I’m in a bit of a longroof mood today. I daily drive a sedan, have plenty of trucks and SUVs to deal with locally, and every now and then I hop into a vintage ponycar to tool around in when the urge hits. But I’ve never owned a wagon. Not one, not ever. I’ve had small and large two-door SUVs, a 1999 Blazer and a 1984 Ramcharger, and while both of those vehicles did what I needed them to do…ok, when the Blazer actually worked, it did what I needed it to do…but there is an “X factor” that no SUV is going to have that a station wagon that’s set up nicely will. Case in point: a 1991 Chevrolet Caprice station wagon that’s gotten the 1990s smooth treatment. For 1991, the Caprice and the other B-body relatives got a makeover that at first, did not go over well. Part flying potato, part orca, all questionable choices, the Caprice required a warming-up period before people started to look them over. Having the reworked and muscled up Impala SS show up a couple of years later certainly helped, but the Caprice, especially in wagon form, did lend itself to certain looks.
A 1991 Caprice would not have the LT-1 from the factory. It would’ve been rocking a 305, but this car has gotten the swap. A 1996 Corvette donated the engine, transmission, ECU and TCU and with some minor issues, everything works. Find someone who can make computers talk to each other and you might even get cruise control to function and the speedometer to do something under 40 miles an hour. And you might want that, because this Caprice is a cruiser, slathered in sky blue, sitting on whitewalls, ready to roll. Got $3,500? Get yourself a wagon!
