I got a bit excited when I saw this listing for a ’69 Chevelle 300 Deluxe. It was the poor man’s version of the Malibu and they only built 10,000 300 Sport Coupes as opposed to 300,000 Malibu Sport Coupes. But, alas, the VIN and the car’s original paperwork give it away as a Malibu, but a very nice one that may only have 58,000 miles. Located in Omaha, Nebraska, this Chevelle is available here on eBay where the bidding has reached $28,361, the reserve is unmet, and the pass-go number is $44,950.
With its introduction in 1964, the mid-size Chevelle quickly become Chevy’s second best-selling automobile. And it would perform well in the performance sector as the SS 396 was a series of its own from 1966 to 1968. After that, the Super Sport was an option on the Malibu and has become one of the most cloned cars on the resale market. This 1969 Malibu has an interesting assortment of equipment as noted by the original paperwork that the seller secured along with the automobile.
This Malibu was ordered with the basic 307 cubic inch V8, yet it was paired at the factory with a 4-speed manual transmission. Both pieces of hardware are said to be numbers-matching. For just a few dollars more, the first owner could have gotten the 350 V8 and had a better performer. Someone must have wished it was a 350 because they went to the trouble of changing the script on the front fenders from 307 to 350. The car also has a bucket seat interior, which immediately makes one think of a Super Sport, but it is not.
We’re told there is no evidence of rust or body damage, but that’s hard to tell as the seller only provides one photo of the complete car. The rest just zero in on one part of the machine or another. And they’re taken from inside a dark garage. The color combination of green/green/green is original, but the seller believes one repaint did occur. The only thing we’re told that the auto needs is a new clutch, but the current one works well enough at the present. The seller bought the car three years ago and has only added 118 miles to the odometer, so its lack of use has prompted the sale (or so we’re told).
Are there any internal mods one could do to make the little mill snappier? Any thoughts people?
Na, pull it and replace it with about any larger small block. 307 is a long stroke motor, sort of a torque motor but better to replace than throw money at it. Doesn’t rev really well. What’s amazing me is someone ordered this combination, I suppose you could get it in high gear sooner but kind of lame. Reading the sheet they posted it had wheel covers and white walls. I suppose the owner wanted a sporty feeling. I am quite familiar with the area it was sold and should be rusty, but guess it wasn’t driven in bad weather at all. Looks solid.
Totally agree, even though the 307 was kinda indestructible, they were basically junk when it came to performance. It was Chevy’s answer to a basic replacement for the tried & true 283. Cadmanls, you make me chuckle, in a polite way, when you mention the 307 as a “sort of a torque motor.” I had a 68 Chevelle with a 307 & power glide; talk about a weak-kneed attempt at anything except slow & easy when it concerned get-up & go. Almost hard to believe it still has the 307.
People did order cars this way. I had a brother who did something like this. He ordered a 1970 Dodge Challenger with a 318 2 barrel, white wall tires and a 4 speed. In his defense, he loved the car, wanted a manual but did not see the sence in a ” hot rod” engine. Back in the day you could order anything that you wanted. Lots of reasons why it can’t be done anymore but no need to get into all of that.
As far as this Chevelle, its cool.. Personally I prefer a small block to a big block but NOT a 307. Just take that out, buy a nice 383 crate motor and have an awesome Chevelle. I think that this car is definately worth the extra money of buying that nice fresh new crate motor.
Actually the 307 is NOT a long stroke motor. You’re thinking 305. The 307 used the same crankshaft as a 327 (3.26″ stroke) with the same bore as a 283.
Actually there are a few things you can do to the 307 but you’re not going to get much out of it. It’s an economy engine I for one actually like the engine but it’s not suited very well for pickup trucks.
Any of the standard improvements will help, but you’d be better off doing those to a 350 or larger SBC. Rocker covers and perhaps air cleaner aren’t original. I’d be looking at the block casting numbers.
I’d be tempted to restore the 307 badges, and drop in a stock looking 350 or 400
I had a ’72 Camaro with a 307 and while it wasn’t a supercar, it scooted on down the road. It had a 4bbl carb and headers. Sounded great and never left me stranded. Being a stupid teenager, I was hard on it but it never complained.
