It's interesting how the 454 looks lost in there compared to other cars with big blocks...
With AC too.
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63 Parisienne sport coupe (The Big GTO), black, maroon interior, 409 4 speed; former owner of a 59 El Camino, 63 Corvette SWC, 62 Chev Bel Air SC. 1963- Pontiac top selling car in Canada
Mahone Bay, NS Still not old enough to need an automatic
Interesting find Ray. They were tough cars. I was never partial to the Caprice / Impala Custom roofline of the 74 - 76 time frame. The fixed rear side windows demanded a/c. Good thing that car has Comfortron. They were strong systems. Automatic temperature control when they worked right, which was most of the time. When they went bad, can you find anyone to make it work right?
74 was a year of firsts and lasts. Last for true duals without cats, the 70 - 74 air cleaners. 74 all 454s got HEI, and who can forget the 5-mph bumpers. At least the shoulder belts received inertia reels making them far more livable. 74s were the last time that bias ply tires were base on most GM cars, radials they dabbled with earlier but by 73 numerous GMs had them standard. 74 was the the year of the GM-spec radials that were functional equivalents made by all the big tire companies. Our 74 had Uniroyal Zeta 40s (not series, they were GR78-15s). Those Uniroyals were garbage. The belts all shifted and were replaced 2 years later with Zetas. They went bad again within a year. By 77 dad threw them away and went with Michelins. Huge difference, much better.
That Caprice Classic coupe, the colour is Bronze metallic. You know who love those cars? The Donks! They seem to drive the market for these cars. Personally I'd prefer a set of Chevy truck Rally Wheels on that Caprice. They were 5" bolt circles, the Caprice and the 5-lug trucks. I think there is a company in Texas that makes bumper filler panels.
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67 Chevelle Malibu Sport Coupe, Oshawa-built 250 PG never disturbed.
In garage, 296 cid inline six & TH350...
Cam, Toronto.
I don't judge a man by how far he's fallen, but by how far back he bounces - Patton
I do like the Pontiac/Buick/Oldsmobile two door full size window treatment a bit better too Cam, at least they have a little bit of hardtop styling and airyness. My '75 Laurentian Wagon was a great handling car, GM really did have the suspension geometry worked out on the full sized line.
The stock wheelcovers on this particular car look pretty good IMO.
I do like the Pontiac/Buick/Oldsmobile two door full size window treatment a bit better too Cam, at least they have a little bit of hardtop styling and airyness.
Remember the auction car is top of the line Caprice, The impala still had the traditional Hardtop roof as shown below.
Ive always liked the 71 and 72 Impala & Caprice cars. The bumpers and low performance engines from 73 on kind of kill my enthusiasm for those years. In my last year of high school I had a 70 Impala 4 door with 350. It was a driveable piece of junk but I loved it. A friends dad had a 73 or 74 with the 454 and my buddy used to drive it from time to time. What a dog it was! My 70 would routinely spank it. It would make a wooshing sound and go nowhere. The 454 emblems were cool though. So for me, the B body love affair ends at 1972.
I do like the Pontiac/Buick/Oldsmobile two door full size window treatment a bit better too Cam, at least they have a little bit of hardtop styling and airyness. My '75 Laurentian Wagon was a great handling car, GM really did have the suspension geometry worked out on the full sized line. The stock wheelcovers on this particular car look pretty good IMO.
Agreed. The Pontiac and higher divisions did the coupe better with a little vertical roll-down window adjacent to the door glass. Chevy saved maybe $18 per car by leaving it out.
The wheelcovers look like 1980 - 85 Caprice but suit the car just fine.
A friend's dad ordered a B07 Police Interceptor Biscayne in 1973. It came with an LS4 454 & according to the B07 chart, a 3:07 rear. Old Linus bought the car to tow a 17' trailer so it was my understanding he went with 3.42 gears. I would have loved to have seen the paperwork as I am positive he would have had it (he was an accountant). Very strong J55 HD Brakes as well. Big stabilizers front & rear.
