From its introduction in 1964, Chevrolet’s mid-size Chevelle would be a sales success for many years to come. The redesign from 1968 to 1972 was especially popular, which included the seller’s Malibu 4-door sedan. It was owned by two senior citizens before the seller received it from one of them. It’s an all-original car except for consumables and can be found in Laveen, Arizona. It’s available here on eBay for $39,000.
Lore has it that the Colonnade redesign of 1973 was first set for 1972 but was postponed another year. This could explain why the 1972 Chevelle was little changed from the 1971 model. In fact, the only way I can tell them apart is the differences in front turn signal lenses. The car remained popular, and Chevrolet built 45,000 Malibu sedans with four doors (like this one). It’s finished in Mojave Gold, which is an interesting coincidence considering where the car has landed after 54 years.
When this Malibu was cobbled together, it was a pretty routine example. It comes with a 307 cubic inch V8, paired with the TH-350 automatic transmission. At 70,800 miles, the only thing that isn’t of the routine service variety that has been changed out is the heater blower motor. There is no factory air conditioning, a nod to where it was originally sold (Washington State).
The first owner was an old guy who put 65,000 miles on it before he stopped driving in his 90s. All the factory and dealer documents followed the car to its second owner, the seller’s father. The sale was the result of a friendship, so the seller may know the vehicle going way, way back. Dad put a few thousand miles on it before he, too, had to stop driving. He passed it along to the seller, his son.
There are no visible issues with the body, paint, or interior. And the latter looks to have hardly been used. This could very well be one of the nicest, original Malibus left because it has too many doors to have ever been considered for an SS 396 cloning. If you’re more interested in original traits than speed and don’t care about door count, wouldn’t this be a cool entry for Cars & Coffee? But we’re betting our readers will find issues with the price. For that amount, I would have at least pressure-washed the engine bay,
So,,,is this the norm, $40,000 grandpa cars? Tell you what, you have to admire the professionalism of the authors, that can reiterate this nonsense and still maintain their dignity. If it was me, I’d go down to, where now, AZ, and punch this person right in the chops,,,right after my nap. Yeah, pretty frustrated, naturally, I wouldn’t do that, but this seems to take the exploitation to its maximum level. I wonder if there is some sort of publication or website with guidelines on how far someone is willing to go. There just is no issue with asking such a large amount for such a lackluster ( for the time) car. Can’t really blame the kid, they are used to paying large sums of money for things, they don’t have anything to compare it to. Shows how shallow the next generations can be.
I keep a mental list of cars advertised for sale with one too many zeroes in the asking price.
This car is added to that list. $3,900 would be a decent price. Not $39,900.
Funny – it’s so dark on the L side of the engine that I thought at first that is was an inline 6.
So did I!
So apparently the seller dropped a line in and I just can’t see close to 40K getting any bites. Well those big dollar auctions keep them hoping.
👀 knew Howard would ring in lol. 👍 👍
It’s a good looking car for sure and that styling was “just right”. But who besides the Malibu obsessed would give close to $40k for it? That’s so high, the buyer could do nothing with it but store it. Yet it’s drive train and equipment make it nothing but ho-hum. SMH. If that’s what ends up happening, I’d like to see its value after another 20 years.
I had a 71 chevelle 4dr, mint 49k orig miles, bought from orig owner, same eng/trans combo, biege with black deluxe interior, ran perfect, cold A/C, sold a few yrs ago was lucky to get $4500, I started at $6500. Maybe I should have started at $40k. Good luck to this seller, looks like a solid car.
The insanity just keeps coming.
The seller got a case of the Barrett Jackson fever. Unfortunately , he forgot to take a look at auction prices lately. I’m not even sure if a ’72 SS 454 in the same condition would reach that in this market.
The asking price is ridiculous. Sometimes people get a few compliments at a coffee and cars, look at a few inflated prices online then think their car is special. As they say, a little bit of knowledge is dangerous. At best, this car is probably worth mid-teens.
There is no real reason to get worked up over sellers asking too much. This is nothing new, in the early-1980’s when me and a couple of friends would meet every Friday at noon to get the latest issue of Auto Trader as it dropped, other than looking for good deals, the next best thing was to laugh at the ads with overpriced cars.
