It’s Patina Week in the Land of the Rising Sun, and of course, the Detroit representative wears a rusty bowtie. Chevrolet is the number one American marque here, after all. I did write a post a while back grouping a half-dozen customized Chevies – this one did not make the cut, as it’s not really heavily modded. It’s just well-worn. Or undergoing some work.
This is my first Malibu, folks, so be gentle. Well, you have to start someday! No SS badges or engine displacement callouts, so we’ve probably got a base model here. Which is not to say this is a Chevelle 300 – the true Plain Jane of the Chevelle family. Those are pretty rare. This is the “regular” Malibu hardtop coupe, nothing more, nothing less.
Or at least, that’s what it could have been back when it was new. It’s not too difficult to swap the (allegedly barely sufficient) small-block 307 this car likely had when it rolled off the production line for something with a little more oomph. The conspicuously clean Cragar S/S wheels, twin exhausts and the slight rake hint at a car whose underpinnings have had more attention paid to them than its exterior appearance might indicate.
It could also be a work in progress. Start with the drivetrain, work your way through the cabin and then restore the body? The brand-new upholstery and the missing door card might well indicate that.
This generation of Malibu coupes was extremely popular in its day. They were relatively cheap, relatively compact and decently reliable. Plus you could turn one into a bona fide 350hp muscle car if you wished. You could even order front disc brakes. Madness.
Chevrolet sold over half a million Chevelles in 1969 – including the Nomad / Greenbrier / Concours Estate wagons not included in this brochure excerpt. But the majority of this total, i.e. 300k, were Malibu Sport Coupes, ranging from 6-cyl. misermobiles to the fire-breathing L34 SS 396.
However, 6-cyl. cars, be they coupes or otherwise, only represented about 11% of all Chevelles – and only 5% of all Sport Coupes. The almighty V8 had reached the apex of its popularity, as did the Malibu coupe, though the 1970 model year proved just as successful as 1969.
Maybe that explains why CC has featured the 1968-70 Chevelle/Malibu so often over the years – with that many units made, there are bound to be a few left here and there. Many of them seem to have crossed our Joseph Dennis’s path, for some reason. I will bravely concur with the general consensus in appreciating the styling of these coupes (especially the ’68-69s, as the front end lost some of its character in 1970), while not exactly being enthralled by the other body variants.
And confused about the nomenclature, of course. It’s a Chevelle, but also a Malibu, but when it’s in SS form it reverts back to Chevelle, except when it’s an El Camino, but those don’t really count, or maybe they do, and what is the deal with the wagons? Nomad / Greenbrier / Concours Estate? Recycling was already a thing in the late ‘60s.
By the way, I would like to highlight the splendid post by VinceC on these arcane naming matters. Good to see that Chevrolet’s fast and loose attitude towards their nameplates has confused even the most gear-headed of us on occasion. Makes foreign newbies like yours truly feel a little less inadequate.
The same question can be posed with this Malibu as with the Karmann-Ghia we saw yesterday: is this a sign that patina is becoming a thing in Japan? Well, it just might be, yes. But this Chevy and the aforementioned VW are perhaps outliers, being imports. The clincher would be to find a JDM car in regular use with ample amounts of surface rust. Let’s see what tomorrow brings…
Related posts:
Curbside Classic: 1969 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 396 – Watchdog, by Joseph Dennis
Curbside Classic: 1969 Chevrolet Chevelle Nomad – Mrs. LaRusso’s Hooptie, by Joseph Dennis
Curbside Classic: 1968 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu Coupe – Reality Sucks, But It Beats The Alternative, by PN
Curbside Musings: 1969 Chevrolet Chevelle – The Importance Of Boundaries, by Joseph Dennis
CC Capsule: 1969 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu – Like Two Daggers Through My Heart, by Joseph Dennis
Classic CC Capsule: 1969 Chevelle Nomad Wagon – More Name Debasement, And Confusion, by PN
Curbside Capsule: A Pair Of 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle Super Sports – An Apple A Day, by Joseph Dennis
CC Capsule: 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 454 – Some Kind Of Wonderful, by Joseph Dennis
CC Outtake: 1968 Chevelle 300 Hardtop Coupe – The Un-Malibu Chevelle, by PN
CC Outtake: 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu Sport Sedan – Golden Edition, by Johannes Dutch
Chevelle SS or Malibu SS? – An Overview of Chevrolet’s Intermediate Super Sport, by VinceC
Vintage R&T Road Test: 1968 Chevelle Malibu 327 – “…An Unusually Satisfactory Car”, by PN
Interesting that AC wasn’t an option on the list above. Was that still a dealer add-on?
