The Story of "Guss" (1979 Malibu Wagon)

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fig865

Not-quite-so-new-guy
Aug 23, 2011
35
2
8
Minneapolis, MN
I thought I'd share my budget build on this great site. I've gained alot of knowledge from you guys so far and enjoy seeing the progress of other builds. I'll warn you up front, this won't be a wicked fast process, there's just too much going on in life right now for me to do all I want to do right away. I'll do my best at sharing pics along the way as well as just sharing stories. I hope you enjoy!

First, I'll share how I found the car. I race at the local circle track and spotted the brown wagon leaving the pits one night. I had enjoyed a few cold ones by that time and yelled at the guy that I wanted his car. I've raced with him for a few years so I knew him a little bit. He hit the brakes, and backed up to my pit. He kind of chuckled and just said... "Thousand bucks". Now it was a relatively clean car, dirty brown in color. Small rust holes in the bottoms of the fenders (right behind the wheel). Other than that, a couple very small spots of surface cancer only. It sounded quiet, except for the bearing squeal from under the hood (water pump or alternator most likely). I of course was slightly buzzed and said "SOLD!...when I get the money of course". It was racing season, any extra cash went into my pile of a race car. I looked it over a little, no frame rust, the little 267 V8 and TH350, AC (not working), a very basic car. Manual windows, AM/FM with the single dash speaker. Interior is a little rough as he used it as his "pick up". I knew that night that some day the car would be mine.

The whole rest of the '10 racing season, I saw the car off and on in the pits. I'd talk to him about it and he was set on selling it to me but wasn't in a hurry to sell so he didn't mind waiting on my funds. That summer, he swapped out the 14" tires and put on some of those aftermarket chrome chevy rally wheels with 255/60/15s in the back and some smaller crap tires in front. He sprung up the back to give the tires room. I wasn't a fan of the jacked up look but whatever. The wheels and 2 good tires were worth more towards my future purchase. Towards the end of the season, he started asking me if I was ready. He needed better gas mileage for work so he was car shopping and it wouldn't be his daily driver anymore. Crap! Now I was worried he'd sell it away before I could get it. I stayed in touch that off season and winter to make sure he knew I was very interested. At one point, I got an email saying $750 and it's mine. He was re-doing their kitchen cabinets and could use the money. Still a financial fail on my part, I couldn't do it yet. Spring time came and I had the cash. I contacted him about the car and got a response... "Well...I slid into it this winter with my truck and busted the header panel and dinged the hood. How's $500 sound?" I got a quick picture text to me and it wasn't too bad. An easy $250 fix in my opinion. I went and picked it up that weekend. Below is the picture from my way home with it. Drove good except for a low brake pedal which was a bad rear wheel cylinder. All in all I was happy.

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And the damage that saved me $250.

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fig865

Not-quite-so-new-guy
Aug 23, 2011
35
2
8
Minneapolis, MN
Now, onto the name "Guss". I'm a firm believer that cars need names. They are part of the family and have feelings too. I had the car named before I even owned it. And my plans are to keep it brown in some way because of it. I just liked the name Gus Gus after the Cinderella character. My daughter is 4yo now and she loves it too. Reasons...SBC is known as a "mouse" so that fits. It's brown and has a big behind. I'm going with Guss to mix in a little Super Sport.

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Longroof79

Rocket Powered Basset Hound
G-Body of the Month
Oct 14, 2008
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Gainesville, Fl
Looks like a nice wagon. You certainly got it for a good price. You shouldn't have too much trouble locating a header panel , HL door, and grille for it. You can use either a '78 -'79...or you could go with another year like '80-'81...or if you like the quad headlight look, you can go with an '82 up header panel.
Looks like you might need a hood as well. Keep checking, guys give stock hoods away after replacing them with a cowl induction hood.
Good luck with the car, and keep us up to date on your progress.
 

fig865

Not-quite-so-new-guy
Aug 23, 2011
35
2
8
Minneapolis, MN
Thanks Longroof!

