Caprice Classic Nicknames

My sister and a few of my cousins have started a fun little game - come up with Caprice Classic Nicknames. I will share them below, but first - the story of how the first nickname came to be.

The g'rents (as Rene calls them) replaced the much beloved 1983 Lincoln Town Car in 1994 with a Caprice Classic from the same year. The Caprice wasn't the Town Car - it was big, yes, but it did not have the plush, velvety seats, the high pile carpeting, nor the rear-seat fold down arm rest all of us grandkids fought over sitting on to and from church on Sundays. It wasn't our favorite (although it was new and different), but it was Gramp's favorite.

In 2001 the g'rents decided it was finally time to trade cars. A local pastor had admired the Caprice and asked that he could purchase it for visitation work. When a replacement finally arrived (a nice new 2001 Aurora) the pastor purchased the car and went about his ministry. Reports of his pleasure with the roomy, comfortable, surprisingly easy-on-gas car trickled back to the family often. Gramp would reminisce - "we shouldn't have sold that car" he would say.

A few years (and by now well over 100,000 miles) later the pastor resigned his post in Northern Maine to take a church elsewhere. Gramp heard the news and immediately began thinking of his beloved Caprice. With the pastor leaving, he wanted it back. Sure enough - the Caprice and the Aurora were now back on the farm.

But not for long. Rene's mom (my aunt) needed a car she could depend on. After much salesmanship on Gramp's part (and I bet a little remorse as well) he sold Donna the car. It was during this time that Rene (I think) coined the phrase "church cruiser" after its job in its second life. Donna and Rene used the car just about up until the time they decided to move to Alabama when it was sold because it was no longer needed - Donna had replaced it with a Jeep.

And so it seemed the car was lost to the family forever. But forever did not last long. Gram was tired of listening to Gramp's comments about the Church Cruiser (or "the cruiser" as he still calls it to this day) so for Christmas 2005 Gram's present to Gramp was - you guessed it - his beloved cruiser. She had bought it from Donna as a surprise!

The next two years Gramp could be spotted on the Egypt Road early in the mornings headed to the horse barn in Presque Isle with his cap (just the same as his father Vernon in many black and white photos) in the cruiser. Whenever he headed to town it was in the cruiser. Not a squeak could it utter before he had it in the shop for repairs. The mechanics must think him a funny old guy to sink so much money into an old car. This spring he took it to the local community college where the students exercised their body work skills to take care of all the rust spots and repaint the exterior. This summer the car was used by a missionary family on furlow from Engalnd. Gramp was tickled by their pleasure with the cruiser - it is three to four times the size of their cars back in the UK, rides like a cloud and the AC still pumps good, cold air. The family really enjoyed using the big old car.

With this history you can see how special it was to have Gramp offer me the cruiser when I head to Seminary in just a few days. Chatting online with Rene and Dena this week has made me very excited to take a piece of family with me to school - especially a piece that means so much to Gramp.

And so began our fun game. Here is a list of the nicknames we have come up with so far...

Church Cruiser
Virtuous Vehicle
Holy Honey Wagon
Heavenly Hoopty
Pastors Prowler
Reverends Ranger
Concecrated Chariot
Sacred Smokah
Hallowed Hot Rod
Sacrosanct Sedan
Chaste Clunker
Just Jalopy