Well. Meet my new-to-me 2013 Chevy Caprice PPV!

6.0 V8, 6-speed auto, RWD, 9" longer than a G8, Chevy SS wheels, already had the cylinder deactivation deleted with an LS3 cam, headers, and a partial Pontiac G8 interior swap.

It's still mildly copified with some body holes and the strobes in the headlights, but I'm planning on grabbing some G8 carpets, rear seats, and getting holes plugged with a buddy that can do some body work (if he's willing). I'll also be upgrading the radio to be more than AM/FM/CD (restricted because cop car), and eventually I want to wrap it not-white.

It's going to be a fun project and runabout that's also going to allow me to dig into some BIG projects on the Vibe. The Vibe has had me solo for a long time, so hopefully she can learn to share me.

This buy also establishes that I APPARENTLY buy cars that aren't actually what the nose badge says. Here's to many adventures in my new Caprice!

On September 18, 2021 I bought a boring white sedan. I didn't really need it. It was big, inefficient, uncommon, and had a bunch of negative traits of an old cop car.

But man...

... What a year it's been!

I've thoroughly Decopified the interior, for the most part.

I've torn apart junkyard G8s, and met an Oppo

I've towed a trailer 500 miles with it

I've visited Canada and lost the Oppo Rally!

And I've put 13,000 miles on a car while teleworking, and not using it as my sole mode of transportation.

Outwardly, not much has changed. But the transformation on the interior would make you question if this truly was once a cop car. Hopefully that can change this year. This big Chevy has been a great car so far, and has already proven itself as a roadtripper.

Do I wish the market wouldn't have imploded, and I would have bought a Buick Regal Sportback? Not really. The Caprice is a last of its kind.

Do I wish I'd made a more sensible choice and gotten a Volt? Not really. I have the rest of my life to have an electrified vehicle.

Do I wish that 6.0 V8 was more fuel efficient? Kinda. Then I romp the loud pedal and it makes me giggle.

Do I wish I'd bought a more complete car instead of a project? Hell no! Buying a running, driving car that required work to make it what I want it to be was an amazing decision, and made me realize how much I love projects. Even if this car gets "done" I'll be onto the next project for sure. And speaking of...

Are we done with this the Caprice? Hell no! There's lots more to be done!

Are we done Decopifying? Of course not! There's dash pieces to fix, carpet to clean and install, bumpers and roofs to patch, lighting to install...

So here's to rounding out a year of Decopification, and a year with the still-unnamed Caprice. And here's to another year of this fun adventure! Thanks for entertaining my writing and making this more fun.

The kind people I met for @David-Tracy's going away party here in Michigan are now either homeward bound, home already, or will be momentarily. Big thanks to them for making this a fantastic weekend. I had a great time, and really want more times like this in the future.

Safe travels, and until we meet again to @Just-Jeepin @derp @Roundbadge @DSM_OR_DIE @BigRigButterz @Miss-Mercedes @K-Roll-PorscheTamer @Urambo-Tauro @Taylor-Martin @ranwhenparked @FourMalibus and anyone else I encountered who may or may not be an Oppo.

Let's do it again. Preferably when the air doesn't hurt my face...

First things first, shout out to this G8 in the Pontiac U Pull. A lot of its parts are now on my car, or destined for my car.

Anyway, as we can see in that picture, and previous installments, I took the front door panels, rear door handles, door trims, and some other misc pieces up to and including the carpet. Today I finished up some work to install them while Decopifying.

First up, my rear door panels. My Caprice is a 2013 model, and as such as model-specific 2013 rear door panels. I'm going to guess they wanted to remove the rear speaker cutout, but didn't want to convert the rear to the 2014-2017 rear door pulls. So we get the 2014-2017 style rear door panel (large single-piece mold with 2-3 additions) with the 11-13 style door pulls, window switches, and lock cylinder.

2013 panel

2014-2017 panel. Note the chrome handle in a different shape opening, and grommet in top left of panel for the plunger style lock indicator.

A fortuitous Facebook find led to a quick fieldtrip to Indiana to trade two 2012 rear door panels for a center console I pulled from another junkyard G8 (not the silver one). Thus I was the proud owner of a set of panels that not only matched the fronts, but they had door pockets, a vinyl door insert, and something suggesting a cupholder!

It also had that little cover on the underside of the armrest for those that abhor exposed fasteners.

These door panels are great BUT they're a bit bland... So I took my G8 parts, and after a couple of torx screws and a little JB plastic weld, I got this!

The same BUT BETTER. The door pull was a simple pair of torx screws (T20 if you're keeping score), while the speaker grille had to be drilled out and JB welded back into place.

Much like a load strapped down tightly with ratchet straps, that's not going anywhere.

With that, I got to it on a nice, warm winter's day. Before and after:

Muuuuch better. Of note:

Yes, there are actually speakers in the door. I just need a radio silverbox that has the amp for the rear outputs. I plan on acquiring one from the land of Oz.

