"The best never die. They just retire. And sometimes, if they get bored, they find something else to do."
A point I'd like to make once and for all concerns the basic history of the General Motors B-body. Unlike the IGBA and ISSCA would have us all believe, the GM B-body was produced much longer than just 1991 through 1996. The first B-body was built in the 1959 model year, a hell of a long time before 1991. The Caprice name was first used in 1965 as a special trim option for the Impala, and became it's own model in 1966. The Impala was derived from the 1958 Delray, and the Impala nameplate made its debut in the 1958 model year. The following model year, 1959, the first B-body was produced. The first GM B-body was not a 1991 model! It is also a fact that the frame remained exactly the same for all of GM's B-body models from 1977 through 1996. Additional provisions were added over time to accomodate new hardware, but it is possible to bolt a 1977 body onto a 1996 frame with no modifications to the body mounts or frame. Additionally, the underbody sheet metal from the firewall all the way back was identical from 1977 through 1996. These are just a few reasons that I don't understand why some people are so ignorant and shortsighted by acknowledging only the '91-'96, or even worse, just the '94-'96 cars (IGBA and ISSCA). There is a lot more out there!
Another fact that I'd like to make perfectly clear is this: General Motors B-body cars were assembled at locations other than Arlington, Texas. The Michigan Impala SS Lovers have a great gallery of photographs taken inside Arlington Assembly in April of '96, showing the production of some of the last American cars to be built. No, that was not a mistake. I did say last American cars. Anyway, this gallery is great, but again, we have a case of "failure-to-acknowledge" here. This seems to be very typical of the ISSCA and it's member organizations. If you read the text at the top of the MISSL page, you will see how Arlington Assembly is the only plant to be mentioned. That's great, because that's what these heartbreaking photographs depict. However, it seems as though there is very little mention, if any, of the many other plants that produced GM B-body cars prior to 1994 on any B-body site I have seen.
Almost every B-body I have ever owned, with the exception of my 1985 Pontiac Parisienne, was built at Arlington. I'm sure the great majority of GM B-bodies were built in Texas by Texans at Arlington Assembly. The staff of Arlington Assembly that built B-bodies should take pride in that fact. However, there were many other GM assembly plants that also produced B-bodies. It seems to me as though these plants and the people who kicked ass in them never get any credit. It is a fact that GM produced B-body cars at Willow Run, Michigan as late as 1993. It is a fact that many of the 1991 and 1992 Caprice 9C1s used by the Indiana State Police were built at Willow Run. So, not all 9C1s were built at Arlington.
If any of you exclusively "tri-nine" guys out there ("tri-nine" refers to 1994-1996 models) would take a look a little further back into the history of the GM B-body, you will see that there were in fact many other plants besides Arlington and Willow Run that produced B-body cars. Plants such as Fairfax in Kansas, Oshawa in Ontario, Canada, and Lakewood and Doraville in Georgia also produced B-body cars at least until the beginning of the 1990s - and this is just to name a few. I parted out a 1989 Caprice Classic Brougham that was built at Lakewood. My '85 Pontiac was built at Fairfax, and it is a fact that thousands upon thousands of B-bodies were produced in Canada in the 1980s. So, as you can see, another common myth about the GM B-body has been shattered. Yes, it is true. B-bodies were not exclusively built at Arlington!
"The best never die. They just retire. And sometimes, if they get bored, they find something else to do."
© Copyright 2001-2006, DiGiTaL D Information Technology Services.