The Green Machine - 1978 Caprice Classic - 2 Door Sport Coupe (2024)

Thinning the herd a little, and decided to find The Green machine a new home. This is one of the 2 door sport coupes (no landau top) made with the hot-wire bent rear glass. It's a very highly optioned car, including:

• Power Windows
• Power Locks
• Remote Mirrors
• AM/FM/8 Track
• Power Driver's Seat
• Climate Control
• Rear Defroster
• Remote Trunk Release
• Tilt Wheel

The engine is the venerable, albeit somewhat anemic 305 V8. It runs great though, drives like a cloud, and the transmission goes about its business like it's supposed to. The brakes were recently gone through, and work great.

I'm the third owner of this car; the owner before me was an older gentleman (hence the AARP sticker). It's always been garaged under my care. Odometer shows almost 29,000 miles, though when I got it from the previous owner the title had "144,571" under the odometer reading. It hasn't flipped over since I've had it, so it could very well be 229,000 miles. Regardless, the car looks and drives like a low mileage car, it's unmodified as far as I can tell, and has been adult owned.

The paint looks good at 10 feet; up close there's driver-level imperfections. The A/C does not blow cold. The plastic trim/ filler piece between the rear bumper and the rest of the body is gone; replacements are available aftermarket. There's a couple of missing trim pieces on the passenger side door pull.

Overall it's a solid, non-rusty example of a pretty neat car. Doors feel like they weigh 500 pounds apiece. Michelin tires with good tread, and the factory wheel covers. Finished in two-tone green with green cloth interior.

$12,500, not interested in trades, like I said, trying to thin down the herd. Location is Westminster, MD.

JoeTR6 Dork
3/21/23 7:12 p.m.

glueguy (Forum Supporter) said:

What a glorious body design. I feel appropriately old when I say "they don't make 'em like they used to"

That rear window was a home run when it came out and was a big deal.

wawazat SuperDork
3/21/23 10:21 p.m.

JoeTR6 said:

One of my roomates in college had the twin of that car. I called it "Godzilla". Yours is in much better shape even though that was 1985.

Part of what I love about this car is when I was a kid, this generation of Caprices was ubiquitous. They were taxicabs, police cars, fire department cars, family cars...they were in all the movies, and they were pretty good cars. They ride and have the feel of a big car, but were really kind of like the size of a Chevelle. Friends had them in high school- I had one friend who pretty much only drive these- a succession of sub-$1000 beater 4 doors he always seemed to find, and ran them till they rusted away, crashed, or blew up. Another friend's parents had a wagon, and I loved riding in the "way back", facing traffic through the back window.

This one's honestly too nice for me. I keep it garaged religiously and keep it clean. It's so rare to find these coupes, especially in this condition. I did a search on eBay and Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace and not only are prices all over the map on these, there aren't too many data points for comparison.

That's super clean. Sort of unbelievable that it could possibly be over 200k miles.

GLWS!

AxeHealey said:

That's super clean. Sort of unbelievable that it could possibly be over 200k miles.

GLWS!

I have a suspicion the odometer reading was messed up somewhere along the way by the Motor Vehicle Department. The previous owner bought it in 1999 and the title I got from him said 144,571, but the 5 digit odometer was only 20,000 and some. So the odometer rolled over under his care, but I have nothing to back up whether it was 144,000 when he got it, or 14,000, or ???

I agree, the interior especially is super clean and there isn't any wear on the seats or controls that would substantiate 200+ thousand miles. It's still got the original GM floor mats, even, and the floor rug (and yes, it is a rug- it's got as much pile as a 1970's living room) is in great shape.

Had one potential buyer, we went back and forth and he finally backed out. Nothing to do with the car (he hasn't come to see it yet).

Just got a mention on Daily Turismo, hopefully that will drive some traffic my way.

https://dailyturismo.com/keep-it-stock-1978-chevrolet-caprice-classic/

Bump, price drop.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/211455091471746/