76 Caprice Estate from Florida to California or bust!

Thanks guys, it truly was a trip of a life time! John the SS NASCAR is based on the Commodore, not bad hey.

Gotta love the window sticker. If you look, this car was built in Elizabeth a satellite city built in the 50's and and named after her majesty maybe 15 miles just north of the Adelaide city CBD, to pretty much attract post war English migrants, and more specifically tradesman for the growing auto industry and although Melbourne (Fisherman's Bend) is head office and they run an engine line there, Adelaide has always been the home of the Holden with plants opening and closing all over the country over past 60 years with Adelaide being the birth place and the last one standing, we will now provide the death bed for Holden as well when Gm pulls out of local production in 2017, meaning no more Commodore
This car would retail in Australia for around $50k!

 

Thanks for the info, Premier!

 

That is terrible fuel economy for a mid sized modern car. Box shaped cars of the 30's-40's did that well.

 

That's the price you pay for that 6.2 liter V8. That and the $1300 gas guzzler tax, that is.

 

One additional charge, like options.......and its a tax! Naughty!

(This IS the car Consumer Reports recently gave one of its highest overall ratings of all time too though! )

 

I love the American way they tax for everything. It even costs more because it's red.

 

Taxes never end!

 

Actually Cat, these are quite frugal when you consider the shear size of these things. They really are a comfortable full size family saloon and I know we are lucky because if GM was not so persistent with the Corvette program over the years, then we would not have access to these engines for family cars over here, and after all, slotting a big V8 into a 4 door saloon straight from the factory and calling it a race car is what we in Australia do best!

Also when you think about it, how many 30's and 40's cars had to carry and operate A/C, power steering, 10 airbags and retractable seat belts while being capable of making 300 hp at the treads, stock, and asked to put out next to zero in emissions?

I have had a 5.7 SS ute and I have also had 2 Ls2 6.0 litre and 2 Ls3 6.2 litre Commodores (all HSV) 4 door sedans over the years and I can give you some real world figures. On the open road, it is quite common to get these down to low 10 litres per 100 km or about 23 US mpg at about 110 kph or 66 mph. Across Victoria where the speed limit is capped at 100 kph or 60 mph and is heavily policed (except in some very exceptional circumstances, where it is 110), then on a good day these, these will drop into mid 9 litres per 100 or very close to 25 US mpg.

I know they are not wagons, but I have some good pics of my Hot Holdens I have owned over the years that I can put up if you like.

Cheers Mike.

 

Did they go 0-60 in 5 seconds and put out 415 (net) horsepower as well?

 

Great point!

This sounds like very much a worthy contemporary muscle car - very appropriate name for it!

I'd be very interested if I were in the market for a new one, but my 2001 Cad ETC is at 99k and runs like a charm (plus it's paid for).

 

Why's everybody always pickin on me?
Those are some impressive numbers. Yes things have changed. Still if I tried to go from home to our little town shopping 5 seconds at a time I'd get stopped by Johnny Law.

 

Hey didn't mean to come off like that, its that I am probably in a fairly good position to give you an idea of what these things are like for real. They really are cool cars, and all this performance also comes in rear wheel drive sport wagons (although I have only owned these in sedans) including HSV models like this 2006 VE E1 as well as the rear wheel drive 4 door saloons you already have in the US.


Here is our 2014 VF SSV model same as the one I saw in LA but I think the US version comes slightly higher spec than ours as well. Would these sell over there?




It is a pity perhaps GM did not send these over as a 300 C sport wagon competitor 5 years ago after Chrysler sent the wagons here, but I think they probably had a lot on their plate back then as well
Cheers Mike.

 

That's a very impressive looking sport Commodore wagon, Mike! Too bad it is not offered in the US.

(But personally I still like your '76 Caprice Estate wagon better.)

 

DeviantArt is a website on which people can post art (Whether it's in form of Photographs, Drawings or whatever) and comment on it. It also has a "Watch" system where you can watch another user's uploads and some other activities such as critiques and favorites. You can look up many things there: Birds; Chipmunks; Squirrels with Lightsabers; Comics such as "Stupid Fox"; Trees; Coffee Foam Art; My Little Pony; Station Wagons; Guitars; Rusty Boats and Airplanes and a lot of stuff I didn't list. It's a nifty site, I think there are other sites like it too but I don't know all of them off the top of my head.

 

Hey thanks for the heads up 101Volts, I submitted and titled it as Frontage Rd. Cheers Mike