Southern Germany signing in

Cheers,

I accidentally stumbled upon one of the threads on this board (the one about the 11 mph upshift Clunk) while researching something entirely different, and now that I've stopped laughing, I figured I'd sign up.

Soenke is the name, don't even try to pronounce it, I live in Stuttgart, Germany, hometown of Mercedes and Porsche and the US Army European Headquarters.

I own several 1991-1996 B-Bodies, Police Packages most of them, I guess when trying to own and operate these cars on the wrong side of the Atlantic you might as well do it right.
Gas is kinda expensive over here, about 8.45 US Dollars for a Gallon (if I did the conversions right), GM Dealer Support is nonexistent, and anything you might need for your car has to be flown in from the US. But since this is the country of no speed limits, I get to drive 140 mph any time I feel like it, so it ain't all bad.

My winter transport is a civilian 1991 L03 Sedan, delivered new to GM's German subdivision Opel as a demonstrator car back in 1991 (US spec, no Export version available before 1992). Since then, it has seen 250k miles on German Roads and Autobahns, survived tens of thousands of miles of long-distance travel at sustained 110+ mph, and generally had to do all the things German cars have to do. Still on the first engine, first trans, first rearend, no major problems ever.
Anybody thinks quality cars have to be expensive and/or from Europe, I'll show you my Caprice. Toughest, longest-lasting car in the western world.
Best looking, too.

Enough said. I'll see if I can figure out how to upload some photos.

Welcome aboard! You are the second person we have from Europe in our little club!

I'm glad to hear you have had good luck with these full sized Chevy's!
I sent a bunch of door panels and dash parts to germany a few years back to a guy restoring a police package caprice.
I ended up wrapping them up in black trash bags to help cut down on the shipping cost! He was very excited to find the parts. I can imagine how frustrating it must be to hunt down parts!

Plenty of good reading and help here!

Welcome Soenke.
We just keep going Global.

I have spent some time in Nied, Frankfurt when I was young.

You can use Photobucket.com for picture hosting.

I would love to see your car.

Let's see if this works...



On the left is the civilian '91 mentioned above... L03 car with just about every option available in 91... Leather seats, BOSE sound system, 3.08 G80 Rear End. I've seen several cars equipped exactly like this one in Germany... Seems they all belonged to Opel at some point. The one on the right belongs to a friend of mine, it is a Dutch Export '91, which is completely US spec except the speedo is in km/h. Just about zero options on that one, but 3.08 Posi rear end again. The Dutch used a lot of these as Taxis, usually converted to LPG.


Some more:



That's a 94 9C1 L99, former surveillance, later prisoner transport unit for the County of Clark, Nevada. I bought this in 2008 with a mere 65k miles on it. This one is my long distance car... that picture was actually taken in Sweden.



One more of the 94s, this one's a 9C1 LT1, was a School Resources Officer's car in California for most of its life. Has around 80k on it now.



95 9C1 LT1 this one, was a traffic enforcement vehicle on the west coast. Seems like this was used to pull a trailer with a "Your Speed is ...."-Display up and down the freeway. Still only has around 65k miles on it. It really hasn't been used all that much since I've bought it in 2008 either. People react strangely to the black-and-white, even over here.

Welcome to the forum, and thanks for posting the interesting photos!

I've seen pictures of some of these cars wearing unique bumper covers that had extra reflectors on them, and did see while parts searching online a mention of a factory headlamp washing system that mounted behind the front bumper. I'm guessing these items were only available on export models?

It really is funny how many of these cars are on the other side of the Atlantic, just the other day I was watching some new show called "Lilyhammer" that is based in Norway. A scene was shot in the beginning that was purportedly New York, but you could tell they filmed it in Norway as well the save costs, using a Euro-spec Tahoe (with added side markers/turn signals) as an FBI vehicle, and a 77-79 Caprice 2 door that Steven Van Zandt's character drove.

its great when others from across the globe join in for the love of B-bodys. I'm sill pretty new here myself but a b-body enthusiest for over 16 years. Welcome from Brockton Massacusettes!

mikiehews wrote:

its great when others from across the globe join in for the love of B-bodys. I'm sill pretty new here myself but a b-body enthusiest for over 16 years. Welcome from Brockton Massacusettes!

oops I mean massachusetts!


Just call us mass-holes!

Matt, that's the German Export Version you're referring to. It came with T84 Headlamps, Headlamp Washer System, Breakaway Mirrors, Fender Mounted Turn Signals, Euro-Style Seat Belt Buckles, Amber Turn Signals at the rear, and additional "Foglamps" and Reflectors in the Rear Bumper Cover... They're generally considered ugly, and a lot of them have been converted back to US Specs. They're rare in any case. They're way outnumbered by real US imports here, as GM only made them in 1992. Here's an Austrian example:

Thanks for those pictures, that's exactly what I saw but a gray one. Looks like it has the Caprice LTZ style flat hood ornament too.

