By Antti Kautonen
My American car sighting posts continue. This 1987 Caprice Classic post is somewhat of an exception, as it was shot in the middle of the night, coming out of a nightclub in central Tampere, Finland – usually my sightings are done in broad daylight.
The Caprice is very apt for a night time sighting, as it’s ratty as hell and somewhat menacing. I’m also very satisfied how well the photos turned out, despite the occasion. I don’t think I could have staged them better than this had I tried, and the setting was pure luck.
Finland’s full of rattlecan black Caprice wagons registered as commercial vans at import. They all have had the back seat replaced by a stiff board covered up with the original back seat cloth, and they’ve successfully dodged a noticeable import tax with that modification. They still have the uncomfortable rear seat in place, since were you to convert it back to normal, you would be paying the dodged tax in full. Or so the story goes.
The van-registered Caprices, by now, have been pretty much run to the ground or close to that. They do run badly a long time, and scrape past the inspection, so they’re not going anywhere for a long time. I think I’ve seen total beater Caprices driving around for 20 years now, so they went ugly early.
And as the Caprices age, get bashed and fixed and bashed again, you can see layers of repairs from different times on their sheetmetal. Kind of like old wallpaper on a run-down estate.
But a Caprice with a death-belching 5.0 V8 is still pretty much one of the nicest ratty things you can see driving around. With the Olds 307 (as seen in all the wagons from late ’85 on) rumbling on, the car cruising at a comfortable and government-mandated 80 km/h, there are worse ways to travel. The round blemish seen on the tailgate below is from an enormous 80 sticker, denoting the speed limit for vans like this.
Some of the converted Caprice wagons saw use as hearses. A pretty good rule of thumb these days is that if you really want a clean and well kept Caprice wagon over here, you really need to buy an ex-hearse. 99% of the ones not having been in cold transport are beaten to hell.
[Images: Copyright 2013 Hooniverse/Antti Kautonen]
Jeff Glucker 
Kamil Kaluski
Ford-Freak drives a Chevy… Now I've seen it all!
Probably became a Ford freak as a direct result of owning a Chevy.
Some questions:
1) Are there a lot of rich people in Finland? I mean, how many peeps can afford to fill up a Caprice wagon, and;
2) Why an 80km/h speed limit? Is this in general, or because they're terrified of the idea of a big American car doing 70mph?
Fuel has always been expensive here, in comparison to the average paycheck. People are used to pay out of their noses for fuel. Some like a burbling v8 enough to justify the cost, I guess. And it is all about how much you drive, of course. People with caprices usually have something more economical for the commute.
The speed limit is enforced on vans, or in this case, cars registered as vans. 100km/h if you have a drivers side airbag and ABS, I believe. Not sure why, really. I guess they don't want to make the tax dodging loophole too attractive.
The speed limit thing has to do with the import tax dodge. Caprice wagons were just heavy enough and had barely enough cargo space to qualify as vans, and those had/still have 80km/h limits. Why? Because the DOT says it's safer that way. Back in the day they used to make new drivers slow down and carry that stupid 80-badge for their first year on the road. People didn't mind this because you could buy two vans or "vans" for the price of one passenger car (and have money left over), and a tax evasion Caprice / CC / Electra wagon was a way for a regular working Pekka to afford a brand new car that was more luxurious than most Mercedes'.
Out in the middle of the night because they're too embarrassed to be seen in public during the day.
Shopping at H&M.
Somebody here loves H&M.
I can only hope they receive a Viking funeral when they're finally done.
Now that's patina!
I need to stop driving so carefully.
Looks like a walk-on for The Walking Dead.
Proof that GM cars run bad longer than most cars run at all.