21 years ago I bought my brother’s stock 1970 Nova 307 with a 3on the tree and that’s it. No a/c or FM. 65k on the odo. He was the original owner. It was slow off the line, picked up revs quickly then topped out early in first and second. I tried all the cheap tricks to improve performance. I replaced the stock air filter with a K&N, added flowmaster mufflers, and the most noticeable improvement came from advancing the timing. Can’t remember exactly what the numbers were but after adding 4 or 6 degrees (?) more advance, it really woke up. All for less than $200. But it was still just a little faster than slow.
8banger; read the entire article below
https://www.onallcylinders.com/2021/11/18/long-rod-chevy-307-big-power/
IMO you’re asking a very good question, since we all know upgrading to a larger displacement engine is the obvious route to higher performance. What’s more interesting is, how to make the most out of what’s on hand already. It’s sort of like the guys hopping up I-6 mills – they all know a large V8 would be a cheaper and easier choice still the obvious limitations of the sixes intrigue them.
Reaching 500hp with a 572 isn’t impressive; reaching 500hp with a 307 – an engine everyone considers to be junk – is
Normally I would agree with you but the 307 did not have a lot of potential and there are so many better sbc engines out there. I know that in my comment I mentioned a 383 crate motor but there are so many inexpensive 350’s out there, and even better, get a nice 327 and rebuild it and put that in. I agree with tou regarding the big horsepower big blocks
Yes, quite a few actually. Years ago we did a dyno test with an old 307. Didn’t touch the shortblock, did the usual heads/cam/intake/carb swap and it was making well over 300 HP on the dyno. Even just an intake and cam swap would see huge gains and make it respectable. Then maybe pull the heads, have them cleaned up and milled a bit to boost compression even better.
It will be the only one like it at Good Guys, but it’s sort of like taking a Buick Century and removing one of the portholes, to make it a Buick Special clone.
I think this car is absolutely beautiful. And then you add the 307 economy V8 in it? This car is perfect. No, you’re not going to smoke anybody at a stoplight but you got enough power to get where you’re going. I for one love the cars that had the engines everybody had back in the day plus, everybody has an LS, 350 or big block powered Malibu or Chevelle why not keep it as it is? Be different. I hope it stays this way.
i had a 68 chevelle malibu sport coupe was a very fun car ,also was a sleeper ,miss that car picked up from a older lady i was second owner ,was a 307 power glide hard top no post ,manuel everything ,am radio was the only option besides tinted glass,270 dollars was the price lol should of bought all i found back in the late seventies
Must say i dont agree whith above comments about the 307.
I friend of mine had a Chevelle 69 whith 307 2 barrel powerglide
And it performed very well. :)
Surprisingly peppy and revvy..
You had apparently only ridden in very slow and miserable cars if you considered that snappy and a good performer.
I also had a 68 Che Elle with a 307 and a powerglide. I’d say it was the slowest most miserable preforming car I’ve ever owned. That’s saying a lot since I also owned a satellite with a 318.
I agree with Justin. I had a 1970 Chevelle with a 307 and powerglide. D-O-G!
It was rated @ 180hp and weighs 3200lbs had a 0-60 of 9 seconds and a quarter mile time of next Tuesday. Cool car no doubt. Shelve the original engine and put something in it so you aren’t gapped by your Aunts Dodge Caliber
Nice car for sure. Very interesting it has a 4 speed behind it. Very weirdly optioned but at $45k I think I could maybe find a real SS (in lesser shape but still an SS)
You could leave the 307 in the car and put a new camshaft in it every 20,000 miles of you drove it a lot,otherwise it’s a nice car,but I don’t think 45000.00 nice
This is a great original ride. You can keep it as is or…. 1969 built 302 cross intake 2-4 bbls. About 550 hp. Then drop in a 5 speed beef up the rear with 3:73. Upgrade the brakes to disc and upgrade the suspension. Keep outside and inside stock. Oh! Take off the 350 off the fender and put back the 307. Go out and have fun.. ☺️🐻🇺🇸
I have a 1970 Chevelle with the 307/4-speed combo. I’ve never seen another one of any year until this ad. Definitely not fast but still fun to drive.
