In the 1950s, a column-shifted manual transmission was common fare. But by the 1970s, automatic transmissions had largely taken their place – at least on non-performance automobiles. This 1971 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu Sport Coupe has a 307 cubic inch V8 – and a factory “3-on-the-tree” manual transmission like you or your father learned to drive on. Wearing mostly original paint, this Chevy is said to be a survivor and presents well (though the photos have too much dark space and shadows). Located in New Egypt, New Jersey, this two-door is available here on eBay for $23,500.
Back in the day, annual styling changes were pretty common and almost expected to remain competitive. The mid-size Chevy Chevelle had been redesigned in 1968 and received annual refreshes through 1971 (1972 was almost a twin). The big change for 1971 was the switch from dual to single headlights, perhaps to follow along with the Monte Carlo, which had debuted the year before. The rear bumper with integrated taillights also got an update. If you ordered a Malibu Sport Coupe with a V8 in ’71, the 307 V8 was the starting point.
While many of these 307 Chevies may have come with a Powerglide, this one left the factory with a column 3-speed. Perhaps it was ordered this way because the driver wanted more control, or maybe it was a budget move, as the automatic cost a couple of hundred bucks extra. The original owner made that decision, and the seller is only its second. The exterior wears Rosewood paint that we’re told is a rare color, though we have no stats. The factory applied 85% of the finish (why was the other 15% repainted?).
According to the seller, this Chevy runs and drives, but doesn’t use an adjective like “good” or “well”. At 79,000 miles, this car is a survivor and one of the nicest the seller has run across. You could leave it in stock condition (please!) or go for a restomod upgrade. However, you should fix the tear in the front seat when you get a chance. But since they’re only original once, why not leave the rest alone?
There’s a “New” Egypt now? While my manual transmission views still apply, this car had an entirely different purpose than the wagon with a stick. The stick was only a part of the frugal package, no P/S or P/B, but inside probably more options than a bare bones car. I’m exactly sure who ordered a car like this, as most plain Chevelles went to women buyers, but not this one. I read, this car, as is, was just under $3grand, again, was for that single frugal uncle that shuffled off to the factory every day at 5am and home by 2:30, sharp. Life was good.
A 4 speed or even just a floor shifter might improve chances of a sale, but with 280 viewers and no bids, there is certainly interest, but not at this price for this car. I don’t mean any disrespect to these sellers, but they better get with the times if they want to sell these plain cars nobody wants. Stay tuned,,,
I’ve been to New Egypt. It’s a small town in the southern NJ pines and home to one of the rattiest flea markets you’ll ever find. Pretty much the middle of nowhere.
This Chevelle is almost as plain as they come. The asking price is, to be kind, quite optimistic. So far the market seems to agree.
I don’t know about quite optimistic. That could be true for a quickie Facebook marketplace deal, if a seller wants to try that route in a buyers market.
Now? There’s always been a New Egypt here in NJ. New Egypt has been the home to New Egypt Speedway which opened as a 1/4 mile dirt oval, later becoming a paved oval and then back to dirt ovals of various lengths over the years. Unfortunately, the Speedway closed this year and it was announced last month a new buyer has purchased the property and plans to tear down the track.
I’m old enough to own a 71 El Camino I bought new. People today find cars like this Chevelle and the Kingswood wagon the other day as strange, but they were actually somewhat common back then. In the 60’s and 70’s we were fortunate enough to be able to order cars equipped the way we wanted, not how the automakers wanted to build then. I knew a lot of three speed cars, both column and floor shift. We had a family friend who drove a 327 4 speed 68 4 door post Malibu. A high school friend had a base, rubber floor mat 69 Nova with a 307 and factory installed 4 speed, and another friend had a 68 GTO with a floor shift 3 speed. Almost none of us had power brakes and not many had power steering. I ordered my El Camino with power steering, but not brakes or AC. My wife when I met her was driving a 74 Jevelin with a 3 speed floor shift with steering but not PB. I bought a new Trans Am in 74 with PS and PB because they were standard, and no AC or console for the 4 speed. I really miss being able to build a car to my liking.
A frugal three K in ’71 is about the same as a more frugal thirty K in 2026 inflation adjusted dollars today.
Forgiveness, I meant no disrespect to the great folks of “New Egypt”, I just think a better name could have been used than a hot bed of Middle East activity.
To address your “adjusted for inflation” remark, I don’t believe in that and still say, it was a lot easier coming up with $3grand then, than $30,000 today.
Lastly, the term “3 on the tree” gets used almost exclusively today, but for old timers, it was “3 on the column”, there was no tree involved. :)
I have a Grand Unifying Theory of manual transmissions in postwar classics: “If the manual was reasonably popular new, it’s the more desirable model now.” That applies to 4-on-the-floor ’60s muscle, ’90s Hondas and every Miata ever made equally well.
But the flip side probably applies to this 3-on-the-tree Chevelle.
