I never used mine as a tow vehicle, but there is no doubt that a C9 Caprice has the oats for the job. I bought my '89 in '93 at a highway patrol auction with 102k on the clock (and probably 300k worth of idling time... ). I drove it for 10 years and retired 'Ole Blue' with 304,000 miles on her, still passing California smog. Very stout rig.
Oh yeah, the article fails to mention a couple of points. The engine came with a hydraulic roller cam, and the trans not only had heavy duty clutches, but deleted the "shift down to 3rd" at 85 MPH feature found on all civilian 700R4 transmissions...
That my friends is grassroots hauling at it's peak. I love it.
This past summer at the Sprints there was a 4 door black Benz toting an open trailer with a black Elva E Production car. IIRC the deal is from the NorthEast.
I was at the Hillbsorough Court House on Monday (Orange Co., NC) and saw a dude who had taken a mid 80s RWD Cadillac (Sedan De Ville?), cut the top off the back, and made an El Camino/pick up truck out of it. He was also towing a bobcat. I should have taken a picture.
You get plenty of respect in these cars while barrelling down the freeway for sure.....and hand waves from the deputies, Patrol cars etc....kinda fun.
I purchased a new 93 or 94 "the last year" caprice with handling package, 350...Man what a blast!!! Very comfortable to drive. Towed a bass boat, and 28 foot camper..... Had to hike out 2 miles of logging road after under-estimating a "little mud puddle" one time traded it the next week just couldn't hack it as a hunting vehicle.
Rutherfordton NC to Raleigh in under 3 hours 10 minutes one time I think. Lights on High beam, left lane cleared like the red sea for Moses!!!!!
Of course that was before I matured enough to take that driving agression to the race track....
I've thought about these cars as tow vehicles. What bugs me about trucks is that you're plowing a whole lot of air for no reason (if you have an open trailer that is). Actually I had thought about the Caprice wagons too.
Over the years I have seen some real creative rigs. There was the Spec Renault team that used a Cadillac ambulance and a single axle trailer. And the guy out of Tennessee that had a Vee that he put inside the old school bus. And the guy from SC that put the FF in a big box van. There was a guy running on the east coast somewhere (I used to see this at Charlotte) that had a pickup rigged to put a F440 in the back. He had ramps that put the front wheels over the cab. We also had a guy running an ITA RX7 (before there was IT7) that he pulled with a Mercedes 450 sedan.
Back in the '80's, there were two guys that hauled their Late-Models (dirt cars) using FWD Riviera's/El Darado's. They chopped the cars behind the front seat and added a home-made dual-axle trailer. The bed was so low, it looked like the racecars were on the road. They had six-wheel disc brakes and would stop on a dime. Very strange, yet very cool.