(first posted 6/3/2016) Curtis Perry has uploaded a slew of splendid images of a 1970 Malibu, shot in various locales. They’re all terrific, and I’ve picked about half of them to share here.
The cat is fake, if you’re wondering.
The rest of this series and so much more can all be seen at the CC Cohort, which is brimming with all kinds of great finds. Regretfully I’ll never find the time to all post them all here. But do check it out: CC Cohort.
Sweet looking Malibu. I’ve never seen a 1970 4 door Chevy Malibu.
They made them in station wagons too. Nice to see a 4 door in such nice shape that hasn’t been stripped to provide parts for a coupe.
I’ve seen station wagon versions of the 1970 Chevelle, but it’s been forever since I had. These days, I usually see El Caminos and SS versions. There’s nothing wrong with them, but I would think that there’d be more sedans and wagons out there still being driven.
+1!
4 door hardtop no less! The post sedans were a lot more common.
Wow. Nice shooting!
My God, his photography is amazing!
An aside: I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a Chevelle of this period with the optional clock in the cluster. I always associate these with that blank space at the end of the speedo, with the hashmarks for the hours, but no clock hands and a clear plastic plug in the lens where the set knob was meant to go. I always thought that made the dash look so incomplete.
Agreed, the clock was rare on a Chevy in this era unless you were in a Caprice.
But, few people sprung the extra money for a four door hardtop on a Chevelle. This one is absolutely loaded for the era, with the 350 V-8, automatic, hardtop, vinyl roof, AC, AM/FM, tilt wheel, clock, and full wheel covers. The build rate on a Chevelle like this had to be no more than about 1% of production.
“Are you sure I can’t show you something in a Big Chevrolet, sir? Or maybe (in a combined Chev-Olds store) a Cutlass?”
Great pictures! The GM A body four door hardtops of this era were quite handsome, while the four door sedans were unusually dour and frumpy – especially the Chevelle, where no amount of money could get you at least chrome on those frumpy sedan window frames.
That short-throw crank seems like it would make it a chore to close the window. Was there not enough space for a long one?
That’s for the vent window. The window crank is longer.
Ah, I see it now. My slow connection doesn’t load all the pics at once. That’s neat!
That little window crank reminded me of how much I wish cars still had these (and fresh air vents that bypassed all the HVAC ductwork). Even on a hot day, one can motor quote comfortably without A/C as long as there are good ways to get fresh air into the cabin.
My Dad had a 65 Impala 4 door hardtop and I believe it had crank out vent windows as well.
Here I thought vent windows were phased out by 1969 on GM vehicles.
Only the full-size cars and hardtop coupes (intermediates Chevelle/Cutlass/Skylark/LeMans/GTO, Grand Prix, Eldorado/Toronado/Riviera). The Nova and the GM intermediates 4-door hardtops, sedans, 2-door pillared coupe and wagons still have them until 1972.
That short thow is just the vent window. About 3-4 turns and it was fully open. GM made a rather big deal that its vent windows were usually crank operated while many cars made do with latches and push out operation.
So which late 1960’s GM cars eliminated the vent window in favor of their touted flow-through ventilation (astro ventilation)? I thought it began with the 1968 and later A bodies and F bodies.
Oddly, the first ‘Advanced Design’ (1947 – 1955 first series) Chevrolet trucks did not have vent windows either. I believe those were added with the 1951 model year.
Also odd – my father’s 1967 Cadillac had power windows but the vent windows were operated by those same short cranks seen on this Chevelle.
You could get power operated vent windows on most GM full-size cars, but they were pretty rare as you note that even your Cadillac didn’t have them.
A friend’s parents inherited a 1964 Sedan DeVille that did have them. Very cool.
I believe that if you sprang for a Fleetwood, you got them standard.
One would think the Fleetwood would have power vent windows. Not that Dad would have paid extra for the Fleetwood in any case, but it literally would not have fit in our garage being that little bit longer than the De Ville.
Dad’s great uncle ordered a 1964 Olds 98 with only one option – air conditioning (he also lived in Houston). Being Olds’ top-of-the-line it was nicely trimmed and had automatic transmission and power steering but it didn’t even have a radio never mind power windows. Uncle Frank was funny that way.
It is amazing what was not standard on cars, even upscale ones, back then. Evan an AM radio and whitewalls were extra on a Cadillac. At least a heater was included, but could be deleted for credit. They were probably ordered that way in Hawaii.
Even the Buick Electra 225 and Olds 98 didnt come with a heater as standard equipment!
Interesting. My ’67 Fleetwood Sixty Special had power vent windows front and rear.
My 63 Fleetwood had power vent windows in both front and rear doors. Nothing makes an 18 year old kid feel like a captain of industry more than having a bank of 8 power window buttons on the armrest. 🙂
I think the 66 Toronado was the first to nix the vent windows, and then they started disappearing rapidly thereafter. The A body 4 doors kept them through 1972, but the 2 doors lost them after (I believe) 1968.
Great shots! That first one instantly reminded me of one of the promo posters that Chevy was handing out on its 1970 models.