Welcome to the forum. Nice collection!

If you could source a set of those tail lights, I'd like a set.

Ha, me too, just for the unusual factor.

On fullsizechevy.com people were trying to get together on a group purchase of "Holden Suburban" (Aussie market Chevy) style taillights for the 88-98 trucks, because they were also used on the somewhat unusual Brazilian counterparts to the GMT400 US trucks, and there were a couple of members living down there:

Idk about the 91-96 ones but here's the ebay # to 86-90 ones on eBay right now. (RH side only but I bet a LH will pop up!)

eBay # 370540507338

Welcome to the club! Ive only been to Germany via refueling on the way to Iraq a couple times!

Nice Caprice collection you have going on there. Keep up the good work!

Wow great collection! A lot of other countries love these boats too huh? Glad they're coming here and not being turned off by the big board. Welcome!

Ironfistdog wrote:

Idk about the 91-96 ones but here's the ebay # to 86-90 ones on eBay right now. (RH side only but I bet a LH will pop up!)

eBay # 370540507338

DO WANT! I might have to get a little stupid with my cash this weekend


......DO WANT

The LTZ Badge is not an Export thing, that's a real LTZ. For some reason, a disproportial number of these export cars (like half) seem to be LTZs. I don't know why.

I know that a lot of the Export Boxy Caprices were true 9C1 in rather unusual colors and often very highly optioned. Rumor has it that this was done because GM thought the 9C1 was better equipped to survive in places like Germany or the mid east. You know very high speeds or bad roads, that sort of stuff. Seems like this practice goes way back - Export equipped First generation smallblock F-Bodys for example all seem to have Bigblock radiators and heavy duty suspension and brakes.

Anyway, the 1977-1990 Export models are pretty common, they made those forever. Still, that set of Tail Lamp Lenses on ebay is better and cheaper than what you'd find over here! 91-96 Lenses are very rare, I guess most of those were thrown away when the owners converted back to red turn signals, "just for the unusual factor"! I'll let you know if I come across a set.

Refueling in Germany probably means Ramstein Airbase? I don't know if you get to leave the airfield, probably not, but if you do, next time you're there, check out the local junkyards. Quite some amazing stuff there, courtesy of US military personell returning stateside and leaving their POVs behind.

Here's another of my cars, and no, no need to point it out. I know it's a very high mile, rusty, dented, yellow, L99, bench seat, east coast TAXI.



But it is a true 9C6. Which is probably a stupid reason to buy a very used car, but the best I had!

^^^I'm loving that 9C6! Ive never seen one for sale here. I would imagine they go to the crusher. The only taxi ones I have seen for sale were originally 9C1 package cars.

SPCS wrote:

The LTZ Badge is not an Export thing, that's a real LTZ. For some reason, a disproportial number of these export cars (like half) seem to be LTZs. I don't know why.

I know that a lot of the Export Boxy Caprices were true 9C1 in rather unusual colors and often very highly optioned. Rumor has it that this was done because GM thought the 9C1 was better equipped to survive in places like Germany or the mid east. You know very high speeds or bad roads, that sort of stuff. Seems like this practice goes way back - Export equipped First generation smallblock F-Bodys for example all seem to have Bigblock radiators and heavy duty suspension and brakes.

Anyway, the 1977-1990 Export models are pretty common, they made those forever. Still, that set of Tail Lamp Lenses on ebay is better and cheaper than what you'd find over here! 91-96 Lenses are very rare, I guess most of those were thrown away when the owners converted back to red turn signals, "just for the unusual factor"! I'll let you know if I come across a set.

Refueling in Germany probably means Ramstein Airbase? I don't know if you get to leave the airfield, probably not, but if you do, next time you're there, check out the local junkyards. Quite some amazing stuff there, courtesy of US military personell returning stateside and leaving their POVs behind.

Here's another of my cars, and no, no need to point it out. I know it's a very high mile, rusty, dented, yellow, L99, bench seat, east coast TAXI.



But it is a true 9C6. Which is probably a stupid reason to buy a very used car, but the best I had!

That car is AWESOME! Don't be ashamed of its scars. What a cool car!

Wow, what a sweet collection of Bravo body's! BTW, Thanks for my GSD.

1984twodoor wrote:

That car is AWESOME! Don't be ashamed of its scars. What a cool car!

