C/D Archives: 1977 Caprice 9C1 test

[kevm14]

http://m.caranddriver.com/reviews/1977- ... ented-test

[kevm14]

This article is chock full of awesome B-body quotes.

1977 was the first year of the 4th gen, the big downsizing. GM poured a lot of money into this effort. There are separate articles but I believe the gist is interior space was maintained while exterior space and weight was tremendously reduced. Plus ride/handling stuff. They already knew F41 was good, for example.

Some of the 9C1 changes were different from what I am used to by the 90s. Engine durability upgrades, for example.

[kevm14]

Bringing this back for some choice quotes:

A patrol car's mission in life is clear: to provide maxi­mum levels of speed, roadholding, han­dling, braking, and driver comfort—all in the most durable, reliable, and cheap-to-run package possible. That sounds like something every enthusiast would hope to call his own—never mind his temptation to write them all off as glorified taxicabs ev­ery time one looms in his mirrors, lights blazing to notify him of some misdeed. And even if they didn't have exceptional performance, police cars would probably still be more desirable than ordinary cars—just because they always have been, and still are, forbidden fruit.

Not only did they pull a cruiser out of service for a day just for us, but they were happy to help us get any pictures we need­ed. And sure, we could put our fifth wheel on and test the car right there on the pub­lic roads. "There's only one restriction," City Councilman Dick Hagerty informed us, "You can't exceed 60 mph." We had hoped to push the Impala to the limit, but this was not the limit we had in mind.

All this equipment adds about 300 pounds and $2500 to the basic 9C1.

That partially explains the lame 9.6 second 0-60. So does the 170 HP LM1 350 (continued until the 1988 9C1!) and 3-speed automatic.

Though we had known beforehand not to expect anything approaching the beat of a high-performance engine, it was still a bit of a disappointment when the 350-cubic-inch LM1 engine lit off. No rumpa-rumpa, just the smooth flow of solid-citizen small-block Chevy power. We eased out into traffic with the motor humming just as smoothly and quietly as in a Caprice Clas­sic. Unfortunately, quiet operation and merely adequate power were all that could be expected from this motor, the most powerful one anybody—civilian or military—can order in a big Chevy. With 170 horsepower working through the Turbo Hydra-matic and a 3.08:1 final-drive ratio, the Impala managed a zero-to-sixty time of 9.6 seconds. The top speed with this setup and a "clean" roof is 117 mph, according to Chevrolet.

Now I really like this part:

Over Sylvania's bumpy secondary routes, silky-smooth Interstate, and potholed city macadam, the Impala behaved more like a BMW than a police car. The ride was compliant, almost to the point of being soft, but always composed and well controlled. Tar strips made their presence known, but wavy pavement and large bumps were swallowed whole. The 9C1 balances road feel and ride better than any other full-sized domestic car.

The handling—as far as we were able to tell, given that Sylvania, Ohio, didn't want any reckless driving in its police car—is ev­ery bit as good as, if not better than, the F41 car. The 9C1 has high-effort power steering—thanks to a revised spool valve—which adds an increment of road feel that is absent from the standard car's system. When you twist the wheel you can feel a push back from the front tires, which gives you the confidence to approach the car's cornering limit. A longer pitman arm is also part of the 9C1 steering system, and it effectively creates a quicker steering ratio—another reason the car cuts so fast.

The 9C1 could never be described as light on its feet, at least not in the same way as a Civic or even a 320i, but nothing else this big—over 4200 pounds in police trim—is so agile. We never reached its lim­it of adhesion—the thought of Sergeant Stucker sliding across the seat with his handcuffs out was enough of a deterrent. But we did push it hard enough to observe that its cornering attitude is flat and that it doesn't knuckle under as easily as most in­termediate and compact sedans. The sus­pension does an admirable job of keeping the HR70-15 Goodyear high-speed fabric radials (certified for 125 mph) in firm con­tact with the pavement. You won't find more sophisticated road manners on any American sedan.

More chassis discussion:

Much of the 9C1's finesse on the road can be traced back to its origins. The integ­rity of the basic GM B-car chassis is well documented, and almost every model de­rived from it is an above-average handler. To create the 9C1, the engineers took the basic chassis two steps further. They up­graded it to F41 status, which includes stif­fer springs all around, front and rear anti-sway bars, stiffer rear suspension bushings, stiffer body mounts, and revalved shock ab­sorbers. They then substituted a 1.0-inch-diameter rear anti-sway bar for the 0.86-inch F41 unit and put in firmer shocks. The frame's side rails have also been strength­ened, for durability reasons. The final re­sult amounts to a fine-tuned F41 suspen­sion, and that's a fine thing indeed.