Funny, there was another 73 a few blocks from home in the form of an Impala 4-door sedan that had the fat stabilizer bars plus a dual exhaust 350 that replaced a low-key 69 Olds 442. Plus my dad's associate owned a 73 Laurentian 4-door with a dual exhaust L48 350 & fat stabilizer bars.
I have many fond (hazy) memories of bashing around a a tough 75 Laurentian Safari. It had an orange block 400 Chevy 4-barrel like the one George (long stroke) runs in his 74 Caprice Estate.
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67 Chevelle Malibu Sport Coupe, Oshawa-built 250 PG never disturbed.
In garage, 296 cid inline six & TH350...
Cam, Toronto.
I don't judge a man by how far he's fallen, but by how far back he bounces - Patton
I had somehow forgotten that there were two different two door versions of the full sized Chevy's and Pontiac's. Funny that the top of the line Caprice ended up being a two door post, and the cheaper models were hardtops. Anyway, they all look attractive. Were Pontiac Grand Villes ever produced in Oshawa? There are more of this vintage for sale out there right now, especially convertibles, than anything else. I seem to remember my '75 Laurentian wagon had a blue block 400 in it. It had belonged to a security company and was originally bronze, by the time I had it had a cheap white respray. Great handling car. Two weeks after I bought it there was a really bad smell inside. I tracked it down to someone's old lunch left under the front bench. Good memories!
-- Edited by Jonno on Tuesday 27th of February 2018 06:34:05 PM
The Bonneville and Grand Ville switched to that Caprice like roofline in 1975:
Grand Ville was only offered above Bonneville from 1971 to 1975 when it was discontinued.
Grand Ville convertibles were rare in the years from 1971 to 1975, never topping 4,600 per year. From 1973 to 1975 the Grand Ville was Pontiac's only full-size convertible.
The rarest of the rare Grand Ville convertibles was the 1971 model with just under 1,800 built. The final year 1975 proved to be the most plentiful with just over 4,500 cars built, as word had gotten out that this would be the final year of production.
Ive always liked the 71 and 72 Impala & Caprice cars. The bumpers and low performance engines from 73 on kind of kill my enthusiasm for those years. In my last year of high school I had a 70 Impala 4 door with 350. It was a driveable piece of junk but I loved it. A friends dad had a 73 or 74 with the 454 and my buddy used to drive it from time to time. What a dog it was! My 70 would routinely spank it. It would make a wooshing sound and go nowhere. The 454 emblems were cool though. So for me, the B body love affair ends at 1972.
Obviously your buddy's 454 was in major dire need of work or at the very least a major tune up. My 400 in a much heavier car (74 Caprice Estate wagon) has no trouble getting around at all. My 400 is stock except for dual exhaust and electronic distributor conversion. I would never call my car a dog, especially considering the weight of this car. Cheers. George
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1957 Pontiac Pathfinder Deluxe sedan restored 261 six
1974 Chevrolet Caprice Estate wagon low mileage original 400 V-8
Ive always liked the 71 and 72 Impala & Caprice cars. The bumpers and low performance engines from 73 on kind of kill my enthusiasm for those years. In my last year of high school I had a 70 Impala 4 door with 350. It was a driveable piece of junk but I loved it. A friends dad had a 73 or 74 with the 454 and my buddy used to drive it from time to time. What a dog it was! My 70 would routinely spank it. It would make a wooshing sound and go nowhere. The 454 emblems were cool though. So for me, the B body love affair ends at 1972.
Obviously your buddy's 454 was in major dire need of work or at the very least a major tune up. My 400 in a much heavier car (74 Caprice Estate wagon) has no trouble getting around at all. My 400 is stock except for dual exhaust and electronic distributor conversion. I would never call my car a dog, especially considering the weight of this car. Cheers. George
Thought the same thing George but then I looked up road test data on the two cars.
