The Chevy Malibu was in its ninth year of production in 1972 and was still one of the company’s best-selling nameplates. Changes were few from 1971 to 1972 as a whole new Chevelle was due to come out in 1973 (the turn signal indicators are about the only visible giveaway). We don’t know how this Malibu family sedan left the factory (and we assume with a V8), but something a little more potent appears to be lurking under the hood now. This would-be sleeper is in York, Pennsylvania, and is available here on craigslist for $6,000. Our gratitude goes to Mitchell G. for another interesting tip!
This Chevy was likely one of about 45,000 produced in 1972. That’s with a V8, plus a few more with an inline-six. Perhaps it had a 307 cubic inch V8 for runs to the grocery store, or maybe a 350 to take some road trips. Whatever was there has been replaced by an engine of unspecified displacement. It’s from the model year 1976 and is bored .030 over stock, but is it a 350 or something else? And we’re told the engine has just 2,000 miles on it since its rebuild. So, the motor is perhaps the healthiest part of this 81,000-mile automobile.
Is the black paint original? We doubt it and what’s there is changing with time and exposure in a few places. But rust doesn’t appear to be an issue, so you could drive it until you got tired of looking at it and repaint it then. The interior may be okay, but a sheet looks to be over part of the back seat and the color of carpeting seems off compared to the rest of the material.
The seller even describes this car as a sleeper because of its drab looks, but the new Edelbrock intake manifold and carburetor will hopefully help raise a few eyebrows when you give it the gas at a traffic light. While the car needs some TLC, the seller advertises it as one that you can drive home rather than haul on a trailer. That’s more that can be said for some cars in this price range.
Definitely cool for the price. To bad it’s so far away.
Nice Public Housing across the street.
If someone could convert it two a two door
Interior and underside condition are the big questions (along with the displacement). In the former case, what we can see looks good, the orangey brown probably just having faded differently than the dark brown of the dash plastics, and what we can see includes most of the not-repro’d unique-to-a-4-door parts. In the latter, no clue.
If it’s worth having, I’d paint it gold or green with that parchment interior and put on full covers, whitewalls, and a quiet exhaust if that’s not what’s on the car. They don’t all have to be high-school bedroom poster cars.
Could you get a 396(i mean 402) or even 454 v8 &/or a 4 speed manual in any ’70-’72 Malibu 4 door or wagon? Maybe if you “knew somebody”?
Nice looking car. If only more photos were posted. Only five pics? That’s nowhere near enough for people to see the car. Still, given the condition of the car, assuming everything works like they should, and that it runs and drives safely, I’d be willing to pay around the asking price of $6000.
Grandpap wants to sell his sleeper,got to be too fast for him with that huge motor
A common replacement engine is a 350 bored out to 383. That would be my guess.
Grew up in a 72 Chevelle 4 door. Blue with blue interior. 250ci straight 6. Couldn’t kill that engine. Not like I didn’t try, either. Bought it off my parents for $200 when I turned 16. Loved that car. This one is only about 50-60 miles away from me. Hmmm…..