and rollover laws. I’d love to see the same basic cars without the big bulky bumpers and hardtop frameless glass design. They would have been such clean looking cars with a much lither look than the actual production cars. Basically they would have had the wonderful proportions of the 68-72 A body cars but with the sharper edged shear look sheet metal.

One of GM’s home runs! Love my 1978 Chevrolet Caprice Classic 2 Door Coupe! I never had an issue with any of my 77-87 Caprice’s I had, all 305’s and ran well over 200k miles. My current 78 has only 27K. 👍

Had 2 of them. 83 Plain Jane Caprice Classic no air crank windows bench seat. 4bbl with 3 speed lockup. Favorite car. Next one was an 89 fuelie it was better fuel economy more responsive 4 sp auto.

The cover pic for this vid caught my eye....My step dad had a new '78 base Impala as bis company car (remember when people commonly had company cars as a perk?)... anyways..when the company was done with it, he liked it so much that he bought it from them! Je would change the oil once a year noatter wjat, and the car made it to 263,000 miles.... it would have gone further for sure, but its final few miles we withe at the wheel running ½ dozen rounds at one summer's demolition derby! Enjoyed the video, thanks Adam 👍

This is the generation where the popularity of the B-body really kicked off over here.

That first clay model was beautiful! I’d have forced my dad out of the Ford dealership and into the Chevy dealer if GM had made that car!

My 1977 Caprice Classic was one of the best cars I have ever owned. Climate Control 350 4bbl PW PL Cruise and F41 Suspension ! Loved that Car !

I bought my first big Chevy in 1988 and it was a 1978 Caprice two tone maroon with power seats, windows and cruise control. I felt like a million bucks driving that car around Pittsburgh. It had a 350 c.i with a 4 bbl Carb and just was so smooth and powerful I never wanted to just go home but keep driving around. GM designers got it right at that point in time and I can see why everyone loved them. They were living rooms on wheels but could handle well and had great power and highway cruising was quite enjoyable. Would own another one at the drop of a hat. Thank you GM for producing such an amazing vehicle.

These cars were very popular in Canada and we still could buy Bel Air models too. My Dad's buddy had a '78? Caprice in two tone metallic green and hubcaps that emulated the rims as shown on that first clay model. Looked great at the time!

Adam, when I first saw these cars, I knew America's best automotive days were over. The 1961 Dodge all over again. Egad!

3:00 That is stunning ! ! ! If they made that Today, with a Euro spartan interior, it would be a huge hit. A perfect Pontiac, a true competition for Euro cars (from a big BMW and Jag owner). That car is 1960's Grand Touring perfection. Rather than being European, it would actually be reliable. The car they made was very good, but if they stayed with that clay model, it would have been truly great.

My grandmother had a caprice classic, I'd say 1978. But it pretty much was the same car as 1977. It was two tone green on gray, with a light green interior in Valore. I love that car. It was a lot of fun to drive. Handled well and was tight and had a very smooth Cadillac ride. unfortunately, in the late 80s it was stolen and destroyed by sledgehammer. Apparently that was a trend in those days.

Had a 1977 fire engine red Chevy Impala coupe with the bent rear glass for a while.. Very sharp attractive car; it handled very well and performance was adequate with the 350 V8 with 4 bbl carburetor. Loaded with options which included steel belted radial tires and F41 performance suspension..

Very nicely appointed, comfortable, dependable, and affordable family car. Year after year. No wonder Chevrolet sold many times over the other GM division car brands.