GM drydocks land yachts

Time's up for Buick's Roadmaster, Cadillac's Fleetwood and Cheverlot's Caprice and Impala SS. General Motors Corp. will halt production of the three biggies this summer, switching production to trucks or sport/ utility vehicles (SUVs) at the Arlington, TX., assembly plant where the boulevard boats are built. Now the idea is to keep fleet buyers - cabbies and cops - who love the durability, reliability and ride of large rear-wheel drive cars. Ongoing discussions at GM focus on three scenarios: convert Chevrolet's Lumina to all-wheel drive, source a rear-wheel drive car from Opel AG and/or pitch GM's re-engineered '97 minivan to cab companies. It'll feature a left-side passenger door, a must in cities laced with one-way streets. GM wants to keep cabbies and cops happy, so it needs a low-maintenance, rear-wheel-drive vehicle that can take a pothole and keep on rolling. Ford Motor Co. will keep its full-size, rear-drive Crown Vic a few more years and likely snap up some business abandoned by GM. As for the big Caddie, look for a high-end Fleetwood version of Deville when that model gets revamped for '97.