If you were on a budget in 1970, you may have bought a Chevelle just like this one. Malibu. Four doors. Six-cylinder engine. Automatic transmission. Two-tone paint. And that’s probably it. And relatively few of these body code 3569 Chevelles were built – just 7,525. Far less than a Malibu Sport Coupe. So, the likelihood of this vehicle becoming an SS 396 clone is slim to nil. This looks like the perfect “Grandma” car and is in good running condition with little rust for a 54-year-old automobile.
This Chevelle reminds me of a car we had during driver’s ed training way back when. The white over turquoise color was the same as was the number of doors. But I think ours had a small V8 and air conditioning (it was in Florida, and it was in June). This machine appears to be largely original and well-kept over its 69,000 miles. Some of the upholstery may have been replaced, but that’s a guess (and a box of new carpet resides on top of the back seat bottom).
The seller is thought to be Chevy’s third owner and he/she bought it to tinker with until health issues worsened. But some new stuff was done to the car, such as replacing the brakes, exhaust, and tires and giving it a tune-up. A carburetor kit comes with the car, something the seller did not get around to rebuilding. For some reason, the trunk won’t open, so who knows what surprises may lie inside.
All-in-all, the Chevelle seems to be a nice running car that may only need TLC. It’s in Jasper, Missouri and the seller may be able to provide shorter-distance transport. This bare-bones Malibu is available here on eBay where the current bid is $4,300 (no reserve). If you like the idea of having a vintage car that no one else has bothered to collect, this 1970 Chevelle might fit the bill.
I would say that if the front clip were to be flawless, then cannibalise, but it ain’t…
Dad had one but not two tone. Was a decent enough car. Had to shut it off in drive or it’d chug like a SOB. Mom shut it off in drive and it still dieseled and bucked and chugged. She went in the house and let it go for a half hour before anyone did anything about it. 🤣
I had a 4 door 72 Lemans pretty close to this color scheme. It had a Chevy six with Powerglide and it too dieseled like a SOB unless I shut it off in drive. A rebuilt carburetor would fix that.
What a nice original Chevy. I absolutely love a four door. I also like the six cylinder. Everything about this car says easy to maintain and lots of extra room in the engine bay for maintenance. If I was a younger man and in better health I would buy it and rebuild the carb and get it running so it would be dependable and I would drive it and enjoy it often. So far looks reasonably priced. It would be fun to take to car shows and tell people that Chevy did indeed make a four door six cylinder Chevelle. GLWTA
Amen!
This old car deserves to be cherished as is.
I believe that because this chevelle is a four door, it has been spared by the LS bros and others who like to modify clean chevelles. Hopefully it continues to be spared.
I hope who ever buys it restores to like new condition..keep itoriginal
I would not hesitate to bet that the younger the new owner is, the sooner this car gets an LS motor, huge tires & wheels, & window tint so dark you can’t see inside – including through the windshield. & a super loud thumping stereo that will definitely not ever play rock & roll.
I would question your setup but a check of oldcarbrochures shows that all ’70 Chevelle 4-doors were Malibus. The 300 Deluxe’s last year was ’69 and the base Chevelle reintroduced for ’71.
Nope, wouldn’t change a thing! Simplicity at its finest. Just rebuild the carb, fix the trunk, and drive as is.
Might ditch the AM radio in favor of a
period correct AM/FM unit with a decent set of speakers as there are no more stations that play music on the AM band these days. All you hear
these days are sports shows and talk
radio. If memory serves me, this should be a 250 cube six backed by either a 3-speed or a Powerglide tranny. Both nearly foolproof and will give you thousands of miles of dependable driving. Very nice overall
and won’t last long at this price. Wish I could afford it, it would be parked in
my parking space and I’d be using it
to deliver Door Dash.
You’d Door Dash it for a week then dump it for a Civic.
“My food’s cold.”
“Yeah, well I had to swap out the starter/alternator/water pump…
“Explains the dirty hand prints all over my pizza box.”
“That’s from this morning. Tranny went on me..”
I’d keep what I can stock original, while also upgrading what needs to be upgraded.
What’s rare is the engine,very hard to find a good one,I remember when the local stock cars ran them
I don’t know, I read GM sold over 634,000 Chevelle/Malibus in 1970. It seems according to one site, 21,000 of these 4 door, 6 cylinder cars were sold. Regardless, for around $2700 new, it was a very popular car for mainstream America. While the term “grandmas car” is highly over used, these cars did attract the elderly, because of their simplicity and with a total lack of any automotive knowledge, these still got them where they wanted to go. Usually it wasn’t far. I truly believe, we’ll see this stuff for years to come. People are living longer, and I personally know folks in their 80s and 90s, that could have easily bought this car new. 268 viewers, yet only 3 bids. What does that tell you? Pretty clear folks today couldn’t tell you a nice car if it ran them over.
I recall GTE used them for company cars back then. And this one is a dead ringer for one of the them. My late FIL bought a ’67 Biscayne sedan
similar to this before he passed in ’03.
His had a 283/Powerglide in it and not much else. Tried to buy it from him but my wife put the kibosh on that one. Had great plans for that car
but didn’t get to do it. Sure wish I had
the cash for this, but I don’t so it’s gonna be just a fantasy for me now.
Helluva chance for a guy to get into
the hobby dirt cheap. And as most of
you’ve said, it doesn’t need to have a
thumpin’.LS motor, fat tires, or anything else like that to be cool. It’s
a basic beauty that needs to be preserved.
Nice looking car. You don’t see many 4 door Chevelles on BF. 1970 and 71 are my favourite years for this version of the Chevelle. Given its condition, I’d be willing to pay around $5,000.
Love the 4-60 AC, and I’ll wager it has Armstrong Power Steering and Flintstone Power Brakes – that’s how I learned to drive!
A novelty at this point. Drive it much, you will tire of the lack of power and hitting your head on the door frame. Then sell it again. Lol
This would have been my dad’s idea of a car. Straight six and a ‘glide. Snow tires and go. Not enough power to spin the tire but enough torque to plow through the snow. He was proud of pushing snow with the hood of our “66 in the storm of ’67. Slow and steady wins the race.
That’s my idea of how a car should be. The only time I appreciate speed is when merging onto Hiwy 16 going into Tacoma. or onto I-5 towards Seattle.
Having had about a half dozen Chevelles from this era, never was a fan of the 4-dr styling. It looks like they made the 2-door and then decided that they would add 2 more doors to make a 4-door, Had a couple 4-dr 1976 Malibus and they looked a lot better. Still, I appreciate the condition of this “survivor” but well remember the pre-ignition problems of a ’69 my Dad bought new.
I love a 1970 model. Had an El Camino of that year in 1980 with a 350/350 combo. I digress. I have absolutely no problem with 4 doors. Actually quite useful. I definitely would make sure it had working power steering, arthritis and all that good stuff. As much as I’d love it with a 327 or 350 or 400 V8 the good old 6 banger would stay. Most everything on the car would stay stock. With ONE exception. I absolutely could not resist visiting the Clifford or similar catalog. Lol.
Sold with a high bid of $4,700. The love expressed didn’t translate into actionable interest.
Steve R