This is a very nice original Chevelle. I think that 307 camshaft debacle was over by then. It’s amazing that the tin worms in Jersey didn’t eat the car. Someone will buy this car to make it a hot rod. Very easy to drop in a 383 SBC and a 5 speed gearbox. Most of the reason you can’t build your car like you used to do is the federal emissions laws. The manufacturer has to submit every drivetrain possibility for “official” testing through the emissions lab/test loop. Which costs the manufacturer big dollars per vehicle. (I think I heard that the total cost per model (and each variation is considered a separate model) is in the $500,000 range. That includes the fee for the fees AND then testing the factory has to do to make sure it will “test well” before it goes to the Fed’s.
And folks that all started with the state of California. It is them that we have to blame for all this. California could have made a huge dent in their car caused (which wasn’t the main polluting cause) smog if they had wanted to. But they chose the route to make everyone pay for their problem. I could go on and on about this. But you are probably already bored reading my drivel.
To me $23,500 would be a SS numbers matching in “fair” condition.
There is a reason the car has survived, the column shift manual, manual steering and manual brakes. Luckily those are easy to deal with. It presents well in the pictures, serious potential buyers will make the time to see it in person.
As for why there are no bids, the car isn’t being auctioned, it is a set price listing. The number of views is only for the previous 24 hours.
Steve R.
As of 9/19/2026 the item is no longer available. There is a good chance the seller sold it off eBay.
Steve R
It’s a pretty solid looking car.
The 307 was Chevy’s way of proving that they could take a great base engine design and produce a model that made no horsepower.
If you pay 23k and drive it as is, you would feel foolish because it is so plain, and you paid too much for a no-options patina car. If you go the fix up route, you feel foolish because you paid a lot for a car you are going to take completely apart. Either way, you paid too much.
Maybe someone in the wings waiting to make yet another SS clone….
How best to make a 307 a bit snappier without upsetting the whole apple cart?
The 307 is inherently kinda anemic but one could swap the usual parts – cam, heads, intake, exhaust, ignition, fuel delivery and a lower gear set (like 3.73) for the rear to wake it up a bit. For this Chevelle, I’d swap the trans for a four speed too.
Look, I’m not trying to nit pick, but it’s a big pet peeve of mine that everyone seems to assume, without questions, that an original owner actually “ordered” a car a certain way. The truth is, people RARELY ordered these older cars a certain way. They bought what was on the lot from the dealer. And manufacturers would ship many varieties to dealers to see what was selling the best and scale production to the most popular versions.
All that off my chest, I think it’s a great car and a great price. I love the column 3 speed. We had a Chevy truck like that and it was a lot of fun to drive.
Only in rare cases do manufacturers build them and then try to unload them to dealers. That’s a sure way to get stuck with vehicles dealers don’t want. I remember in ’87 or ’88 Ford was going to make big changes to drivetrain parts in the F150 line. So they actually built alot of 300/4.9 6 cylinder 4 speed (with granny 1 st gear), 4×4 regular cab, short bed trucks and started offering them to dealers at a huge discount. (A very close friend bought one from our dealership because the price was too good to pass up.) And since our dealership was in the heart of 4×4 country we took many off of Fords hands and sold many . Most were silver but some were red, white and dark blue. They were commercial grade rubber floor mats, am/fm radio and a/c. But, even at the fantastic price we had flooded our market and had several on the lot for many months. And Ford kept trying to get us to take more. And you also have to remember that vehicle sales are very regional in the style of vehicles sold. I was at a national Ford service managers meeting and sat next to a guy from the Chicago area. (This was about 1988) Since I grew up in the Chicago area, (in Nevada now for over 43 years) it was easy to relate to the guy and we got along well. Our dealerships couldn’t have been more diverse than if we had been different planets. They couldn’t keep Escorts and the new Tempos in stock. And we couldn’t give them away. We both had dealerships about the same size realitive to population density/dealership planning volume and they maybe sold 1 4×4 a month and we couldn’tkeep them in stock. However, we both sold about the same number of Taurus/Sable (we were also a Mercury dealer) per. month. So in most cases, dealers specify the build of all of the cars on the lot. But there are exceptions. There were times working at a GMC store where the factory wouldn’t let us order a truck with a certain option unless we ordered a couple with a particular option. That happened alot when the DuraMax first came out.
My mom bought a 69 Chevelle 307 automatic power steering. Great car that was pretty quick. That car went through three kids while Mom drove it too. We just wore out that 307. But it was a great car. Can’t imagine anyone wanting a setup like the car in this topic.
I’ve heard horror stories about driving a three-on-the-tree, but I don’t think it’s actually terribly difficult. That was what was in my first car (after a ’64 Ford grain truck). It was a ’51 Plymouth Cambridge.
I can’t speak for the rest of the car, but I’ve grown to hate 3 on the tree especially in a car. And they made pickups like that all the way into the ’80s. 3 on the floor is much more comfortable to me, and you don’t have all those goofy mechanics hooked up to the steering column.
