The Chevrolet Caprice and its competitors are part of a class of American cars that often get tossed aside as being tired workhorses, the ones that we count on until no longer necessary for daily transport. When you find a car like this 1989 Caprice in surprisingly nice condition, it reminds you that not everyone treats these cars like throwaway items. The “Box Chevy” generation has sadly become a target for owners who like to pursue aggressive modifications, which makes stock sedans like this 1989 model listed here on Facebook Marketplace so rare to find. The seller has lost his storage and is asking $6,800.
Thanks to Barn Finds reader Zen for this B-body find. When this era of the Caprice was introduced in 1977, it marked a new era for this classic Chevy nameplate. Considered a downsized model like so many other American vehicles entering their next model generation in the 70s and 80s, it still stands out as a large, spacious sedan by today’s standards. The “box” nomenclature isn’t hard to figure out, as the Caprice had the aerodynamics of a brick. Like the Ford Crown Victoria or the Plymouth Fury, these tough four-doors quickly became popular with law enforcement agencies and livery services for their dependability and cheap repairs.
And while there was increasing demand from consumers for luxury and convenience features, the Caprice still made do with things like crank windows and basic AM/FM radios. While more luxury-oriented trims existed, this Caprice showcases how comfort and space was the best feature it could offer a car shopper in the late 1980s. The design did evolve, however, as this model shows with its flush-mounted headlights that demonstrated a modest attempt at reducing drag across the front end. The seller claims his car is mostly stock, but clearly, the sound system has been tastefully upgraded, with a subwoofer mounted in a custom center enclosure.
1989 also marked the year that fuel injection became standard equipment on the 305 LO3 V8 engine, offering 170 horsepower and 250 lb.-ft. of torque. While those were respectable numbers, power was still routed through a lazy-shifting automatic, and unless you found a police package-spec car with the 5.7L V8, count on a car like this being a smooth operator tuned for everyday performance versus a model you want to improve with performance upgrades. And really, with so few original examples left, this Caprice should simply be enjoyed as-is.
Decent looking car, but that DIY center console has to go.
Love the flush headlamps these received in the later yrs. As mentioned the 5.7 cop pkg is one sweet car. Saw a beauty ghost car like that in dark grey, dog dish caps on black steel wheels. Just perfect.
I maintain that the B body cars of this era (88/LeSabre/Caprice) were the best cars made by GM, if not of all time, certainly of that era. I’m partial personally to the 4 rectangular lights, as opposed to the flush style, but these had everything going for them. Size, comfort, reliability, looks, efficiency, and performance. They may not have the excitement/emotional factor, but for what they were intended to be, and what they ended up being, it was a grand slam.