Here's the two panels side by side. The 3 piece on the right is not nearly as good as the many piece on the left.

And with that, I have door panels that match in style front to rear. Time to match in color, too.

And here's where, not a roadblock, but a speedbump hit.

The Pontiac G8, and basically every other Zeta Holden, have the window controls in the center next to the cupholders (sidenote: bad idea!). The Caprice 9C1 patrol car with the flat console (AKA my car) came with the window controls in the door. I prefer having them in the door, but this means they needed a new armrest. And here lies the problem... I figured I could drill out a few plastic weld spots, like I did with the speakers, transfer the power armrest over, and send it. But upon viewing them side by side...

G8

(yes they're dirty, they were in a junkyard)

PPV 9C1

That front screwhole plus the hole for the wires means I'd need to take more than just the armrest.

So it's going to be a bugger of a job to switch the armrest over. I am NOT switching to a center window switch, as that's a LOT of work, and I don't like it (drinks right next to electronics? GREAT IDEA!). I guess what do I lose if I just move over the door pull and speaker grilles? The seam in the vinyl and my repair job on the G8 panel?

...

The seam doesn't matter, and I learned something, so tossing the repaired panel isn't a big deal.

(this means I swapped the speaker grilles and door pulls to my 9C1 panels)

So... Before

After

I like it. I'm happy with it. It's the little things that make the difference, and I approve of these little things. Also, I'm not sure if the window-switch door panels ever got the silver door pulls and grille surrounds, so I may have made my own one-off door panels. Neat!

While I was messing with the doors, I looked to the next job on the list:

Officers would tend to wear this part of the door, likely from their belts. Thankfully the front doors share a LOT with the G8. Thus...

Slightly older G8 rubber, but at least it doesn't have a hole. When it's warmer I'll wipe it down with some silicone, but this should help take care of some of the wind noise I get when driving.

Directly adjacent to this door seal are the b-pillars and their trim. And my car, being ex-cop, has brackets for a rear cage.

We're decopifying here, so time for those to GO!

These things have some beef. Surprising considering that they were held in with essentially self tappers that were half an inch deep.

It's going to sound silly, but these changes feel like turning a corner. This car used to carry people having possibly the worst night of their lives in the back. The rear seat is now basically a civilian-spec area where you'd never know what happened in it's previous life. And I'm only going to make it better.

I'm currently working on getting the front seat heaters going, courtesy of the parts seat I scrounged up from the silver G8. I'll likely make my own wiring harness (or buy a universal kit) and connect directly to the heating pads in the seats. I can't see how to make the stock seat heater computers work. IIRC they talk to the body module before going to the seat, and that's just not going to work here.

BUT BEFORE THAT, I am amassing a pile of parts, and will be fixing a couple issues. The greasy kind. All that AND MORE (maybe)(probably not) in the next installment of Decopification!

A few months ago I discovered that I could make a records request of the Washington State Police. Since this is where I highly suspected my Caprice came from, I sent in a message and waited the requisite time to see what would come of it.

And boy did it pay out... I received approx fifty pages of documents and receipts for alignments, oil changes, wiper blades, one insurance claim, tires, the copification work order, and brake pads. Lots and lots of brakes pads. I also got the names and even an email address for the troopers that used my car! It explains the '1111' on some of my spare keys... that's the badge number of one of the drivers. He may have been the primary driver, actually, based on how many receipts bear his signature.

But we can go through records later, what we're here for are THESE

That, folks, is my car back in her livery days. Her YOUNG livery days. These pictures are from the insurance claim (driver hit a bit of metal at low speed, scratched some panels including the passenger side front door). And with the help of one of them fancy phone apps...

... We can get a then & now of my Chevy Caprice! We'll dive into other items, specifically the work order, later. But for now ENJOY!

Not a lot of huge changes, and yet so much. I am excited to have these 'before' pictures. As the car progresses through time and modifications I'll need to revisit this theme.

What was that @Chariotoflove? You want some way to show off your obscure cult religion to the world? What, showing off your affiliation with a band of lunatics isn't enough?

SAY NO MORE

Coming this weekend to your local Etsy purveyor of Oppo stickers...

June was a good month. Summer finally arrived, I got to hang out with fellow enthusiasts for the first time in ages, and Oppo stickers were cut, pulled, and shipped out to Opponauts everywhere!

In the interests of full transparency myself and our glorious leaders, @Curators, decided to present the data and metrics to Oppo at large. As-promised, profits from this endeavor will go to keep the lights on here at opposite-lock.com.

BUT FIRST, let's look at some fun metrics.

In the month of June there were 238 visits to the Etsy listing for the Oppo decals

123 items were sold in all those views

Orange is by far the most popular color, and to my surprise the smalls are more popular than the larges for all colors.

