Big Booty Ruby

I was finally able to pick up my wagon. It’s a 92 Caprice, red with tan cloth interior. Has some minor cosmetic issues but nothing major. I’d like to find some new seats for her since the driver’s seat has that infamous lean. Also need to find a couple heater vent grills, two are broken. Over all it’s a clean car. Unfortunately, someone hit a ran it while it was parked before I even got it home. I did have it insured so should only have to pay the deductible.

Wow that is clean Norm. The tailgate is only a bump in the road.

As for the leaning seat, there is a bolt with a shoulder on it, that connects the seat bottom with the back. Often they break. There is one on either side, but it is probably the outside one. Shouldn't be too hard to check, just have to peal back the upholstery.

My wife is from Othello WA, I'm guessing not too far from you. I'm guessing you're from Wenatchee?

Tom

Looking good,welcome...

Thanks for that tip Tom. It’s the inside of the seat, I’ll have to look at it closer. I’m actually in central Washington, just outside Yakima.

Yup the bolt is on the inside framework.

Tom

Is that something I’m going to have to find at a junkyard?

Probably so, any GM from that vintage should be the same. Does not have to be the station wagon, probably a sedan though. Off the top of my head, it is probably a 3/8 bolt, about an 1 1/4" with the shoulder.

Right on, thanks for the help

Nice looking wagon!

Sucks about the tailgate!

ugh... not the tailgate!!!
my original tailgate had a meeting with a metal hand rail attached to a low brick wall in a dark parking garage...
let's just say it missed breaking the rear window by maybe an inch.

Wish i hadn't bothered to take it to the insurance comp, even though i had a $250 deductable - due to rarity and age they didn't even have a replacement door option - it was all bodywork/labor to the tune of like over 900$... thank goodness it wasn't the glass too (although that's another story involving a stray golf ball) otherwise the combined total would've totalled the car out and i'd either not have it or it'd have the undesirable 'rebuilt title' status

I ended up getting a replacement tailgate from a good friend who has dealt with these cars for a long time and had a couple to choose from. I was in luck as he was heading to tampa area for a work conference and brought the gate with him.

That was the good part... the BAD part was because this was a claim on my insurance, when it came up for renewal, it basically went WAY up and more or less was the amount of the check... that was 2 years ago.. and the rate is still the same.

Yeah unfortunately I just left the body shop which gave me a quote of over $1600, and that was if they could source the gate, which they can’t. So now I’m waiting to get the call from the insurance telling me they’re going to total it. So pissed!

crap!  that sucks! not to mention they also may jack your rates too.  

I was under the impression that taking my car to the insurance company was just to get a quote and then i could decide if i wanted to put a claim in, but apparently somewhere along the line they changed the rules.
That quote seems a bit high too. Might want to get another quote or two if you can.
If you got a check for over a grand and bought your car back, you'll just have to find a donor gate - which is still not impossible to find - and even reasonable too. Heck, i still see wagons down here in florida that are well under 2G.
if you search CL in the tampa market there's a 93 RMW asking 1500 that isn't horrible looking. I've seen far worse for similar prices.
although i see you have a wood deleted caprice, so something like that would require a bit of work to match.

That’s what I thought about the insurance as well. Waiting for them to call and see what they say. See if I’m able to get another quote from a different shop. I’m sure if they total it out I’ll be able to buy it back for like $50. I did just find a tailgate on eBay, same color too, $165 plus $200 shipping. Has a smallish dent, but still better than mine. So depending on how much the insurance company gives me, that might be an option. It’s extremely frustrating seeing how I’ve only owned the car a couple of days.

or tell the insurance you found a tailgate and the price and get an estimate from a place to install it for you, that might work also.

I’m going to try that route when they call me. I’ll do everything I can not to have a salvage title.

though sometimes you just have to watch out with the shop you go to.

when I bought my 87 Pontiac Safari wagon the tailgate would swing open but wouldn't drop down at all. I took it to a close by body shop and one of the guys there came out and I explained what was going on. He immediately started going on about having to replace things, including for the third row which wouldn't latch down, he claimed(without even having looked inside the car) that the hinges for it where rusted out and that's why it wouldn't latch.

Well I left kind of pissed, got home, and in less then an hour had the tailgate dropping down no problem. All it was was a rod that the window pushed down as it retracted into the door was out of place so the latches weren't being operated properly. As for the third row, there isn't a speck of rust on the hinges and I managed to get it shifted by myself enough to get it to latch again. So some of these places don't actually know how to repair anything, they just replace until they fix the problem even if it takes them multiple tries to do so.

I took it to a place we’ve used before, I trust their work. The tailgate price was quoted at $750, but doesn’t really matter seeing as they can’t find one anyways. If I end up getting another tailgate they’ll spray it for a good price. Just depends on what the insurance is going to say at this point.

the price for the tailgate on ebay is decent - and depending on the type of dent, it could even be pulled out fairly easily with minimal to no damage to the paint...
i know it sux more because you just got it. similar thing happened to me when i bought a keyboard (piano) - within a few days my cat knocked it off the stand and broke a key which cost almost $200 to replace... One stupid key... $200!

If I ever bought a mint car or a brand new car again I would purposely make a mark on it myself just so it's no longer perfect (nothing in life is perfect or permanent anyway)

Sharp looking ride. Pity about the tailgate, but alas fixable. Looks to be non converted r12 Freon system! Major plus!

i actually have a caprice wagon tailgate...woody
were not too far apart

Nice! Where are you located?

Hey Norm something you might want to do incase of future incidents is get an independent appraisal of the cars value, I talked to a gentleman that does them and also looked at a couple of places that do automotive appraisals and they are accepted by insurance companies so that would be one way of making sure you could get money for repairs without having to total the car.

Example, my roadmaster was actually appraised at $7,000