Funny coincidence is about 11 years ago, I was racing a Malibu and bought a 4dr parts car. I used the front clip and gave the header to a friend of mine. After acquiring Guss and telling that same friend about it, he checked his garage rafters and there it was. He lives about 4 hours from me but we met up at Back to the 50's here in MN this summer and I got the part back for the same price...free. I've seen a couple hoods locally pretty cheap but might hold out for a cowl induction myself. Still trying to decide the exact look I'm going for.
 

fig865

Not-quite-so-new-guy
Aug 23, 2011
35
2
8
Minneapolis, MN
Here are a few pics from this last summer. The paint is pretty well oxidized and I'm missing the drivers door molding. I'm pulling that stuff off anyways. Currently I'm thinking a flat brown, maybe the primer color but my mind can change before I get that far. Also in the pics you'll see another toy of mine ("Zeus") that I've sold since these were taken. I miss that truck.

Photo0724.jpg

Photo0723.jpg
 

fig865

Not-quite-so-new-guy
Aug 23, 2011
35
2
8
Minneapolis, MN
Aside from just driving it this last summer, I haven't done too much to it yet. The water pump started leaking out of the weep hole a little so I changed that. Unfortunately, it wasn't the squeak :( .

Photo0842.jpg


The fan clutch was junk so I replaced it with a flex fan and spacer. Not sure I like it because it's so noisy. When I do a motor swap I might go a different route there too. Unless the exhaust is loud enough to cover it up.

Also this summer, I've swapped alternators. Bearing howl is still there. Must be the PS pump. :(
 

Longroof79

Rocket Powered Basset Hound
G-Body of the Month
Oct 14, 2008
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Gainesville, Fl
Glad to hear that you were actually able to get your header panel back from your friend. You can't score a better deal than that.
Yeah, I would also lose the side mouldings. That was the first thing I did when I got my car.
You might be able to tweak the hood alittle . If not, then a replacement will be in order.
 

fig865

Not-quite-so-new-guy
Aug 23, 2011
35
2
8
Minneapolis, MN
I've also scored a pair of fenders, perfectly solid, in primer and ready to go for $40 ea. Not sure if that's a great price but I'll be able to recoup at least half that back out of my holy ones from a local racer. I'm not going to worry about the hood just yet as it will still be function-able and I could get it decent looking.

The only bad part about the header piece deal is it was brown when I gave it to him but black when I got it back.
 

Longroof79

Rocket Powered Basset Hound
G-Body of the Month
Oct 14, 2008
12,156
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113
Gainesville, Fl
fig865 said:
I've also scored a pair of fenders, perfectly solid, in primer and ready to go for $40 ea. Not sure if that's a great price but I'll be able to recoup at least half that back out of my holy ones from a local racer. I'm not going to worry about the hood just yet as it will still be function-able and I could get it decent looking.

The only bad part about the header piece deal is it was brown when I gave it to him but black when I got it back.
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That's not a bad price for solid rust free fenders. I scored a set from the same guy I bought a set of rust free doors from several years ago. $25.00 each. I figured i can't go wrong for that. They're hanging up in my garage waiting on me.

Color is not an issue. As long as you have the piece, that's what counts. It will still look better than the one with the chunk missing.
You'll run across a hood eventually, no biggie.

BTW, I've been wanting to attend a Back to the '50's event for years now. My relatives did send me a few Back to the '50's T-shirts last year.
 

fig865

Not-quite-so-new-guy
Aug 23, 2011
35
2
8
Minneapolis, MN
Back to the 50's is a good time. It's a good sized show. I don't go every year but I might start. My interest seems to be shifting from the circle track stuff more to working on the Wagon. Car shows are great to spark ambition and inspiration.

I picked up an 83 Monte that someone was in the middle of building. Body work is mostly done and a couple panels are already painted black. Fenders and the trunk lid are done. Has a cleaned up and painted 350 with headers and a rebuilt TH350. A decent set of 14" chrome wheels and tires. I got it mainly for the drive train and to use the shell as a race car or re-sell it. The wheels and tires have made their way onto Guss for now and I put some different rear springs in to get him sitting level again. I'll post a pic when I get a decent one.

I found a local body shop that does some custom stuff looking for a g-body to build for the shop. He's looking to trade labor for a car. He seems interested in my Monte so we're going to meet up with Guss to talk up a rough estimate. I hope something works out with this deal.
 
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