needle in a hay stack

General topics relative to the Caprice and associated vehicles. For items not fitting into other sub-sections in addition to general chat.
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No Moa
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Joined: Tue Sep 20, 2016 9:30 pm
Location: Maine

needle in a hay stack

Post by No Moa »

I have for many years, searched for cars, when I went looking for a CTS-V I found what I wanted in 3 days, when I looked for my work truck, 4 days. These cars are the hardest cars to find not wrecked or trashed with tons of miles. wow.
2014 Caprice PPV silver
2017 Ram 3500
2002 CETA trans am
1996 Impala ss (soon to be t56)
1995 9c1
1977 Trans am SE 4spd.
1978 trans am 400 4 spd.
cal30_sniper
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Joined: Thu Aug 04, 2016 1:17 pm

Re: needle in a hay stack

Post by cal30_sniper »

Yep. For a modern car, they are incredibly hard to find. Every other car I've ever purchased, it wasn't a matter of actually finding one in good condition, it was just a matter of finding one in good condition that I could afford. The Caprice was the first car that I've ever purchased that I had more than enough money, but just couldn't find what I was looking for.
-2011 Caprice 9C3: Mirage Glow Metallic, 63k miles
-2011 Caprice 9C1 (Gone)
-1973 Firebird Formula, restoration in progress
-1986 K30 Suburban 8.1L/NV4500, the toy hauler and wheeler
CrashTestDummy
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Re: needle in a hay stack

Post by CrashTestDummy »

Well, they're kind of rare to begin with, THEN, you have to add in losses during service, and the abuse they get while in service, the hunt just gets more and more difficult. They are out there, though, and unless they're wrecked, usually survive service pretty well.
Gene Beaird,
Pearland, Texas
2012 Caprice 9C1
1992 B4C 1LE Camaro
2018 Tahoe PPV (her car)
1995 DGGM Impala SS
1985 Firebird - 310 LS1 C Prepared autocross car.
1980 Bluebird Wanderlodge
And some others
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KERR
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Re: needle in a hay stack

Post by KERR »

then ad in, ( for me at least) one that doesnt have holes drilled in the hood and trunk...

what annoys me, is a lot of the for sale places dont list caprice.. or if you search for them it says 0.

I tried to buy one new back in 11, autotrader had hundred's of them but you had to be a municipality etc.... i even tried to get a friend who owns a car lot to get one the dealers would not sale to another dealer.... except that one dealer and they never had any in inventory when i was i looking.
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No Moa
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Re: needle in a hay stack

Post by No Moa »

KERR wrote:then ad in, ( for me at least) one that doesnt have holes drilled in the hood and trunk...

what annoys me, is a lot of the for sale places dont list caprice.. or if you search for them it says 0.

I tried to buy one new back in 11, autotrader had hundred's of them but you had to be a municipality etc.... i even tried to get a friend who owns a car lot to get one the dealers would not sale to another dealer.... except that one dealer and they never had any in inventory when i was i looking.


Some of them still will not sell to the public. I talked to 2 dealers that had used ones, and would not sell to me unless I was a municipality
2014 Caprice PPV silver
2017 Ram 3500
2002 CETA trans am
1996 Impala ss (soon to be t56)
1995 9c1
1977 Trans am SE 4spd.
1978 trans am 400 4 spd.
K9Vic
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Re: needle in a hay stack

Post by K9Vic »

There were a few dealers that sold them new back in 2011, but they got in trouble I think. There was a local dealer here in North Texas that was allowed to sell to the public four new 2011 9C3 cars in 2013 at $24,999 that were not selling to municipalities. They all were white with spot lights and departments did not want that for a detective car. They quickly sold and I almost bought one and wish I did as to how rare the 9C3 is now. That was the only time that dealer ever sold to the public and other dealers across the country had the same offerings with 9C1 and 9C3 over the years.

I bought my 2011 Caprice in 2013 with 15k miles from a dealer, it was a trade from a privately owned local Peace Officer here in Texas. So it was not a beat up city car, nor did it have a lightbar and a million antenna holes; just one that is clean looking. I have now had my Caprice for 3 years and it has 42,000 miles still under factory power train warranty.

Anyway, yes a good clean Caprice is hard to find and most of them all are what I refer to as a vomit comet. A used beat up city car that will cost you a ton of money to make it right.
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storm9c1
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Re: needle in a hay stack

Post by storm9c1 »

There were a few dealers that sold them new back in 2011, but they got in trouble I think.
That's correct. I bought mine from Criswell in MD as a first-owner title and 0 miles on the clock. They claimed the sales contract with the first shipment of 13 cars in early 2011 didn't include the "police use only" clause so they intended to sell them all to the public. These were 9C3 units. And they were offering them with dealer installed options such as painted door handles, painted fender vents, spoiler, chrome exhaust tips, and Caddy wheels. The whole ordeal went viral for a day back in 2011. It was a nice stunt. I did my homework (insurance took me a while to sort out since the VIN didn't register), then drove there with cash in hand. I got mine sans the Caddy wheels. And 2 others were sold within the first 2 days. The next day, GM management caught up with them and shut it down. I have an email chain with the dealer as proof of the events as they unfolded, including the last email that states the other 10 cars had to be sent back to GM due to the original sales contract being invalidated. I still wonder what really happened to those 10 leftover cars. I even emailed the salesman a few weeks later since I had a local contact with a lead on a few departments that were on a waiting list for orders in the Pittsburgh area and could take shipment of them immediately. Again they claimed they were all sent back to GM and that was that.
Tom (AKA: Storm)
2011 Caprice 9C3: L77, 8K miles, first-owner, purchased July 2011.
1995 Caprice 9C1: LT1, 178K miles, summer car.
1995 Impala SS: LT1, 21K miles.
1995 Caprice Wagon: LT1, 62K miles.
1995 Caprice Wagon: LT1, 128K miles. Rust In Pieces
1994 Caprice 9C1: LT1, beater winter car.
1969 Chevy C30: 383ci stroker, 4L80E, rollback car hauler.
1972 Chrysler Newport: 400ci big block, survivor 27K miles, 2-door hardtop.
1969 Dodge Charger: 383ci big block.
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kevink
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Re: needle in a hay stack

Post by kevink »

My 2011 9C3 was bought brand new from a dealer in 2013 in original condition. There was no dealer installed crap on it whatsoever. I bought it 3 years later with 3,600 miles on it from the original owner who barely ever drove it. There are good ones out there. You just have to be patient.
2011 9C3: 11.48 @118.
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The Tech
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Re: needle in a hay stack

Post by The Tech »

I was one of the lucky folks who was able to purchase a "used" 2011 9C3 in 2013 with 41 miles on it. The dealer in Atlanta got tired of it sitting on their lot as no department wanted the Detective model.
2011 Alto Gray Caprice PPV 9C3, Kooks Long Tube Headers, Kooks Drag Cats and Crossover, Solo Axle Back System.
1996 DGGM Impala SS
1995 Caprice 9C1 red over white
2015 Bright Yellow Jeep Wrangler, the better half's car.
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eagle-co94
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Re: needle in a hay stack

Post by eagle-co94 »

I picked up my 9C3 as a flood car with 708 miles on it. The car is near perfect...other than a locked up motor. I looked for a little while and jumped on this one when I found it at the insurance auction. I will be pulling the motor this week hopefully to swap for an LSA.
-James . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "Life without knowledge is death in disguise."
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