With the cost of restoration these days imo patina is the coming thing, and no wonder.
My F-I-L bought a maroon Malibu coupe in ’69, 250 6cyl, Powerglide, PS, R+H, that’s it. He was a Scotsman for cure, iow a cheapskate. Drove it quite while dating my wife in 1970 as I only had a motorcycle at the time. It felt peppy enough with that torquey 6, but had a very cheap feeling interior, much more so than my currently owned ’69 base Cutlass.
When he died in ’93 he still had it, it had 90k miles and was rusting somewhat and quite loose feeling (he did only minimal upkeep), but it still ran well and was reasonably solid. I washed and waxed it, changed the O+F, and sold it for my MIL for 900 to an old lady who needed transportation. Every kid who saw it wanted it, but we wanted it to go to someone who’d not abuse it. Mission accomplished.
I see “Headlight Washer” as a new for ’69 option. I have never seen a GM A body with that option. I’d like to see if someone has a picture of that!
I had the ’72 Concours “Estate” in what looks like the same green color back in the latter 1980s when it was just a beater $500 wagon. Today I would very much like to have it in my garage again (for the same $500 of course). It had the 350 and was plenty lusty, so I’m guessing a 307 in the coupe body might not have been all that bad. Especially with the, uh, Colin Chapman-esque enhancements seen here such as the lightening of interior trim etc…
This week has been a whole different universe, representing the seedy underbelly of Tokyo, yet all these finds are in daytime hours. Hmmm. It’s wild how different though a well-patinated green-ish Karmann Ghia comes across as compared to a well-worn green-ish Chevelle coupe. I wonder if the two (presumably but who knows) different owners have more or less in common than the same two owners might in Germany or the United States.
Nice to see factory fresh 1969 GM panel gaps 😉
If I remember correctly, there’s the MOT equivalent in Japan that would hinder the use of rust buckets on the road regardless of vintage. Also, why import a half done project to Tokyo where costs will be significantly higher for completion? Maybe the pleasure of doing it yourself.
I’ve always been amazed that having the front indicators that far inboard was legal. Pretty sure that wouldn’t pass muster here.
Not a fan of that patina here, especially not that peeling vinyl roof. Do the patina guys have a sub-branch of peeling-vinyl-roof fans? Just kidding. But seeing it’s a Malibu rather than yet another SS or SS clone, I hope it gets a new vinyl top and new paint. It would be such a change to see a Malibu done up. Seeing the new upholstery on that bench seat, I’m hopeful…
A young guy in my home town had a Malibu like that in red only one I’d seen at the time he stuck it into the snery backwards and found out it was the only Malibu in the country a rear body half cut was imported and the car was fixed
I can remember riding in one of these in 1975. It was the first time I’d ever been in a car without a carpet!
It was the absolute barest of bare. Single mom, so I guess I understood.
I got home from that ride and told my dad! He explained that some cars were built to be sold cheaply.
Nice article and a great trip back down memory lane
I personally don’t like “patina”. I just think it’s the worst thing to
“Not Do” on a vehicle..but, it’s a
decision the owner makes..well,
to each their own. At least fix/-repair the rust, rot, dents etc. &
paint it with primer/sealer…it’ll-
look like it’s in the process of a
restoration or leaves guessing on what’s next..ie; color, theme,
final iteration etc., Thanks 😉!!!.