The 4 door hardtop was the best looking car made on that body, IMHO. Is this now turning into 4 door hardtop day on CC? 🙂
The Malibu/Chevelle and Nova were among the last Chevy car models to use the front ventwing windows…..Nova on both the sedan and coupe and the Malibu/Chevelle on wagons, and 4 doors. The corporate sibling versions of these cars, Skylark, etc as well through 72….
The Chevy trucks were a different matter, Chevy and GMC full sized pickups used front vent windows thdough 1987 and full sized Blazers,Jimmys and Suburbans held on to vent windows through 1991.
The
And the Chevy Van/GMC Vandura kept their vent windows until 1995.
What an attractive Malibu! JPC is correct – we do appear to be having a four-door hardtop day today. I’m now wondering if this body style has been woefully underrepresented here over time due to what is seen by our scouring eyes.
I’ve been lingering over a four-door hardtop that is the antithesis to this one – pretty basic with a three-on-the-tree. Yet none of it will compare to the pictures of this one. Wow!
Simply amazing photographs.
The one I keep going back to is the picture of someone driving the car, as taken from the rear seat. As a photography novice, I can’t fathom how this photo can be produced so well, by I’m sure glad that Mr. Perry can do it. It’s quite a treat to look through these.
+1 the green glow from the instrument panel is beautiful
My first traffic citation was “earned” in downtown Los Angeles, in a rented 1970 Malibu in that same yellow but a two-door hardtop with a white vinyl roof…a very common combination that was exceptionally good-looking. For me, the 1970 got it just right. The later year models with the single headlamps looked cheapened; the 1969, though more rakish, was less clean-looking.
The photography is very nicely done, with skill learned by experience. These are not snapshots, and snapshots are not “photographs.” My father-in-law left a lot of snapshots that were out of focus or tilted, and we value them as a record of his history, but they are of no interest to anyone else because the lack of quality detracts from the message.
I love Curtis’s work, and this set is outstanding. Like others have mentioned, I’m waiting for the coffee table book to be published. I also like that this one is a *sedan* – the fact that it’s not a coupe or convertible makes it seem that much more of a period.
Paul:
The first ’70 Malibu I remember seeing was a gold four door with doggie-bowl hubcaps; it was headed west on Belvedere Avenue in Baltimore. This was in late September of ’69 which is probably around the time both of us were at Loyola High School, I was actually riding on the school bus.
I remember thinking that I didn’t like it based on a comparison with the ’69 – I think it was the “blistered” side bulges, ala the full size C body, that threw me off. Time changes perspective somewhat and there is no denying the virility and visceral aspect of the ’70 SS coupe. Nevertheless, I think I still like the ’69 better.
Thx
I may have asked you this already, but what year/class were you in? I was class of ’71, but only lasted for two years, as I just couldn’t cotton to the idea of doing any homework. So in the fall of ’69, I was over at Towson High.
Always liked the 4 door GM immediate’s of this era and it’s nice to see a 4 door in good shape, they do seem to be overlooked in favor of the coupe’s, gotta love the 350 pre smog V8 underneath the hood.
Beautiful photography, as is to be expected from Mr. Perry. I’m assuming this one is either his own or belongs to a friend, given the variety of settings.
The color is actually fairly similar to the yellow beige that was originally on my own ’79 Malibu. Appropriate given that the Malibus were the Chevelle’s successor. However, a dressy 350-powered hardtop like this would be closer to a Malibu Classic with vinyl roof, deluxe wheel covers, upgraded interior and the 305 under the hood, as opposed to my somewhat more modestly equipped standard-trim 267.
The 7th and 11th pics remind me of some of the more harrowing scenes from A Room With No View.
Nobody did the four-door hardtop better than GM. I agree that the 68-72 four-door A Body sedans look dour and frumpy, but the hardtops look clean, crisp and classy. The roofline is similar to the 61-64 and 69-70 B Bodies.
Now that is one beautiful car. Nice to see a four-door A-body getting some love!
This is bringing back some regret! In 2004 or so, I was on a rural two-lane with my dad, and I came across a nearly rust free 1970 307 Malibu 2-door hardtop with almost no rust and nice paint for $3900!!! They never were really on my radar as far as cars I wanted, but it was such a good deal I almost bought it anyway. I wish I would have!
am I being picky in thinking cream/yellow body, bright green interior and black vinyl top is a kind of weird colour combo?
You had to be there in 1968-70 when olive/avocado greens ruled. My father had a 70 Mark III in pretty much that same combo (though the dark green leather interior was a touch more subdued than this.) Also my 68 Newport Custom was beige with 2 tone light and dark green interior. But I agree with you – green interiors looked good on green cars, but not so much on the beige or yellow or gold ones (or even white ones).
Hey there, everybody!
I’m sorry it has taken me so long to poke my head in here and say hello, but now seemed as good a time as any, considering that this is my car. I bought it about seven years ago, and right now it is my only classic car, though I have owned around 30 or so in my lifetime.
