We’re told this 1967 Chevelle convertible is an SS 396 clone and the VIN decodes it as a Malibu with a V8 engine. Whether a straight Malibu or an SS 396, it’s a rare car either way. Just 8.061 Malibu V8 drop-tops were built that year and only 3,321 more wore SS badging. It looks as though the seller (or someone else) has done an excellent job in restoring this Chevy and everything appears as good as new. Located in Huntington Beach, California, this Chevelle has attracted bids of $24,850 thus far without cracking the reserve here on eBay. If you can’t wait, you can click on Buy It Now and fork over $42,000.
The Chevelle’s launch in 1964 as a mid-size car was hugely successful. The nameplate continued through 1977, after which the Malibu moniker took over its duties (it had always been the top Chevelle model anyway). The intermediate Chevelle got its first styling rework in 1966, so the car was little changed in 1967 except for the taillights and grille. The SS 396 muscle car option became a series of its own from 1966 through 1968, reverting to option status again for the next several years.
We don’t know how this Malibu convertible was powered when it was new. Perhaps it had a grocery-getter 283 V8 with a 2-speed Powerglide automatic. But now, an L37 396 cubic inch V8 roars under the hood with an estimated output of 375 horses. It’s paired with an M20 4-speed Muncie transmission, and a 12-bolt rear end out back (with Posi-Traction). It also excels in the looks department, with attractive Marina Blue paint, a matching interior, and a white canvas top.
This sweet ride is loaded with goodies, including air conditioning (which was added later because you couldn’t get factory A/C with the L37 back in the day). The power brakes have been updated to include discs (just in the front or all around?). The Chevy sports Rally wheels with a set of new tires supported by an F41 suspension package. To cruise in style, the Chevy has a retro digital AM/FM/Bluetooth/USB stereo with speakers in the kick panels (purists might disagree with that decision). All-in-all, Malibu or SS 396, just over 11,000 Chevelle convertibles left the assembly line in 1967 – so how many could be left today?
After reading the description and seeing the pictures $42K sounds pretty reasonable. Nice, nice car.
I’d rather have A/C than a preservation trophy,
Man this car was done nicely. Purists be damned. The radio looks factory, the vents for the air had to be resto modded but look original. The only thing that would make it better in my opinion is for the interior to be done in white. I wonder though, the price seems awfully close to what an actual Chevelle SS 396 would go for. Maybe I’m wrong.
Fox owner, I’m sorry to say that, yes, you are wrong. Hagerty values a 325HP 67 SS 396, in #3/good condition, at almost $70,000. These cars have only increased in value over the years!
70k for a number 3 and a clone, sounds like a Barret J auction number, Hagerty posts peak auction numbers to get more insurance money. If you look at Ebay final sale numbers for clones, not listing prices, not unsold listings, they’re much lower for clones.
A clone is nothing more than a counterfeit.
Car is nice, but without the iconic roof line, pass…
Buy it and do smoky burnouts til the tires are gone !
Looks very nicely done but it’s a clone I.e. a wanna be 67 Malibu SS Convertible. At least it is not insanely priced like some clones I have seen. Someone will buy it at whatever price and then when viewers see it a car shows and get all excited, sadly the new owner will have to say it’s just a clone!
I have several friends and relatives with hip, knee, shoulder, and even heart valve replacements. “The clones” I call them. Disgusting, I hardly talk to them anymore.
Ya got my vote, Pat!
If you leave the emblems off no one will have any business complaining. I’d put on the hood, paint the taillight panel black and install bucket seats because they make the car look better. If someone whined about it being a clone, I’d simply ask, where do you see any SS badging, then tune them out.
Steve R
You are a more well-mannered man than I, Steve R.
Not really, I have to deal with the public for work, sometimes you have to tell them NO. That helps you develop thick skin. It teaches you that when someone gives you a hard time that isn’t warranted, it tells you all you need to know about them.
Steve R
I wouldn’t have built a clone, but a 396 engine, yes! Then you’ve got a bad ass sleeper!
Does it look, run or drive any differently than a “real” SS? It would still be a blast to own and drive. The enjoyment would be the same, in my opinion. Beautiful car, no matter it’s pedigree.
I absolutely love this car and would love to own it. Whether or not it is “numbers matching” means very little to me. That is important to a purist collector and an auction site, but not to a driver, and I am a driver. This car is really done with attention to detail, like the turn signal tach and the Hurst shifter reproduced to look like an original Muncie shifter. Why replace the SS hood and remove the SS emblem’s? Then you would have to explain to the inquiring minds how a plain Jane Chevelle ended up with a L-78 (not a L-37 as the description stated) If this was the real thing, it would sell for between 100 and 150 thousand dollars, but would it drive or look any differently?
I wouldn’t take the fancy stuff off if I bought it, but I wouldn’t buy a clone, rather build a Malibu sleeper. Note to “Oldrodder”: no-one’s gonna have to explain to any hotrodder why a bigger engine was put in!
This article confuses things with the engine and the A/C, leading to further confusion in the readers’ comments about the A/C too.
First, L37 is the RPO for the 1965 Chevelle Z16 396/375 engine, and that RPO was not used in any other year or with any other model. A 67 SS came with the standard 396/325 (aka L35), or was was available with the L34 396/350 or the L78 396/375.
But this car is a Malibu cloned as an SS, so it did not originally come with ANY 396 engine, much less a 396/375. So it makes no sense to say the A/C had to be added to this car based on an engine that has been transplanted into it.
All the A/C parts (firewall components, lines, compressor, condenser, dash, controls and vents) all appear 100% factory. So the most logical conclusion is that the car was a factory A/C Malibu, and it has simply had a 396 transplanted into it while retaining the factory air that was already there.
I’m not sure that anyone,(at least not me) is confused about this car. It has been made pretty clear that it is simply a standard Malibu that has been converted into a make believe SS 396. I am the one that referenced the motor as a L-78 because the owner made it clear that he was attempting to honestly clone an ’67.SS 396/375 and the RPO for that motor in ’67 was L-78. I believe that it was also noted that the L-78 wasn’t available with AC.
Lovely, but with my present income state in retirement, this will have to be a “Lottery Car”, LOL! For the uninformed, a lottery car is a car that one can only afford to purchase after winning the lottery, either Powerball or Mega Millions, LOL! It appears to have sold, or the seller didn’t get any bids above his reserve, because the ad on Ebay is gone!
To the guy who responded to my earlier post regarding Hagerty’s $70K valuation for a #3/good condition 67 SS396. that was for a REAL 67 SS396, not a clone. I’m pretty sure Hagerty wouldn’t be valuating clones anyway.
Steve: yeah I should not have mentioned clone in my post, up too late. Anyway I just hate to see inflated numbers, even though I own one. To me it’s not about the money, I drive mine often & will never sell it. Young people I talk to at car shows express regret because they will never get a chance to own/enjoy driving one. I watch shows and see rich collector dudes pointing at their stock ss convertible in their warehouse with other high value foreign jobs. They do say they drive the foreign jobs occasionally but don’t drive the old technology Chevelle. Sad to see these cars turn into a coin in a drawer type investment-only thing.
Yep, I totally agree with you. I’ve got a 69 Camaro that I spent 5 years restoring, and although it’s a fair weather car, I really enjoy driving it. I have loved cars since I was a kid, and there are many I would love to own. But I would never set them up as museum pieces or investments, just to be admired and never driven. That’s just a shame in my opinion. However, each to their own ideas on this.