As we told you before when we first showed you the new cop car from Chevy, the Caprice PPV's built on the longer wheelbase Zeta platform, and will come with the 6.0-liter L76 V8 and inevitably a DI 3.6-liter V6. We're looking forward to driving one, but in the meantime we're impressed with the interior space.

Click "next" to follow along with the modern history of the special package Chevy police vehicles and finish up our "Maximum Caprice Day" coverage.

Photo Credit: AV8Pix

1959 Chevy Biscayne Introduced
The Chevy Biscayne sets a new standard for law enforcement vehicles with the specially-tuned policy-only version with a 348-cubic-inch V8 capable of propelling the car to a then impressive 135 MPH.

1965 Chevy Big-Block
As police officers get used to high power Chevy offers a "big-block" 396 V8 in both Biscayne and Bel Air police cars, making them the most powerful patrol cars at the time. A year later they added a 427 V8.

Photo Credit: IMCDB

1976 Sees Introduction Of The 9C1
Just as the average buyer could check the Z28 box to make their bow-tied sedan into something with a bit more power, the 9C1 code is introduced for the first as a full-size police car package.

1977 Chevy Impala 9C1
The effects of the oil embargo even impacts the police packages and the Impala is downsized, but the 9C1 code remains.

Photo Credit: IMCDB</em.

1986 Caprice Introduced As Impala Replacement
The Impala nameplate would have to wait for a few years as the Impala is replaced with the Caprice. Coming along with the badge is a 5.7-liter small block V8.

Photo Credit: IMCDB

1991 New Generation Caprice
A new generation Caprice is introduced, including a sweet wagon version.

Photo Credit: IMCDB

1994 LT1 V8 Introduced For Caprice
The LT1 V8 makes its first appearance in the Caprice 9C1 making it one of the fastest police cars ever.

Photo Credit: CarDomain

1996 Caprice Ends
The last 9C1 Caprice rolls off the assembly line.

Photo Credit: MSOE.edu

2000 Impala Police Car Introduced
The FWD Impalas were a dull replacement for the rough-and-tumble body-on-frame Caprices.

2011 Caprice Returns
Yeah! A new 2011 Chevy Caprice PPV with promised best-in-class performance and tougher looks is around the corner.

Click "next" to get the low-down on the five-oh in the 9C1s

Movie: Nothing To Lose
Year: 1997
Type: 1990 Chevrolet Caprice 9C1
Role: Oh man, Martin Lawrence movies. This is a classic 9C1 done up in a fake highway patrol livery. Given the movie is supposed to be contemporaneous in 1996 it's a little questionable that this vehicle would still be in service in this great condition, though we've seen local sheriffs drive in older cars.

Movie: The Bone Collector
Year: 1999
Type: 1992 Chevrolet Caprice SSV K-9 Unit
Role: Carrying police officers and K9 unit to the scene of the crime. We love wagons, and the SSV wagons were popular with police forces for non-patrol units such as K9 (seen here), special investigations, and special traffic duty.

Credit: IMCDB.org

Movie: Groundhog Day
Year: 1993
Type: 1980 Chevrolet Caprice 9C1
Role: The police chief uses it to chase down a suicidal Billy Murray/Groundhog combination. This is once again another example of older Caprices being limited to small town duty. There's something iconic

Credit: IMCDB.org

Movie: 2 Fast 2 Furious
Year: 2003
Type: 1995 Chevrolet Caprice 9C1
Role: Chasing those 2 bad 2 be stopped guys, the 9C1 typically manages to keep up with even the most hopped-up rides in films. Because this is a 1995, we assume it has LT1 V8 power and thus is able to blow the doors off your average Honda Civic.

Credit: IMCDB.org

Movie: The Matrix Reloaded
Year: 2003
Type: 1995 Chevrolet Caprice 9C1
Role: Attempting to kill Neo. There were so many GM vehicles in this movie you knew you weren't going to see a Crown Vic. There's also something decidedly more sinister about the 9C1.

Credit: IMCDB.org

Movie: Bad Boys II
Year: 2003
Type: 1994 Chevrolet Caprice 9C1
Role: Getting smashed up as the bad guys, not to be confused with the bad boys, who are tossing cars off a transporter! May God help you if you're a police officer in a Michael Bay film because he has a penchant for crushing Caprices.

