Video: The 1974 Chevrolet Caprice Classic Drives Itself!

Watch this. With the help of some 1970s-style special effects, the 1974 Chevrolet Caprice Classic can drive itself.

 

The gimmick in this 1974 Chevrolet campaign for the Caprice Classic still resonates today, but in a rather different way. Here, some 1970s-style special effects (completely mechanical, we’re guessing) are used to show that with its power steering, automatic transmission, and other conveniences, the Caprice “almost drives itself.” Now, here we are in the 21st century. We have self-driving vehicles, too, real ones, and while the technology isn’t fully formed, they can do nearly everything the trick car shown here can do.

Starting in 1973, the Chevrolet Caprice was no more. Now it was called the Caprice Classic, and this seemingly arbitrary name change continued in ’74. While the plainer Impala remained Chevrolet’s most popular full-sized model, the Caprice Classic was a solid seller as well, especially the four-door hardtop and sedan. For an extra $330 over the Impala ($4,465 vs $4,135), Caprice Classic buyers got a fancier interior, a classier grille, body side moldings, and other niceties. Chevrolet remained at the top of the  charts in ’74 with more than 2.3 million vehicles produced, with Ford a tick behind at nearly 2.2 million. Video follows.

 

6 thoughts on “Video: The 1974 Chevrolet Caprice Classic Drives Itself!

  1. Title had me braced for something sillier, but I actually thought this ad worked pretty well (although anything with Alexander Scourby narrating is going to sound classy to me).

    Chevy (Campbell-Ewald, I suppose) liked those optical illusion ads, didn’t they? The “invisible car”for the ’61 and the “unexploded” Impala for the ’66 come to mind.

  2. Tesla Full Self Driving will easily do all that, except put itself in gear. The driver must do that for safety reasons.

    • Tesla’s FSD is really a concept test. Bugs aren’t fully sorted out. Yet Elon charges his unknowing test drivers for the privilege to discover the worts.

  3. What a beautiful and comfortable car! I didn’t really appreciate cars like this at the time but looking back they were quite amazing.

  4. Poor mans Caddy, LOL! These big boats did ride good, My Pa in Law had one when I was dating my then soon to be wife. We borrowed it a couple of times, while it was a thirsty girl, there was room to party inside! Chevy sold a lot of those to buyers who wanted the extras of a Caddy without the bigger price.
    Too bad nobody makes a family sized sedan anymore. Wouldn’t have to be this big, but big enough to sit a family of four or five comfortably. Closest thing now would be a full sized SUV, which most have so much height to them it’s hard on elderly people to climb inside.

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