That Malibu is surprisingly a very muscular look. Good choice on the wheels. Suggest some chrome tip turn downs and tilt them to the rear killer look.
Just bought 2 malibu's
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I have to agree on keeping it as original as possible....but an LS swap certainly does sound cool....
Great looking car! (For a four door) LOL. That is a nice untouched example of a G body. I think I would leave it alone. You hardly ever see an all original one that clean with low miles. Most of all it is a manual trans! All cars and trucks should have a clutch pedal and a shifter coming through the floor! But it is your car and you enjoy it and do anything to it that makes it YOUR car. Good luck!
From Wikipedia
In 1981, General Motors of Canada in Oshawa produced a special order of 25,500 four-door Malibu sedans for Saddam Hussein's Iraqi government. The deal was reportedly worth well over $100 million to GMCL. These special-order Malibus carried the unusual combination of GM's lowest-power carburated V6, the 110 hp (82 kW) 229 cu in (3.8 L) engine mated to three-speed transmission with a unique on-the-floor stick shifter. All of the cars were equipped with air conditioning, heavy duty cooling systems, AM/FM cassette decks, front bench seats, 200 km/h speedometers, tough tweed and vinyl upholstery and 14-inch (360 mm) stamped steel wheels with "baby moon" hubcaps.
However, only 13,000 units ever made it to Iraq, with the majority of the cars becoming taxis in Baghdad (once the cab-identifying orange paint was added to the front and rear fenders). With the remaining balance of about 12,500 additional Malibus either sitting on a dock in Halifax or awaiting port shipment in Oshawa, where they were built, the Iraqis suddenly cancelled the order in 1982. Excuses reportedly included various "quality concerns", including the inability of the local drivers to shift the finicky Saginaw manual transmission. This issue was eventually identified as being due to an apparent clutch release issue that eventually required on-site retrofitting by a crew of Canadian technicians sent to Iraq to support the infamous "Recall in the Desert". Later speculation was that the Iraqis were actually forced to back out for financial reasons, due to their escalating hostilities with Iran requiring the immediate diversion of funds to support the Iraqi war effort. Then GM of Canada President Donald Hackworth was initially quoted as stating GMCL intended to still try to sell the Malibus overseas in other Middle East markets; however in the end, the orphaned "Iraqi Taxi" Malibus were all sold to the Canadian public at the greatly reduced price of about C$6,800. Over the years, they have acquired a low-key 'celebrity' status, sometimes being colloquially referred to as "Iraqibu
Thanks Kevin for the response. I've seen that term on here many times and never knew exactly what it was. Now I do.
Thhanks again.
Thhanks again.
Thanks for all the interest in my cars guys.
My boys 16th is tomorrow...I couldn't wait, had to show him today!
My boys 16th is tomorrow...I couldn't wait, had to show him today!
Very cool! He's got a pretty big smile on his face!
Malibu looks good!
I actually did the same thing for my son on his 16th....
Malibu looks good!
I actually did the same thing for my son on his 16th....
Great score Jamie, hope to see both cars out and around at a show or cruise night locally here in Ottawa.
The Canadian 1981 Chevrolet Malibu brochure (20 pages) states that the only transmission available is the automatic.
Pretty funny since they ended up selling 12,500 three speed stick shifts to the Canadian public!
The Canadian 1981 Chevrolet Malibu brochure (20 pages) states that the only transmission available is the automatic.
Pretty funny since they ended up selling 12,500 three speed stick shifts to the Canadian public!
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