Credit: IMCDB.org

Movie: Beavis and Butt-Head Do America
Year: 1996
Type: 1993 (we think) Chevrolet Caprice 9C1
Role: Why do we love Mike Judge? The intricacy of the animation and the attention to detail. When Hank Hill moved up from a Ranger to an F-Series Super Duty we all noticed. And we noticed when the cops in the standoff had Caprices.

Credit: IMCDB.org

Movie: Tommy Boy
Year: 1995
Type: 1993 Chevrolet Caprice 9C1
Role: "Bees! Bees! Bees in the car! Bees everywhere! God, they're huge! They're ripping my flesh off! Run away, your firearms are useless against them!"

Credit: IMCDB.org

Movie: No Country For Old Men
Year: 2007
Type: 1990 Chevrolet Caprice
Role: One of the few films we feature using a Caprice during the early 1990s, the lighting package is ideal for a county police department in middle-of-nowhere Texas. Oh man, you don't want to know how this ends.

Credit: IMCDB.org

Movie: Black Sheep
Year: 1996
Type: 1987 Chevrolet Caprice 9C1
Role: "Well, I got a 426 hemi here, 3/4 cams, nitro boosters, I can get 'er up to as good as 155! Never do, though, of course, unless I'm chasing a cute chick in a Ferrari! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I guess I was goin' about... 65, tops." Of course, it's unlikely there is HEMI under there given it's a GM product, but who knows. Chris Farley is crazy.

Credit: IMCDB.org

Chevrolet plans to make the announcement of their new police cruiser today at the annual International Association of Chiefs of Police convention, in Denver, Colorado. Because we asked, we've been given an exclusive look at the details of the new car they plan to begin taking orders on next year with cars set to hit the streets in early 2011.

Contrary to reports at the end of last week by a number of auto outlets, we're now able to exclusively report GM's new police cruiser brings back the old Chevy Caprice name. It also will not be a re-badged Pontiac G8 sedan. Instead, the new Chevy uses the longest wheelbase version of the Zeta platform — 118.5" — making it almost four inches longer than the 114.7" wheelbase Pontiac G8 sedan. If that bigger-than-G8 number sounds familiar, it should — it's the same length as the Holden VE Ute, the Holden Statesman and the Middle Eastern Chevy Caprice and...drum roll, please...the Pontiac "El Camino" G8 ST. That's right folks, the new police car from Chevy is as close to the El Camino as we're coming here in the U.S. We'll give you a moment to clean up any coffee you've just spit up.

Done? Good, because there's more to the story. Chevy sounds like it's setting up the Caprice to not only meet the bar set by the police vehicle competition, but to blow it away. The long wheelbase Zeta-platformed Chevy sits right in the middle of the Ford Crown Vic's 114.7" wheelbase and the larger Dodge Charger's 120.0" wheelbase.

Under the hood, GM says the Caprice will have a 6.0-liter LS2 V8 engine rated at an estimated 355 HP and 384 lb-ft of torque mated to a six-speed auto transmission. Power output compares favorably to the 340 HP HEMI in the Dodge Charger police edition and absolutely blows away the Ford Crown Vic's 250 HP 4.6-liter V8.

We're told that bigger engine will deliver an expected best-in-class 0-to-60 time of under six seconds along with a similarly best-in-class top speed. But, for those forces uninterested in the super-sized 6.0-liter eight-cylinder engine, we're also told a V6 engine will be offered beginning in the 2012 model year.

The Caprice with both engine sizes will recieve the same police car-specific vehicle systems like high-output alternator and standard 18-inch steelies with bolt-on center caps and will ride on a heavy-duty four-wheel independent suspension and a "police-calibrated stability control system."

Chevy's cop competitive streak continues to the interior with optional compatibility available for in-dash, touch-screen computer technology (by relocating the standard radio to the trunk), two trunk-mounted batteries, with one of them dedicated to powering various police equipment and complimentary special packages such as spotlights; lockouts for the power windows and locks; and an "undercover" street-appearance package. Good luck with the "undercover" part considering there's no civilian version of the Caprice PPV.

Even the front seats have been sculpted to "pocket" an officer's equipment belt, with the foam density of the seatback and cushion insert surfaces designed to conform to the shape of an equipment belt's various items, allowing the officer's back to rest properly on the seatback surface. The barrier between the front seat and rear seat is also positioned farther rearward than the Charger or the Crown Vic, allowing for full front-seat travel and greater recline while officers take a highway-side siesta.

