Customized Impalas and their Caprice siblings go back to the earliest models, and it's inevitable that some of these machines will end up among the rows at your local Ewe Pullet. Today's Junkyard Gem is such a car, a final-generation Caprice found in a Denver-area boneyard recently.
These cars were seen as throwbacks in their day, but plenty of Americans during the 1990s still wanted traditional big Detroit sedans with V8 engines, rear-wheel-drive and a generous helping of affordable cloth-and-vinyl luxury inside. These cars sold quite well to police departments, though Ford's Crown Victoria Police Interceptor won the American cop-car long game.
This car was built with a 4.3-liter engine, but it's the L99 small-block V8 that was the base engine for the 1994-1996 Caprice. In fact, it was used only in those Caprices. The 200-horse L99 looks just like the 5.7-liter small-block Chevrolet V8s that went into millions of other GM cars during the 1990s, so there's no telling at a glance if this is the original one or a swap. Just to confuse parts-counter employees for decades to come, the Chevrolet 4.3-liter V6 was based on an earlier version of the small-block Chevrolet V8, and Oldsmobile offered a diesel 4.3 V6 that was three-quarters of the Olds 350 V8.
Most of the interior is gone by now, but we can see that the dash and door panels were given the teal treatment as well.
The hood is an aftermarket fiberglass unit from Glasstek in Illinois. You can still buy this cowl-induction hood today, for $764.48.
The door handles have been shaved, another Southern California customization touch first popularized during the 1950s. My own chopped-and-lowered 1969 Toyota Corona coupe has shaved door handles, as is proper for a SoCal machine with a genuine Carson top.
You'll find one in every car. You'll see.
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