How about this pull the motor take out the crank keep the connecting rods .Get a early 283 block make sure that you check that base of the cylinder’s are notched out front to back of the block .Now use 283 pistons on those rods you saved install crank pistons in the block use your heads of choice with large valves for more air/fuel in more exhaust out put in a spec cam for the Chevy 302 and you now have with the new stroke a bad a- – motor .Now that’s old school COOL!302 Chevy eat a Ford small block for lunch .And yes I have built one before in 1975 put it in a1962 chevy 2 nova.
So- I’m confused. Is it a 300, or a Malibu?
The car says Malibu on the quarters and the order sheet shows it was ordered as a Malibu sport coupe. Not sure why the seller says 300 ; I’ve always been under the assumption the 300 was a bare bones stripper model , something this one definitely is not
The 69 300 deluxe had post doors,as well as a white striped front bench and rear seat..mine did anyway.And also had 300 deluxe badges on fenders. And a 307 and a glide.
Also confused why it has a 350 engine badge on the fenders and was equipped from the factory with a 307? Something is not right here.
My 69 is the same way from the factory. 52k original miles. 350 emblems on the fender. Checked the motor. It’s a 307. Kinda weird.
Nevermind I didn’t read far enough. Someone wanted to pretend it had a 350 and installed them for some stupid reason.
I disagree, a 307 being a smaller displacement can only squeeze around 350 HP with the correct upgrades. Who needs more than that with this vehicle—go buy and old Nova and build a hotrod. Why trash a numbers matching gem when you can get this out of the existing setup? Watch the difference in price of a numbers matching engine, even if built, over the same vehicle with a replacement powerplant at a Mecum auction.
307 was a real pig! And he’s asking big block money.
Never be a street monster but you can take the 307 and make it quicker. Change cam, port heads (or replace), up compression a little, change intake etc. That is about all I would consider doing to keep the original block. If original not important to you then as said earlier swap to a 350 etc.
What I think is interesting is I bought a 69 chevelle recently from an estate sale. It has 350 emblems on the front fenders. The car has 52k original miles. I even got the original title with the car. I checked the motor number and it’s a 307 also. The car has never been messed with as far as I can tell. All original.
307 motor had the smaller pistons s.and a 327 crank..but had 2bbl heads..small valves and a 2 bbl carburetor on it…not really to much power..140 horse or 150 horse.I think..the quit.makin.the motor in 71 or 72..as is everything was a 350s motor. In camaros till 1977 when the 305 motor was developed for Chevrolet division.
After reading all the comments, I had a 68 z-28, why not put a 302in it ? Makes it unique and no loss of value and will run with just about any other motor option! May have to change gears to 3.70 or so, depending on how you want it to run, burn premium gas!
Yes, of course there is easy mods that can be done. The 307 will react positively to anything you’d do to any other small black Chevy V8. One of my best friend had a Nova with said 307 in it. Put a nice 4bbl intake, bigger cam, polished the heads a little, and a solid set of headers, & exhaust. He was beating almost everyone else with it. And he was able to say he was the only one with a 307 in this area (formally The Langhorne Speedway, R.I.P.). Plus you’ll keep the numbers matching, and some people care about that when reselling.
I had a Chevelle just like this one, the first car I bought when I got out of the army in ’75 it had the 307 with the 2bl carb and a wide ratio 4sp it wasn’t a bad set of wheels, I changed out the original sajinaw for a Muncie and put some headers on it and drove it everywhere for yrs, sadly living by the beach I couldn’t keep it from rusting out the rear part of the body and trunk.It was gonna take to much money to repair it, so I sold it to a friend
Super cool never new about this 300 Deluxe Malibu. Its kinda cool to see it in its original form. hard to believe no one upgraded it over the years.
The 307 was a puny little brother to the 327 and 350. Had 2 and compared to even the 2V 327 they weren’t much. Low performance and still 12-13 MPG.
As has been noted here in the comments, this is NOT a 300 Deluxe. There are no features on this car that reflect a 300 series model. The VIN starts with 13637, which makes it a Malibu. Seller states that 300 Deluxe is indicated on insurance papers, which is clearly a mistake.
Gentlemen let’s not forget the rear end. This car probably has 308 gears. Lets swap them out for a nice set of 390 gears and we will see who is the dog at the stop sign.