The new Caprice will also have significantly larger interior volume — 112 cubic feet — than the Ford Crown Victoria, including — thanks to the longer wheelbase — nearly 4 inches more rear legroom to help give handcuffed suspects a much more comfortable experience. The Caprice PPV's long wheelbase also gives it 18 cubic feet of free trunk volume. That's enough room for a full-size spare located under a flat load surface in the trunk storage area and any number of shotguns, RPGs and whatever other riot gear an officer feels like fitting into a trunk.

The new Caprice will not replace any current vehicle in the GM police vehicle fleet. Rather, it will join the Chevy Impala and the Chevy Tahoe in the bowtied brand's marked patrol vehicle lineup as a very high-powered member of GM's fraternity of police vehicles.

We can't wait to try out the driver's seat. Hopefully it'll be sometime before we try out the extra-large back seat.

In an exclusive interview with the Aussie hoons at Drive.com.au at the Frankfurt Motor Show yesterday, GM CEO Fritz Henderson said the company was making good progress with a plan to sell the Commodore to US law enforcement agencies. Specifically, as we've reported earlier this year, the LAPD.

"We've been working on a package for police applications. I just think that's going to work. We're pretty optimistic about it and that product will be sourced in Australia," he said.

But, while Fritz was all about the fleet applications, he wasn't geeked about other short term roles for the Commodore. But in the long term? He didn't rule out a wider role for the car in General Motors' plans going forward.

"It's a global architecture, it gives us options in the future but right now you'd say, near term, no," he said.

Holden has been searching for alternative export programs ever since, but in June GM shut the door on plans to revive the car as a Chevrolet Caprice.

It was thought the GM plan to import cars from Australia to US enforcement agencies would meet with strong opposition from GM's new owners, the unions and the Government, in light of the mass plant closures and job losses in the United States that followed the company's filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

But senior GM exectuive Bob Lutz played down those fears in a blog on a company website in June this year.

"While the large (rear-wheel-drive) cars may be made in Australia, they are an integral part of GM, contain US-built engines and transmissions and numerous other components, and are so ‘American' in character that I don't believe the law enforcement agencies would have any problems with the assembly origin of the vehicle. Plus, they'll love it," he said. (Hat tip to Ben!) [via smh.com.au]

It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

By Bob Lutz
GM Vice Chairman

OK, I have some late-breaking news for you from the world of GM, where things are indeed moving quickly, and what I'm about to say is proof.

In fact, we're moving so fast, we're going back in time to, oh, about four or five days ago, when the Pontiac G8 was going away and was not going to become a new Chevrolet Caprice.

And therein lies the news: The G8 will not be a Caprice after all. I'd mentioned it, and said we were studying it, giving it a serious look, because a car like the G8 was just too good to waste.

That's all still true. But I have to say that, with my new "marketing" hat on, upon further review and careful study, we simply cannot make a business case for such a program. Not in today's market, in this economy, and with fuel regulations what they are and will be.

I know that we'll get a lot of complaints from G8 lovers, because I'm one of them. And the product guy in me is complaining as loudly as anyone. But the marketing guy says there's no case. With budgets being what they are for the time being, the resources must be allocated elsewhere.

In no way, and this is very important, in no way does this mean we are backing away from performance, or backing away from rear-wheel drive. Look no further for proof than the Corvette, the Camaro, the CTS or many other present and future Cadillacs. We have a strong lineup of RWD vehicles already and we will continue to have it.

And we have a tremendous RWD team in Australia that gave us the beloved G8, a team that we will tap into at some point again in the future for its expertise and sheet metal. Just not right now.

For those of you keeping score at home, that's New GM 1 and Fun GM 0. [via GM Fastlane Blog]

The comment he gave Autoblog? "We've been looking at it for police applications. As for whether or not it's broader than police applications, I am not a believer in re-branding and re-badging. We've been talking about in terms of potential police applications and we'll leave it at that."

Then, to the two print journalists, his comment was: "No. It's not going to happen." Then, when pressed for a specific comment about "Maximum" Bob's remarks, Henderson retorted in his best "I'm the decider" voice: "Bob Lutz says a lot of things, but he works for me." Awesome. Way to tell off Bob for straying off the reservation.

It seems to us like Fritz is saving his best lines for the non-online outlets, doesn't it? It's too bad neither print journalist actually published this quote as it's SO much better than the Autoblog quote.

