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Hey, glad to be a Caprice Classic owner.
Its a 1986 Caprice Classic 4 Door Sedan, 4.3L V6 (I think), Brown, Valor Interior. Saved it from being junked for $100.
When I got it, I needed a new starter and battery, other than that it was fine. Downside was, it was VERY rusted. So I come to you guys/gals here at Chevy Forums for some answers.
1) My doors (all) are rusted, I need to know if I could privately buy from anyone of you, or online, 4 replacement doors, good (doesnt need to be mint but no dents) condition?
2) My Trunk Door is also rusted, how would I go about getting another one, see question one.
3) The interior was slightly to moderately damaged, again see question one.
It all depends on how much you want to put into the car.Here's what I suggest you do....
Look hard at the flooring.Pull up the carpet and look for holes or soft spots.Look at the kick panels which are the strips of medal that run between the doors.Look at the trunk floor-pull up the carpet in there too.Look at the quarter body panels that are at front rims of the rear wheel openings and the rear bottom of the front fenders for rust.Look at the frame it's self for rusted threw parts and the section behind the rocker panels as the rocker panels themselfs.Try to remember rusts generally runs from the bottom up,so if you have rust on the doors,you want to look at the farther down to see if there is any damage below that.
As far as using it as a daily driver,well once it was done,I think it might be a pretty cool car.I suggest for now you approach it as a project that can be laid up while you fix it.
One source for parts you might want to check out is for junk yards in your area and here is the link I have used before:
Having been in your situation in the past, (many times) I would say that your best option would be to save your money and buy a southern vehicle that is rust free. I'm not sure if they use road salt in NJ but once the vehicle starts to rust as you describe there really is no way to stop it or keep ahead of it.
Add to that the vehicle is 23 years old and not knowing the history of it you are taking a chance that something may go wrong with it mechanically some point in the near future. If you like Caprices, there are plenty of them in better shape and parts are still widely available. (In my area there are very little caprices of that vintage left on the roads .)
If i had known then, what I know now about rust and repairs of these "older vehicles" I would have saved my money and bought something in better shape. I'm almost afraid to take into account how much money I spent in the last 25 years trying to defeat rust and hunt down replacement parts, ( sure you guys have it much easier nowadays with the Internet. Back then I had to call around and hunt down ads in magazines/newspapers and wait for a response LOL . )
If you do decide to go ahead and try to restore this car, the car-part.com site is excellent for items like this. I might add you can also use their search feature to narrow down your area of search to salvage yards closer to your home to save on shipping charges. It's like the locater service many yards offered years ago, some still do.)
Some other options for parts, especially hard to find ones is a recent copy of Hemmings Motor News ( www.hemmings.com ) . Clubs are also an excellent source for parts and info. I'm not aware of any national Caprice club, the Impala one only goes to model year 1970, but check around in your local area and see if one exists. Also some car shows have flea markets or an area set aside for the sale of cars and parts, another option for you. Good luck !
Theres the link to the pictures, I just noticed that there is no structural damage, just Minor Door and panel damage. Might just get the rest (other than the doors) sanded then repainted.
Owner since December '08
