Wow, should I wait for the new Camaro or wait for the new Impala SS. I am very passionate about both name plates. I know I could talk my wife into a Impala SS for her daily driver and the Camaro for my new toy.

Things are becoming very exciting. When will we first see the new Impala, NAIAS 2007?

 

As far as GM's B-Bodies they were eliminated because GM execs wanted the Alrington plant retooled to produce the full-size SUVs. The other plant couldn't keep up with demand, and then they added the Caddy's Esclades. With all of these cash cows, the B-Bodies didn't stand a chance. As much as I hated the demise of the B-Bodies and handing over the RWD market to the competition, it was probably a good move for GM at the time $$ wise. Now with high gas prices it may start hurting.
Everytime I think of the demise of the B-Bodies, I can't get overt the fact that its been 10 years and GM is still not back in the RWD bussiness. Why couldn't they have moved B-Body production to a smaller plant to hold over until the next gen. of RWD car was ready.

As a result with no B-Bodies on the market, the Ford Crown Vic has been virtually unchanged for almost 10 years now. With no direct competition changes come very slowly to a car, which hurt the already very limited full-size RWD market. Now with the DCX on the scene with popular RWD cars things are looking up.

 

I can see an Impala SS parked next to my Camaro Z/28.

 

How about a couple of bits of trivia on the B-bodies demise?

For 1998, the B-bodies would have had LS1 engines. General Motors already spent the money & did the development work and the certifications needed for the LS1 engines to make production in Caprices, Impala SSs, Cadillac DeVilles, and probally the Buick Roadmaster as well. (I say probally, because GM had people at Holden in the mid to late 90s looking at the Holden Statesman as a large Buick replacement.

The GM B-bodies, though pulled from the Arlington plant (almost at the last minute) very nearly had it's tooling moved to a plant in Mexico, and would have continued. If I remember, the tooling was crated up and ready for shipment. The cars still made money, and though Roadmaster, Deville, and Caprice sales dipped the final year or 2, Impala SS's sales increased each year right up to the end.

I don't know exactly what killed the move. Most likely a combination of the idea of moving a vehicle to Mexico which probally wouldn't sit well with the UAW, the idea that cars that big wouldn't be around very much longer (big car sales actually were declining as a whole), and at the time, GM was run by people who didn't have a background in the automobile business.

 

GM should have kept producing the B bodies at Arlington, TX and converted one of the plants producing its forgettable FWD cars to SUV production 10 years ago.

 

My parents love their 96 Roadmaster, and I love driving it. It eats up highway miles very well. It is a shame they didn't carry on. Oddly enough my Dad had expressed real interest in the new Lucerne. I need to show him a picture of the Statesman. He would probably be on that car like white on rice. Him and my mon like large rwd sedans. She still pines over her 1983 Delta 88.

 

*The B-Body Cadillac was the Brougham, not DeVille. DeVille was FWD and had been by a number of years.


Wasn't there also a outside company that was wanting to buy the tooling and continue producing the Caprice for fleet purposes?

I knew the LS1 was ready to go, and I think it was going to be rated at 290-295 hp in the B-Bodies, that would have been sweet in the Impala SS, and not to mention the Caprice 9C1.

Another little factoid: B-Body production was suppose to end in the summer of 1996, but was extended all the way out until mid December of 1996.
Mainly Caprice 9C1s were produced, but I also believe a lot of Impala SS were produced given the bloated production number for 1996 compared to 1994 and 1995.