I had a couple of 3 on a tree vehicles, they were nothing but transportation, just like this car was. It’s a novelty, nothing more.
Turning this car into an SS clone, is a waste of money in my opinion. The 1971 & 72 Chevelle’s aren’t as popular as the earlier cars and at the astronomical asking price of this car, not a good financial decision. $23k for this car is a joke.
And here I go!! I have had my 1971 Chevelle since high school 1988. My started as a 307/3 on the tree with power disc brakes manual steering with trailer tow and a larger radiator that this one with steel wheels and small round smooth hubcaps with a chevy logo. I am the second owner. The first owner ordered it this way. In the early to the late 1990’s I put 4 speed in it with a crate 350 engine and added a 12 bolt rear from a station wagon. It is still white with 90% of the blue interior. The original drivetrain was Ok but thee were my choices over time. By the way me and the car are from NJ too but have been in Las Vegas Nevada since 1996. The 307 engine was a good entry level V8 back in the day.
A Sunday school teacher I knew
named Naomi Seaborne bought
a “70 model about like this one in
the spring of that year. Hers was
dark green with a lighter green vinyl roof and a black interior. And that car was as basic as you
got in 1970. It did have the 307
3- on-the-tree combo along with
power steering, disc brakes, an AM radio and a heater. Her son
Jimmy and I were good friends and we hung out together. Well,
every Sunday just before Alter Call, Jimmy and I would sneak out to his Mom’s car and listen to
WHOW, 1520 out of Clinton, Illinois while the services were about to end. Jimmy would then
light a Camel and turn on the radio. I still remember hearing
Hello Darlin by Conway Twitty for
the first time as we sat in the car
listening to the radio and hoping
that his Mom didn’t catch him
smoking! He was a couple of years older than me and was a
very talented musician who played the fiddle and both the lap
and pedal steel guitar and played
them both very well. I got him a
job on the Breakfast Jamboree
playing the fiddle and the steel
guitar behind whatever band needed him and his Mom was
really pissed off at me because I
talked her son into playing the
Devil’s music. But I didn’t talk him
into it, the money did. Back then,
a guy could make about, or more
than what a factory job ($100 a week) was paying back then if you were lucky and you could earn it without breaking your back 40 hours a week. And depending on who you played with, you could make that in 2 nights work. He went on to be a
session musician for Illini Records out of Champaign, Illinois. I went to work for Midwest Entertainment but we still kept in touch and even played
a few one nighters while I was still in high school. And the old
Chevelle? Naomi drove it til she
had to give up driving and the car
passed on to Jimmy. Think he racked up 200K miles before the
Tin Worm got it. Not bad for a basic car.
That’s my favorite Barnfinds story of the last couple years! Thanks for sharing it Ken.
That’s my favorite Barnfinds story of the last couple years! Thanks for sharing it Ken.
3 on the tree is easy to drive. I had. 60 Studebaker Lark so equipped, Dad bought a new 67 Chevelle 300 series and later a 69 C10 pickup with one. They did tend to get sloppy and stick in 2nd gear as they got old and worn (speedshifting sons will do that, the shifter in the truck broke off in my hand). We put an Indy floor shifter in the Chevelle at about 200k. They were what they were…Dad got one in the Chevelle because it cost less and got better mileage than the auto. Never was a fan of an automatic back then but for daily I like ’em now!
I like all the comments regarding the 3 speed…I drove several of them. The oddest was a 62 Corvette, 250hp 3 speed…bought as I was graduating high school…drove until 1970 when I sold it to pay for first wedding….i do miss the car
I don’t blame you. I sure wish I had one of those, but my pockets are not quite large enough to justify the purchase of one.
I had a ‘69 gold Malibu post sedan with a 307 and a three speed manual column shift transmission. Mine had AC and power steering. Even with 3 on the tree, my Malibu seemed quite luxurious to me. I thought it was fun to drive, and I never knew anyone else who had a Chevelle with a column mounted 3 speed on a ‘68 or newer car.
Jump ahead to 1978. I bought a Malibu 4 door with the 2.6L V-6 base engine, a flor mounted 3 speed, and an AM/FM radio as the only option. No PS, no PB. $4,400 at Ourisman Chevrolet in Marlboro Heights, MD, new on the dealer lot.
My pleasure Peter, and welcome to the Barn! I have even more stories to share with you and all my other friends here at the Barn.
We’re just a bunch of car crazy folks who like to swap stories and comment on what we see here. They say every car, truck, or oddball has a story and I believe that wholeheartedly. This site is a veritable buffet of car and truck
listings with loads of variety and
something for everyone. After Jimmy and I went our separate ways, I did see him again when he came by the house to tell me that he got called up by The Amazing Rhythm Aces to play steel guitar for them while their
steel man was in the hospital. They had back to back hits that year (1975) with Third Rate Romance and Amazing Grace (used to be her favorite song) Both of which came out two months apart. You can find their
music on YouTube if you wanna
listen to it. One day, I’ll tell you how that group came to be. But that’s another story.