Steve R
I bought an Arizona car 1971 Torino GT 351C-4v /C6/ 9” rear car with 70k with AC and options for $1500. These GPa 4 door cars were never collectible. B-J and Mechum auction insanity has made crappy common cars near Grade 1-3 muscle car territory. Just a spectator ticket to these auctions has rose to $30-50/day.
Anyone that buys a generic 4 door as an investment probably hasn’t done their research and will be in for a rude awakening. There are a very few, such as the 4 door full sized mid-1960’s Chevy that came with a 427 and a 4spd featured on this site a few weeks ago that actually has value with collectors. The problem is, when one of these goes to a car show, the owner gets a lot of love from a segment of vocal spectators who love cars like this. The thing the owner doesn’t understand is that love doesn’t translate into interest in purchasing. Everyone want to think their car is special, for some people a few complements and possibly comments about wanting something similar distorts their perception and they start thinking it’s as valuable as the models that are actually sought after.
Steve R
Every model is sought after by someone. Just not always for mid-5 figures.
Couldn’t have said it better!
It’s in beautiful shape, except for the trunk and engine compartment. But they’d be hard pressed to get that much for it even if it looked like it just rolled off the assembly line. This is a very similar case to the Maverick posted earlier. Good god, some of these recent prices are insane.
Note to seller: Dude… whatever you’re smokin, I want some! Oh
sure, you got a nice car– but not
$39K nice. Why buy yours when, if I look hard enough, I can get my
hands on the same sedan for UNDER $5K? Saw a really nice one here on BF last year for $3K
in Miami, Florida. Yeah, it wasn’t
as nice as yours, but it ran and drove well. And to someone like
me, that’s very important. That
means that I can enjoy the car while I fix whatever faults there
may be like rust, (if any) paint,
(If it needs it) and a really nice
interior complete with a decent
stereo system AND A/C!(. And if
I play my cards right, I could get
that car totally finished for less than half of what you’re changing
for yours. You’ve got some stones I’ll say that for you. Not
everyone can prance up here and
offer a car for the price you’re wanting. In case you haven’t noticed, the market for classic cars has gone pretty much south
since the recession started in ’25.
People are hanging onto their money now more than ever. The job you have may be safe for now
until the company you work for
skips out in the middle of the night, locks the doors, posts a
Closed permanently sign on the door, and screws you out of your
unemployment benefits and your
pension. That’s how it is here in
Florida and people are scared.
Sorry to say, but that’s why the old car market has gone soft. If
you wanna sell this car, drop the
price to between $4K and $10K,
and you might just get a few buyers. Just sayin….
Dang if you’re gonna try to get almost 40 grand for a 4 grand car at the most at least wash the engine l
a 307 humdrum 4 door non-optioned Momobile priced in the area of what a pretty solid driver Vette/Camaro would run you. GLWA…
Ahhh. LOL
clean yes. 40k clean no way. maybe 6k but you could be reaching for that. never sell for 40k. i would be happy with 2500.00 for my 704dr Chevelle with a s/b 400 in it.
to hairy olds: has yours got ac? I might know someone who would be interested in it
I do like 4 doors but like everyone has said you can get a 4 door Chevelle for under 10 in really good shape .seller has lost his way
The 1969 300 Deluxe 4-door with the Police package could be ordered with the 396.
I couldn’t scroll to the comments fast enough when I saw the price! Hilarious!
Being a 1971 Chevelle owner my self this is very clean but like all the other comment price is a major problem here. Manual brakes car. It would make a nice cruiser for 5k topps. Maybe add ralley wheels and dual exhaust
Laveen AZ used to be a small farming community…
Its been Gentrified over the last 10-15 years, most “new” residents came from the “Left coast” with money to burn, buying up the cookie cutter houses sight unseen!
Driving the price of real estate through the roof here in the Valley.
I have no good comments for the dream seller of this car…
LOL
This car has the same wheel covers as my 71 Camaro. Drop a zero off the price.
can get a midyear corvette with a 350 running for this money, dude must have watched TV auctions & guessed on a price!!
If this were a 2 door, many here would be fine with the asking price
Nope, there have been several 2 doors 70-72 Chevelle’s in similar condition featured on this site within the last 6 months with asking prices in the mid to high $20k range, they got ripped to shreds my most of the commenters. No matter how many doors, $40k is too much for a unrestored base model car in similar condition.
Steve R
Nice car, but the price has me assuming the seller wants to keep the car but has to make an attempt to sell to appease the significant other.