To summarize: CEO Fritz Henderson first says G8 GXP survival unlikely. Then, Lutz says it's coming back. Today we find out from AutoBlog that Fritz said yesterday:

We've been looking at it for police applications. As for whether or not it's broader than police applications, I am not a believer in re-branding and re-badging. We've been talking about in terms of potential police applications and we'll leave it at that."

It could be a long year if the "New GM" is going to be nothing but Lutz Said/Fritz Said. Either way, big G8 fans may at least be able to settle on retired police cars.

[AutoBlog]

No, unfortunately, it's not. But what it does mean is Lutz will have a greater say in product planning than sources had initially claimed.

"The last time we looked at [the G8], we decided that we would continue to import it as a Chevrolet," Lutz said. "It is kind of too good to waste."

CEO Fritz Henderson has repeatedly denied that the G8 would survive as part of another brand, saying he's "not a fan of rebadging."

But Lutz, citing export agreements with Australia and the fact that the Holden Commodore is already sold in many countries as a Chevrolet, assured Automobile GM would not let the car die. Find out more over at Automobile Magazine.

Photo Credit: GM Press Photo

Despite a denial of the possibility by GM CEO Fritz Henderson, Automotive News reports this morning Tom Stephens, GM's vice-chairman of global product development is claiming there's still the possibility the Pontiac G8 will show up in another GM brand. The things is he doesn't actually say that. But his quote in the report? It doesn't so much say that:

"I know there's still discussions on it," says Stephens. "But Chevrolet already has several sedans. How many sedans do you need to cover the waterfront?"

Hmm, that reads more to us like "I know enthusiasts are discussing this, but we're not going to be doing it." There aren't any more sources they're quoting in today's piece.

We're glad to see Automotive News has shed the shackles of reporting constructs of the "mainstream" media and now has the same — if not worse — reporting standards than us mere bloggers. [Automotive News]

If you haven't guessed, or you've been living under a rock since our inception, we love us some ute's and when Pontiac showed us the Pontiac G8 ST concept last year, we just about wet ourselves. They took our dreams away (They killed Kenny, you bastards!), but we're once again hopeful for its return.

It's said platform designer Holden will potentially lose close to $1 billion in annual profit if the long wheelbase (the short wheelbase underpins the Camaro) Zeta platform leaves our shores, which is why GM is trying to find another way to keep the platform alive. Our first idea would be to re-style and re-brand the Pontiac G8 ST as the GMC Denali ST depicted above, especially given the currently shaky full-size truck market and considering the mid-size truck market is somewhat pointless right now. A light-duty truck is just what GMC needs.

Other examples of where the long-wheelbase Zeta platform could be used is to underpin the next generation STS/DTS replacement. This was initially in the playbook, but when gas prices rose, GM quickly shoved that idea under the rug. We say it's still a viable plan. Another idea in need of a case study would be to bring the Middle-Eastern/South American market Chevy Caprice/Lumina over or just give the Pontiac G8 a quick face lift. We've previously had wet dreams of a big-bodied, LS3-powered Chevy SS model to go with our techno-retro new Camaro thank-you-very-much.

Another option would be to bring the Chinese-market Buick Park Avenue to our shores, though we're not quite sure how Grandma and Grandpa would feel about switching from their plush Lucerne to a semi-rough riding rear-wheel-drive sedan. Hell, maybe they'd just remember the good ol' days of luxo-motoring and like it.

However GM decides to market the Zeta platform, we'll welcome it because as we all know, they need to put a little more excitement in their product lineup and with plenty of other FWD econo-boxes in the portfolio a nice V8 RWD sedan (or Ute!) would supplement nicely. [via goauto]

Well, probably because enthusiasts are like, the least important of GM's list of stakeholders at the moment and there's little desire on the part of the administration, the biggest of the new stakeholders, for building a high-horsepower super-sedan. Which is a shame.

So although it'll never happen, even with Pontiac now dead, that won't stop us from dreaming high-horsepower Corvette-engined dreams from a platform that's birthed the greatest Pontiac ever built. But not as a Camaro SS — rather, we'd prefer this bad boy become an Impala SS. Either way, in our fantasy world, we'd be pleased as punch. But what say you?

[via Edmunds Straightline]

Illustrations: Nick Wilcox

As any cop car should, the team also has the Chevy Caprice 9C1 rigged up with a big ol' flashing light. Although this is certainly not standard-issue, and looks more like it's off the top of a cellphone tower, or maybe a small coastal lighthouse. But that's to be expected when your mission statement, "to enslave and torture," follows Barricade's "to punish and enslave."