Between all the stickers sold, I pulled 2196 dots off all of them. (Etsy and I are +/-1 for our totals, but I'm not going to worry about that because the error is likely in my spreadsheet, and I don't want to fight Excel any more than I already do). This does not count the stickers that are on the shelf right now, nor the ones I have to pull to get stock numbers back up.

And now, the important numbers... The American pesos and Canada bucks that have been transferred as trade for these fine, hand made, premium Oppo stickers.

Curators and I agreed on a $2/sticker "KITT profit" number back when we agreed on pricing for these. Using such things as 'math' and 'formulas' the long and short of it comes down to three numbers:

Total revenue: $757
Oppo Profit (sticker price -$2): $513
KITT take-home ($2/sticker): $244

Proceeds will be donated after review. I appreciate the generous support for myself and for Oppo. I feel good in the investment I myself have put into Oppo as you have given wonderful support, excitement, and gratitude for the stickers and my effort.

Oppo-on you glorious weirdos!

And if you needed any reminder: Normal-mount decals here, and Reverse-mount decals here

I mean come on, two in one place? That's crazy. And he kindly helped me get some goodies for my Caprice.

Grabbed the carpet, some plastics, a good console lid, and a seat. The bolster on the seat is torn, but I only want the seat bottom to replace mine. And I want to place with the wiring to see if I can get the heated seats working.

Down at the junkyard coming... We wandered for a bit after we were done. Not at all related to someone losing a phone....

@Bandit

https://www.theautopian.com/the-supercharged-pontiac-vibe-gxp-show-car-is-up-for-sale-and-you-can-own-this-one-off-slice-of-gm-history/

On Friday, while driving, I received a Facebook Messenger request from one Thomas Hundal of The Autopian (I read and replied while stopped - don't Bookface and drive kids, that's an embarrassing reason to die). And, of course, it was about Vibes! The Vibe GXP show car recently went up on Ebay, and I guess it's been making the rounds online. Since David Tracy knew me as the Vibe guy and wrote a piece about it following our conversation a few years ago, my Jalopnik nickname has rung true: I'm The Vibe Guy, I Guess.

And since a cool Vibe show car has landed in front of certain eyes, it eventually led back to me. I'll admit that I've loved the GXP more than other Vibe show cars, and was eager to get back to Thomas when he mentioned he had some questions about it. Since I was driving to the Oppo Rally I asked him to give me a call. We talked for around 20 minutes about Vibes, the supercharger on my car, styling, and a few other topics. This led to a blurb in the article itself, and a picture of my car from one of the GenVibe meets:

Thomas was a cool guy to talk to. I just wish cell service would have been better so I could better understand him. Either way, I look forward to potentially working with him in the future...

Let alone two!

What a lucky day

@davesaddiction Failracers are here? Oh joy, I guess some snuck in while we were doing David Tracy related things.

@MM54 I wonder if a pedal commander would help that impression at all. The Caprice seems pretty direct, but it's also been tuned.

@HammerheadFistpunch If I had that curve in the Caprice I'd be the asshole squealing tires everywhere. BUT it's pretty good for, say, the Camaro Turbo 1LE where (per Randy Pobst) it's tough to properly back up without stalling because of the pedal curve.

@Taylor-Martin Walking in with a series of air tank looking things that got plenty shaken up in the back of my car. I still enjoy the lady at the hotel asking what they are...

@Shoop It depends. Depending on the "mode" it changes your pedal curve. Meaning for any percent of input, it can change the output to the throttle. Because of modern drive by wire, what happens at the pedal doesn't necessarily happen at the throttle. With old cable throttles, what happens at your foot is a 1:1 correlation with the throttle. Nowadays automakers tune the throttle response based on how you press the pedal. Your rate of acceleration of your foot can change how open the throttle goes, and how quickly.

The blue line is a 1:1 curve, so basically same as a cable throttle. But the red line will feel like the car has more power, because it's opening the throttle 30% more at 10% pedal input. Thus making it feel "sport-plus." What you see with a lot of small-engine cars is a curve probably like green or orange, so you get the "oomph" off the line. And an "eco" mode is going to be the inverse of the "sport" curves.

A Pedal Commander can let you change the curve to your desired one as opposed to living with the stock curve.

@amoore100 I admire the commitment with putting it on the paint. Looking good!

@WhoIsTheLeader For those like @Taylor-Martin they are one and the same. The rest of us aren't as lucky. But we definitely answered to either.

@Just-Jeepin Next time we do this I'll play DP and organize us. I'm decently good at it when it comes to Vibe meets.

@Just-Jeepin I was too cold to take too many pics, but every time I see a Jeep In Color () I remember you and your affinity for them. Yours is still the only two-door Tuscadero I've seen.

@Taylor-Martin Blue's roadtrippability is impressive to say the least.

Going 1000+ miles in a weekend to hang out with strangers, poke around a junkyard, and go to a party in the freezing cold is a wacky weekend... but I wouldn't have had it any other way.

This is a pretty well put! Until next time... Which may be the elusive June 24th.