Glad to be among people who understand. It's a genuine NYC Taxi, which the cab company kept for one reason or another after it was retired from active Taxi duty. They tried to sell it off on ebay several times around '08, but nobody wanted it... Apart from the Security Screen, all the Taxi gear is still in place, Meter, Panic-Lights and all. It even has a tape message reminding you to not "leave any of your belongings behind and to get a reciept from your driver"... It is a L99 V8, meaning I'm still looking for the ultra-rare V6 version.

Kinda amazing the 9C6 came with the same suspension setup as the 9C1, minus the rear discs.

SPCS wrote:

But it is a true 9C6. Which is probably a stupid reason to buy a very used car, but the best I had!

Good enough reason. Do you ever get dumb American tourists flagging you down?

MASShole9C1 wrote:

^^^I'm loving that 9C6! Ive never seen one for sale here. I would imagine they go to the crusher. The only taxi ones I have seen for sale were originally 9C1 package cars.

At least in New York, they're cannibalized for parts for the rest of the fleet. You can see yards full of hacked up Crown Victoria P70s from the 7 train in western Queens.

mp775 wrote:

SPCS wrote:

But it is a true 9C6. Which is probably a stupid reason to buy a very used car, but the best I had!

Good enough reason. Do you ever get dumb American tourists flagging you down?

haha!

mp775 wrote:

Do you ever get dumb American tourists flagging you down?

No, but I do get a lot of strange looks. I can sort of understand that... I imagine what it would be like for me to go to NYC and find that there's a guy there who drives around in an out-of-service Mercedes Taxi Cab which he imported from Germany. Chances are he'd be doing that for a reason, like he's really into these cars the option packages they came with, but still, I guess my first impression would be WTF??

That taxi is sweet. Lots and lots of people have a police package car but not too many people have a taxi still in taxi trim.

Cool cars, man! You must own a good percentage of the B-bodies left in Germany!

Are you originally from the States? Your English is very good. Better than most Americans on the boards I'm on. lol.

i want that taxi its pretty cool

mega wrote:

i want that taxi its pretty cool

A gallon of Sherwin Williams "Safety yellow" and some Methyl Ethel key tone, and you can have one too.

nope lol that this is original mine not so much....

toomanytoyz wrote:

Cool cars, man! You must own a good percentage of the B-bodies left in Germany!

Are you originally from the States? Your English is very good. Better than most Americans on the boards I'm on. lol.

My thoughts exactly!

Those headlights look awesome... what are they?

^ If you're referring to the T84s, they are a glass capsule headlamp that came on the export cars. They've got a different light beam and come with a running light as well, with the turn signals and headlights reversed compared to North American cars. Big $$$ if you can find them.

big money aint the word, king kong loot lol.

Matt Trakker wrote:

^ If you're referring to the T84s, they are a glass capsule headlamp that came on the export cars. They've got a different light beam and come with a running light as well, with the turn signals and headlights reversed compared to North American cars. Big $$$ if you can find them.

I assume they're NLA?

toomanytoyz wrote:

Cool cars, man! You must own a good percentage of the B-bodies left in Germany!

Are you originally from the States? Your English is very good. Better than most Americans on the boards I'm on. lol.

Thanks! Born & raised in Germany though, as were my parents.

chapel wrote:

I assume they're NLA?

I think they went NLA around 1999/2000. Every now and then, a good set will turn up on ebay. Over here, they're worth their weight in gold.

Have a set on my 96 & a set in a box.
Guess I'll have to go check thier weight....woot...

sdstick wrote:

Have a set on my 96 & a set in a box.
Guess I'll have to go check thier weight....woot...

Lemme get the gold. Make sure you ship insured.

sdstick wrote:

Have a set on my 96 & a set in a box.
Guess I'll have to go check thier weight....woot...

You have a set of T-84s in the box? You need a roommate?

IMPALADAKID wrote:

sdstick wrote:

Have a set on my 96 & a set in a box.
Guess I'll have to go check thier weight....woot...

You have a set of T-84s in the box? You need a roommate?

I saw a set of these on a wagon that worked well.

IMPALADAKID wrote:

sdstick wrote:

Have a set on my 96 & a set in a box.
Guess I'll have to go check thier weight....woot...

You have a set of T-84s in the box? You need a roommate?

Didnt say it was NIB...just in a box (all protected & such... )

Plus these T84's go hot & cold on the EBAY.
Sometimes they want a fortune & get it, other times not so much

sdstick wrote:

IMPALADAKID wrote:

sdstick wrote:

Have a set on my 96 & a set in a box.
Guess I'll have to go check thier weight....woot...

You have a set of T-84s in the box? You need a roommate?

Didnt say it was NIB...just in a box (all protected & such... )

Plus these T84's go hot & cold on the EBAY.
Sometimes they want a fortune & get it, other times not so much

Just keep me in mind when You decide to part with them.