As seen in Chevy High Performance! Just a Reader's Rides mention, but the fifteen minutes of fame feel pretty good.
Shot on the infamous Gandy Brige in St Pete, FL.
The annual Daytona Spring Car Show
This is my concept of what a Biscayne SS would have been had there been Biscayne SS' in 1991. I started with a '91 Caprice Classic with a 305. This all started just after I did the LT1 swap. The 94-96 Impala community is rife with people cloning Caprices into Impala SS'. I didn't want to do a direct clone, and I wanted to do something different from a Caprice SS (the middle east export version of the Impala SS in 94-96) which is also a popular choice. A choice that I had made myself in the beginning.
This led me to start looking for something different to call it. Chicayne was being featured in Hot Rod and that introduced me to the Biscayne nameplate. And it started me thinking about rebadging it with a discontinued marque. The big cars from Chevy's past were the Bel Air, Impala, Caprice, Del Ray and Biscayne. I drew up a set of side scripts in the same font style as the Impala SS using the Bel Air, Del Ray and Biscayne names and thought that the Biscayne looked best. The Bel Air was also discarded from consideration because Chevy occasionally makes noises of bringing it back with concept cars.
I had already started getting rid of the fake wood grain and taking off the ugly chrome moldings when I found out the Biscayne and Impala were differentiated by their trim. Removing the chrome and wood actually made it more like a Biscayne!
Only one little hitch, the Super Sport package was never offered for a Biscayne. "To heck with it!" I said and made it an SS anyway.
This is above all an homage to a mostly forgotten and overlooked marque from Chevy's past.
A common question: What's a Z09? Many people know what a Z06 is. Is Z09 some special performance code for the Caprice like Z06 is for the 'Vette? I wish. Z09 is the conversion code that changes a Caprice into a Caprice Classic. I'm not sure of all the changes made by this code, but I assume that the power window and seats and other creature comforts and features are part of it.
I am sometimes amazed at the changes that I have made to this car. Totally different from when it rolled off the line at Willow Run, Michigan on the 15th of March, 1990. Or even when I bought it in May 1996.
Note for the vocabulary impaired: Homage: Anything given or done to show the reverence, honor or respect in which a person or thing is held.
This Page
Page 2: The Engine Swap
Page 3: Body Work
Page 4: The Interior
Page 5: Brakes
Page 6: The Way Things Used To Be
