Ford's Crown Vic is soon going to be feeling the heat. First, by Chrysler's new hot-selling 300C. And maybe soon by a new Chevy Caprice! Hey Ford, you might want to keep that Merauder idea alive by doing some updates and giving it a big infusion of horsepower.
---------- "General Motors may revive the Caprice name in North America with a V-8-powered rear-drive sedan called the Chevrolet Caprice Royale.
The new four-door sedan would be a variation on the Caprice that GM's Holden operation sells in Australia now, featuring several North American touches, including the famous Chevrolet bowtie badge on the front. GM has made no secret of its plan to use its far-flung global empire as a source of new cars for North America.
GM has not announced this Caprice for production yet, but is clearly testing the waters by leaving one out for the press to see during a visit to the company's testing grounds in Milford, Michigan.
It was left-hand-drive and had several cosmetic touches that clearly differentiated it from the Australian model.
Should GM decide to produce the Caprice Royale, it would be the biggest car in the Chevrolet fleet, running 5,193 millimetres in length on a 2,939-mm wheelbase and weighing in at about 1,780 kg.
The Caprice uses MacPherson struts up front with a sway bar and progressive-rate coil springs, and a control-link independent rear that also gets a sway bar and coil springs.
It's likely, however, that it would get a suspension retuning before coming to North America.
In the Pontiac GTO, which GM takes from the Holden Monaro, the
5.7-litre V-8 delivers 350 horsepower at 5,200 r.p.m. and 365 pound-feet of torque at 4,000 r.p.m. through a four-speed automatic, so we can probably expect similar output in the Caprice.There is, of course, a chance that we will not see the Caprice in Canada even if it comes to the United States, because GM of Canada currently does not import the GTO.
GM dropped the Chevrolet Caprice Classic and its sister models, the Cadillac Fleetwood and Buick Roadmaster, when it ended production of its venerable "B-body" line in 1996. The Texas plant where the big rear-drive cars were assembled was converted to truck and sport-utility production.
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Patrick '93 Cobra '83 LTD