00Z28SS

Has anyone seen none yet? I just seen one driving with a manufacturer plate on it. Looks pretty nice to me. I think GM is trying to take some of the 300 c's thunder away.

phat97ss

what model year? know of any pics? I havn't heard of a new caprice??? whats it look like?

Z284ever

Well.....describe what you saw!

indieaz

So was this a cammo'd spy car? If not i'm not sure what you saw except maybe one of the middle east produced Caprice's (nice cars btw...but they have been for sale over there for years while the US gets deprived). Beyond the availability of the Caprice in the middle east I was unaware of plans to use the Caprice nameplate at all in the US currently and i would expect camo'd test cars...and before that i'd expect rumors about it at least.

00Z28SS

I had no idea they were planning it either. It was 4dr bigger than the impala. The reason I don't think it was an overseas caprice because it had a big gold or chrome chevy emblem in the middle of the trunk, kind of like the emblems on the back of the newer trailblazers. The front end looked nice, it had impala blood but a little more refined. it was better than the back which wasn't ugly either. On the hood it had the small chevy hood ornament i guess is the word im looking for, just like the old caprices. Running alond the back of the trunk was a strip of crome with caprice engraved in it. It looked like at least 17inch wheels, maybe 18's. And i really couldn't tell cause i was driving but i think the dash had some woodgrain on it. I tried taking pics with my camera phone but it wouldn't turn out. Is there any pictures of the caprice overseas that anyone knows about so I can see if thats what i saw? Again this car looked to "new" to be a previous model but I guess you never know. It's not really like GM to put out a model and not tell anyone about it, but it looked pretty nice. The GM exeuctive looked pretty happy driving it.

morb|d

http://www.motordesktop.com/wallpape...201024x768.jpg

IMPALA64

Is this it?

http://www.gmarabia.com/content_data...e_overview.htm

indieaz

Beat me to it, was just about to post that link.

As a sid note - what chassis is that Lumia SS built on? Is that just a monaro? They have 4 trim levels on the Lumina...only the SS is a 2-door and looks just like a GTO to me.

EDIT: Or not, appears it is available in 2-door as well http://neon.atsweb.net/lumina-ss/Pict0009.jpg

N/M, I had no idea Monaro's were available as 4-doors.

guionM

You need a crash course on Holdens....badly.

1. The car you are seeing is a Holden Commodore, made in Australia.

2. Holden also makes extended versions of the car with a few different sheetmetal pieces, and sells them as Caprices & Statesman, sort of an Aussie Buic & Cadillac. Holden also has aversion of the car that's best described as an El Camino.

3. Since the death of the US based B-bodies (Caprice-Roadmaster-Sedan Deville), these cars have been rebadged as Chevrolets and sold in middle eastern countries (where big, extremely durable cars are a near necessity).

4. A skunkwork group at Holden got the idea of making a one-off coupe of the Commodore for the Sydney auto show about 5 years ago. The car got such a huge reaction, Holden went about finding a way to make it and make a profit on it. The public meanwhile took to calling it Monaro, a historic Holden car discontinued in the 70s that was sort of an Aussie combination Camaro & Chevelle.

5. Holden created a way to make 5,000 Monaros per year for 3 years and make it profitable. GM-NA was at 1st intrested, but then backed out, calling it impractical.

6. Bob Lutz came aboard, someone who was assigned to Holden from GM-NA suggested the car would make a great GTO. Word got to Bob Lutz when he was at Holden reviewing it's products. He ordered a real study to be done.

7. Naturally, if the car would be profitable at 15K units, it would be even more supplying an additional 54K cars over an additional 3 years along with a extension of 3 years and another 15K cars for Australia and Holden's export market.

Summary: The Monaro isn't a car that comes as 4 door. It's a coupe that was welded-bolted together out of a 4 door sedan.

MissedShift

And they're not even useful here, apparently...I hate bureaucracy...

00Z28SS

Thats exactly what I seen, except the trunk had a chevy sign on it. Sorry for the false alarm guys. I wonder if they are thining of selling it in the states or if it was just some GM executive having fun.

IZ28

I really wish they'd bring those cars back over here to Chevy.

00Z28SS

Me too. Dump the impala and give us the caprice and make the "caprice ss" the old faithful impala ss like the good ol days.

morb|d

that's also a Holden. a last generation one too. probably one of a few cars brought over from Australia to demo to the GM brass a while ago, or simply a one off import here by someone who REALLY wanted one.

IZ28

IIRC, months ago there were reports here of a car just like that being driven around and I think there were pictures taken of it. Maybe they are still testing or something. Alot of people I talk to would like that car back again. Something truly like the 90's Impala SS would be perfect against the 300C.