The performance data shows nearly identical acceleration and quarter mile times.
Chevrolet Caprice Classic Coupe 454-4 V-8 Turbo-Jet Hydra-Matic (aut. 3) (1974) detailed performance and fuel economy data factory claim and ProfessCars estimation
(Click on photo to view enlarged pictures gallery)
Top speed:
(theor. without speed governor)
203 km/h / 126 mph
Acceleration:
0-30 km/h (s):
2.1
0-40 km/h (s):
2.9
0-50 km/h (s):
3.8
0-60 km/h (s):
4.7
0-70 km/h (s):
5.6
0-80 km/h (s):
6.6
0-90 km/h (s):
8.5
0-100 km/h (s):
10.1
0-110 km/h (s)
11.9
0-120 km/h (s):
13.8
0-130 km/h (s):
15.9
0-140 km/h (s):
18.6
0-150 km/h (s):
22.9
0-160 km/h (s):
27.4
0-170 km/h (s):
32.9
0-180 km/h (s):
40.6
0-190 km/h (s):
53.7
0-200 km/h (s):
107.7
0-210 km/h (s):
0-220 km/h (s):
0-230 km/h (s):
0-240 km/h (s):
0-250 km/h (s):
0-270 km/h (s):
0-300 km/h (s):
0-20 mph (s):
2.2
0-30 mph (s):
3.7
0-40 mph (s):
5.1
0-50 mph (s):
6.7
0-60 mph (s):
9.6
0-70 mph (s):
12.3
0-80 mph (s):
15.6
0-90 mph (s):
20.8
0-100 mph (s):
27.8
0-110 mph (s):
38.3
0-120 mph (s):
70.3
0-130 mph (s):
0-140 mph (s):
0-150 mph (s):
0-160 mph (s):
0-180 mph (s):
0-200 mph (s):
Drag times:
0- 1/4mile (s):
17.1
speed at 1/4mile:
135 km/h / 84 mph
0- 1km (s):
31
Chevrolet Impala Sport Sedan 350 V-8 Turbo-Fire 250-hp (man. 3) (1970) detailed performance and fuel economy data factory claim and ProfessCars estimation
(Click on photo to view enlarged pictures gallery)
op speed:
(theor. without speed governor)
185 km/h / 115 mph
Acceleration:
0-30 km/h (s):
2.7
0-40 km/h (s):
3.5
0-50 km/h (s):
4.2
0-60 km/h (s):
5
0-70 km/h (s):
5.9
0-80 km/h (s):
7
0-90 km/h (s):
8.6
0-100 km/h (s):
10.1
0-110 km/h (s)
11.9
0-120 km/h (s):
14
0-130 km/h (s):
16.5
0-140 km/h (s):
19.7
0-150 km/h (s):
24.3
0-160 km/h (s):
30.8
0-170 km/h (s):
41.1
0-180 km/h (s):
72.7
0-190 km/h (s):
0-200 km/h (s):
0-210 km/h (s):
0-220 km/h (s):
0-230 km/h (s):
0-240 km/h (s):
0-250 km/h (s):
0-270 km/h (s):
0-300 km/h (s):
0-20 mph (s):
2.9
0-30 mph (s):
4.1
0-40 mph (s):
5.4
0-50 mph (s):
7.1
0-60 mph (s):
9.6
0-70 mph (s):
12.4
0-80 mph (s):
16.2
0-90 mph (s):
21.6
0-100 mph (s):
31.4
0-110 mph (s):
63.2
0-120 mph (s):
0-130 mph (s):
0-140 mph (s):
0-150 mph (s):
0-160 mph (s):
0-180 mph (s):
0-200 mph (s):
Drag times:
0- 1/4mile (s):
17.4
speed at 1/4mile:
133 km/h / 83 mph
0- 1km (s):
31.6
-- Edited by 73SC on Thursday 1st of March 2018 12:52:21 AM
