1977 Chevrolet Caprice Classic Landau: The NEW Chevrolet | Hagerty Media

[Hagerty]

1977 was a big year for GM. Its full-size cars, its moneymakers, its bread and butter, were completely revitalized. Ads touted,"The New Chevrolet," and the claim wasn't just marketing bluster and bravado this year! Downsizing had arrived to the General's large cars, but the revamped cars weren't simply shrunken version of their prior selves: each represented the revitalized, reimagined, modern American full-size car.
https://www.hagerty.com/media/opinion/klockau-classics/1977-chevrolet-caprice-classic-landau-the-new...

[MSW]

Memories! I remember as a kid growing up in the seventies one of my best friends Dad was an attorney , probably making good money.. His choice of cars? Cadillac, Lincoln? No. He chose the 2 door Chevy Caprice! Starting in 77 he would get one every 2 years. His brother owned a dealership out of the big city. Those cars rode like a dream and were great looking to boot. He even had one of the diesel models when they were the rage. My friend got the 81 coupe to drive the last two years of high school! Maroon Caprice coupe w the 265 small block I think? Not fast but smooth and adequate power. Fond memories! I would even enjoy having one today with some Vette Rally wheels of the period !

[Jost]

I liked those cars but the Landau with the white walls and wire wheels reminds me of what I called disco cars...Mine would of had black walls with rally wheels...but I've been called weird. Nice blast down memory lane. My late 70's car was a 76 Gr. Prix ( 400 ) that I de disco ized with black walls, rally II wheels, daul exhaust ( stock mufflers, no noise). I bought that because my 69 GTO was no longer comfortable on the street..ended up selling that for next to nothing . Certainly a big mistake in life

[CitationMan]

In Tom’s second photo of the red Landau’s back window, notice the vent on the rear deck? It’s the rear defogger fan! On my Dad’s 4 door 77, it would usually defog the window by the time I got to my destination.

[911m491]

A Chiropractor in my building had a silver / red cloth interior Caprice with the 350. I remember driving it when it was new, I was completely shocked how nice the car was. I also supplied a 4 door 78 pale green for the Movie Amityville Horror. Had to match the same car they used in Mexico. We filmed in Toms River NJ then I sold it after the shoot. The also used my Volare Police Car dressed in Amityville colors. That car was haunted after the movie.

[Waterboy]

Wife and I were given the same silver / red microfiber feel cloth interior with the 350 V8 . We were young and needed a second car, family was growing, big and safe. It was a dream to drive, wish we still had.

[spoom]

They did a great job of shrinking them down without losing their identity, and I particularly liked the interior the station wagons. That was back when Ford still did the inside of most station wagons like they were designing a cab or pickup truck and GM made sure that just because you had kids and 500 pounds of bird seed in the back, you were still styling up front in a plush car. I never cared for the straight bend in the rear windows, nothing wrong with it but I just liked the later ones a little better. Somehow the ones with the sharp bend always reminded me of some molded plastic part that you would snap into a model car. I miss those cars.

[blvdsteve]

Just a minor correction to this well written piece. The bent glass rear window 2 dr. did not end with the '78 model year, it continued through '79. I own a '79 Landau and am thrilled to own this car which I consider to be historically significant for the reasons stated in this article- first downsized, full size car and one of Bill Mitchell's last designs before he retired in '77. But also these cars along with the 1980 refresh were the last full size 2 dr., full frame, V-8, rear drive Chevrolets ever.

[tklockau]

You are correct, that was a typo by the author. 🙂

[Sajeev]

We're editing the article now, thanks! 

[MarkyCarBuff]

This will interest you all. Up north in Canada, we still had the lower-priced Chevrolet Bel Air "bent window" coupe in 1977 as well! We are a frugal bunch, I suppose!

[gagray]

I bought a '78 Landau coupe new, trading in a '76 Regal that was beautiful but a "built in Fremont on Friday Afternoon" car. Black on Black. With the 350 4bbl and F41 suspension, and being lighter to boot, it could run with a Z28 all day long. Put seven years and 150,000 miles on it without a bit of trouble. One of the best cars I ever owned.

[MoparMan]

I have been perusing a Facebook Marketplace ad that has one of these for sale. Unfortunately, it would seem that ads placed on FM are notorious for a lack of response (among other failures as well)! I queried the poster as to his location, and have YET to receive a reply!! I also saw a posting on another website, where the 'B' pillar (on a car as pictured) had been photochopped out; the result was a STUNNING hardtop! 🙂

[drjim]

My Dad's last, new car was a '76 Bel Air, and man, was he kicking himself for not waiting another year!

[geozinger]

The owner of the aluminum company I used to work for back in the 80’s had the triple medium blue version of the feature car. Now when I say it was an aluminum company, I mean they had two plants that extruded aluminum and had a whole line of commercial climbing products, not to mention healthy relationships with the Big Three and several foreign automakers, among other related businesses.

He wasn’t really into status-seeking like so many other CEOs. I’ve long thought that his circumstances keeping a business alive in the Great Depression and then weathering WWII may have centered him more than his younger contemporaries.

Quite frankly, the guy could own any car in the world, but he chose a 1977 Chevrolet Caprice coupe.

It spoke volumes to me that this man chose to drive what would have been considered such a plebian car... Every. Single. Day.