I'm currently on the verge of divorce, would this push us over the cliff?

I grew up riding around in that sort of crap wagon when they were a whole lot newer. Do not want. Certainly not at half or greater your income for 20 years if she is smart enough not to re-marry.

I saw one of those with the back half of a Caprice wagon installed, to make a kind of '80s Nomad. It was pretty cool, especially since it was relatively deadpan rather than an obvious hotrod.

I have no comment or advice on your marital situation.

This touched more of a nerve than I thought - as much for the situation as the car. Sarcasm may not be the best rhetorical device for me to use (gee, I wonder if that's part of our issue. Nah. Couldn't be... oops, I did it again).

When I was a kid, a buddy had a 4 door. Seemed a lively little beast, and I was always partial to the quirky styling. Somebody referenced the price of that back window, need to look at that - just in case something were to happen to it.

I was thinking about this as I drove the focus on the way in this morning. It really is a nice little car too, makes me wonder how much I'd want to trade it out for an old hot roddish/daily driver. But, I've always wanted to spiff up a domestic a little bit. That and there's a guy in the neighborhood with a G-body, mid 80s, and that thing sounds really cool. And I like those G's, too, but good ones are a little more than I want to start with.

We'll see this afternoon if 30 year old memories of them being kind of neat hold up.

If you give your kid the 320i is your user name going to change to OldWhiteImpala?

I say snag it, then get in good with Andy Nelson, buy some of his old go fast parts and hop it up for pennys! I'll bet he could advise you on building a quick, streetable, decent MPG sled out of it, assuming you don't want an all out 10 second fire breather.

Nah, wait for a 2 door panther to show up, ideally a Mercury Donors for parts swap have been rolling of the assembly line for much longer and more recently.

Good luck on the marriage part.

A buddy of mine had one of those in high school. It was black with a red interior and a set of rally wheels. It was really sharp.

I think with an Ls and od trans, and firm up the suspension and steering it would make a fantastic daily. Like a p71 with way more cool points.

The_Jed wrote: If you give your kid the 320i is your user name going to change to OldWhiteImpala? I say snag it, then get in good with Andy Nelson, buy some of his old go fast parts and hop it up for pennys! I'll bet he could advise you on building a quick, streetable, decent MPG sled out of it, assuming you don't want an all out 10 second fire breather.

Hah! I think it must!

Besides, I'm old, white, and have skinny legs, just like an impala. And I used to be able to run fast.

And yes, comfortable daily would be the goal. I was having second thoughts after the drive in this morning, but I almost want to do it now just to change my user name!

I can't tell if the OP is serious, but if he is, just the fact that he is asking means it's a bad idea and he knows it.

Guy who did design for Troy Trepanier had one of those that was bad as all get out. He also had a body dropped Tercel so his taste may be in question....

Make a pact with a buddy. Buy it, but title it in his name. That way, angry ex-SWMBO won't take it in the divorce and crush it. When the divorce is official, put $1 on the title and have your buddy sign it over. Buy him a couple of cases of beer as repayment.

I'm still of the mind that if a divorce is truly pending for OP, buying another car should be the least of his priorities...I'd be looking at lawyering up, shopping for apartments, unloading as many obligations as possible...but I guess a G-body's big enough to sleep in, if you must.

My gut feeling is this marriage is deader than hell and if this puts the nail in the coffin, so be it. This is almost familiar turf.

You know all the suspension bits and brakes swap over from the last generation (1994-1996) 9C1s,right? Make the 2 door Impala SS everyone knows GM should have done.

Have fun with it, but if you are going to buy a car to get divorced over make it a Maserati biturbo...then make sure she gets stuck with it in the divorce settlement

In reply to sanman:

You owe me a keyboard.

That was funny...

Looked at the car (just drove by it and walked around), seems pretty solid. Driving it would tell a little more, but not sure how much I want to do this.

The thought struck me, while I am capable, willing, able, and completely committed to cutting off my nose to spite my face, I realized that I didn't want the car near as much as I was trying to piss off the wife with it. If one is going to win the battle and lose the war, one should at least want to win the battle.

We talked a bit tonight too, potential progress. Maybe if we start getting along better, I'll get the car! Er... ah, let me think about that some more...

SlickDizzy wrote: I'm still of the mind that if a divorce is truly pending for OP, buying another car should be the least of his priorities...I'd be looking at lawyering up, shopping for apartments, unloading as many obligations as possible...but I guess a G-body's big enough to sleep in, if you must.

a Caprice is a B body, which is the same chassis as the A body from the 70's... the B body got downsized to the A body chassis in 1977, and the A body got downsized in 78, finally getting the "G" designation in 1981 when the all new and super exciting fwd cars from GM got the "A" designation... if you read that carefully, you'd have noticed that the "A" and "B" body cars were the same size and built on the same chassis for the 1977 model year...

the B body kept the same chassis from 77-96, which means there are a LOT of potentially awesome cheap chassis upgrades out there.. and the engine is a small block, which means that there is a lot of potentially awesome cheap power upgrades out there.. and an LS swap of some flavor isn't too hard or expensive, either..

sanman wrote: Have fun with it, but if you are going to buy a car to get divorced over make it a Maserati biturbo...then make sure she gets stuck with it in the divorce settlement

Better yet, make sure her attorney gets stuck with it.

OldGray320i wrote: I know I just picked up the answer, but there's something cool about these. To me, this is cool...

Never met an honest or sane man who was not on the edge of divorce! After all its the only war where you get to sleep with the enemy.

I like the car, but really, if you don't have time to play with it, its not going to make life easier. Sounds more like its time to simplify and eject baggage for whatever lies ahead.

I've got the wagon variant. After a bit of work, it handles remarkably well and makes a wonderful daily. Rather underrated cars, IMO.

As for the wife, can't help you much there...