I don’t have a lot of documentation on the Chevelle. The story I was told when I bought it was that it had 15K miles on the odometer and was a two owner car, purchased new in Georgia. I bought it off of eBay (from a guy in Orlando,) and have only put around 3,000 miles on it since new. The pictures don’t show it adequately, but the vinyl roof is actually a dark green color.
I want to thank all of you for your very nice comments on all of my photos. I feel very honored by your praise, and I am a huge fan of this site. Not only are the articles and photos great, but the comments from all of you are always very interesting and informative. It’s great to be around people who appreciate these old machines as much as I do, if not more.
I can’t remember a time when I didn’t love these cars. Before I could read, I could tell the difference between a Pontiac Ventura and a Buick Apollo, or a Mercury Bobcat and a Pinto. Hell, I could differentiate between an Allstate and a Henry J before puberty. I was born in 1975, and the cars that were on my street when I was a kid made a very strong impression on me. Most of my neighbors I knew by their cars, if not their names. Great cars, like a ’68 Skylark Sport Wagon, a ’64 Comet Caliente, or what really seemed cool at the time (and still does), a ’79 Mustang Cobra. Plus, my old man was a car nut, but he was fascinated with the cars from the ’40s and ’50s, and he made sure that I knew what he knew.
As a result, I became a huge fan of big American cars from the ’60s and ’70s, and when I became old enough, I started buying them, the first being a yellow ’74 Dodge Dart, when I was 20 years old. This was followed by a ’65 Tempest, ’66 Lincoln, ’63 Bonneville, ’66 Dynamic 88, ’64 Corvair, ’71 Scamp…
The list keeps on going, and includes an unfortunate incident with a ’68 Beetle, though I have slowed down in recent years, and I have managed to content myself with the Chevelle for the last seven years. Thank you all for making this such a great site, and for all of your kind words.
Curt
Curt,
Nice to hear from you. Obviously, you’ve developed quite a following here. I’d welcome and encourage you to post your pictures directly here at CC. You could add some text if you like, or not. Other contributors here started out the same way. Let me know: curbsideclassic@gmail.com
By the way, the clock still works!
This Malibu has some interesting options, including a tilt steering wheel, and a remote trunk release, which is nothing more than a button inside of the glove box. It also has the radio antenna inside of the windshield.
My grandparents had a 77(?) Nova with the antenna in the window. Traveling at 55 mph on the 91 freeway, the radio would fade under even the skinniest pedestrian bridge.
Mmmmmm… a four door hardtop. Probably my favorite body style of all time, and yes, I even like them better than ragtops (which I’m also crazy about). Had a ’70 Impala four door hardtop way back in the early ’80s, loved that car.
That shade of yellow was popular in the 60’s and seemed to disappear from new cars in the early 70’s…..My Dad’s 65 Impala 4 door hardtop was a two tone combo…..Ermine white roof with crocus yellow body…..that color combo looked sharp on the 65….but the paints used back then faded very quickly unless you used alot of elbow grease waxing and compounding the finish……
A neighbor that lived down the street from me up until the early 1990’s had a 71 or 72 Malibu coupe….pale yellow with black vinyl roof….He had the car repainted at least twice in the time he had it but whoever did the bodywork the first time did a terrible job because I remember seeing a big blemish above the driver side rear wheel opening where a big chunk of body filler just fell off the car…It was an old rust or dent repair…..A few weeks later, the car was repaired and repainted.
great pictures Curtis!
you are right. when you think of the car with a green instead of a black roof, the colour combo makes more sense.
you should have many years of happy motoring with your Malibu. I remember people getting 150,000+ miles on that generation of chevelles and in those days that was impressive.
Great photo essay, Curtis. The pics truly capture the essence of your car by showing us what a Malibu 4-door hardtop was meant to be about… casual, stylish and carefree elegance.
What a contrast between this generation of Mainu compared to the Collonade version that followed….The 1978 downsizing brought the car back closer to its pre-1973 size.
You’ve thrown down the gauntlet! I have to try to match these pics.
I prefer this style for the Malibu over the Colonnade look that came later. Some of GM cars looked good with the Colonnade look, while others look awful.
Paul your mention of the Cohort is appropriate, and seeing his additional photos of this car just illuminates that even more.
I think the Cohort gets a lot of mentions on here, and rightly so. It’s an excellent repository of over 64,000 photos according to the stats on the page, going back to photos taken in 2011.
Thanks for posting these.
The right lighting can do so much for the subject of a photograph. Great composition in so many of the pics.
My father considered a Malibu in 1970, but a Cutlass Supreme hardtop caught his attention on the dealer’s lot and he was smitten. The comments above relating to vent windows reminded of how a young me at the time (15 years) felt that vent windows were old fashioned and should have been done away with like some manufacturers did.
First shot must have utilized the wonderous Tiffen FL-D filter; ostensibly for correcting the color balance of fluorescent lighting shot on daylight film, but useful for so many other things…
I wonder how many millions of those armrest/door latches and window cranks were made and what was the last year and model to have them.
It would be nice if flickr numbered their pages so a photo would stay on the same page as more were added. Is that a user option?
That’s a pretty lifelike fake cat, as fake cats go.