Chevy’s popular mid-sized Malibu satisfied a broad range of needs. Five years after the hot ’70 LS6 454 Chevelle and Malibu hit the streets with a chart-topping 450 HP V8, this 1975 Chevrolet Malibu lured buyers with its Collonade two-door hardtop body style. With no documentation or claims of authenticity, this Las Vega, Nevada classic likely did not leave the factory with its 454. Chevy stuffed the 454 cid (7.5L) V8 into 4,263 vehicles sharing this platform including the El Camino in model year 1975, according to Chevelles, the final year it did so. Nevertheless, this big block Chevy shows well inside and out, and the $14,000 asking price here on Craigslist buys what looks like a powerful turn-key classic in time for peak cruising season. Thanks to Tony P. for spotting this desert rose.
A tidy Day Two presentation shows mostly stock equipment and finishes with some tasteful chrome accents. You’ve got to love your car to drive a non-air-conditioned classic in Vegas, suggesting this beauty may not have seen daily driving duties. The seller describes a three-inch exhaust system with “check valve for open headers.” A nondescript automatic transmission (probably the three-speed TH400) handles gear changes.
A B&M shifter adds a racy touch to the non-console coupe. Auxiliary gauges provide key telemetry. Comfy velour seats look road trip ready. My late father had a ’75 Malibu for a while, a winter beater bought for $200 and sold a few years later for $250. Its 350 cid (5.7L) V8 was more than adequate for normal driving, and while Dad wouldn’t have paid extra for its overly loud exhaust, he seemed to take a certain evil pleasure from goosing the loud 350 on snowy roads.
A “truck-mounted,” presumably trunk-mounted Nitrous Oxide system may or may not function, sending a bit of a mixed message on a big 454 car with no signs of drag racing preparation. I don’t see the value of a never-sorted nitrous system on a mostly original-looking big block street car, but to each their own. Credit the seller for not slapping “SS” gear all over this ride. Would you daily drive this big block Malibu or save it for the weekends?
Desert 🏜 rose🌹with no A/C this Monte may be a late evening and nite cruiser Fitch. Thanks for the good eye Tony P.
Ugh! Another “customized” mess!!!
At least it doesn’t have modern huge wheels & tires on it.
Being that there were supposedly less than 300 454 Malibus optioned in 1975, and looking at the “custom” touches the car currently has, I’d venture a guess that the car left the factory with a SBC and has a TH350 in it now. This Malibu sold at Mecum Las Vegas in 2019 for $6600.
Took a sawzal to one back in the day and made it a convertible… Cruising with the top gone…
Would a sweaty rat with no a/c and black velour but that could be fixed with plenty of hp to turn a compressor lol
Dad was a Chevrolet District Manager in 75. Last year for the big block 454 in a Colonade car was 1974. The big blocks couldn’t be made emissions legal in the first years of catalytic converters. They came with an inline 6 or a 350 2-bbl/4-bbl. The pictured car is 99% sure to be a 75 as the quarter panels are correct stylewise. The grille is a 74 as is the 454 emblem. And it’s too high. Should be about a 1/2 inch over the side marker light. Outside chance it’s a converted 74 S3.
The Malibu could be emission legal in ’75 & ’76 with a cat & PONTIAC 455, but God forbid a Chevy ever came with a v8 from another GM division! – tho the reverse was no problem. Ironically, the Pontiac 350, 400, 455, & even the sd-455! did not require an air pump – even in ’74! – on cars sold outside of Calif.
But small & big block chevy v8s DID. Go figure.
Cool car right here. Certainly the builder took some liberty but kept her a bit of a sleeper. Good stance with just the right attitude. The seats look good and the Buick tilt column is perfect. Should have mounted the displacement over the marker lamp where it belongs. They still get noticed.
Actually, a 1975 should not have the engine size displayed on the fender. 74 was the last for it.
I’m not a fan of the collonade body, but for the most part, this looks pretty good. Install a better steering wheel, lose the shifter, and if the front fenders weren’t drilled, move the 454 emblems lower or delete them altogether.
First thing I noticed was the displacement of the c.i. displacement emblems! At first I thought they were painted on as part of the pin stripe.
Not a fan of nitrous oxide or much of this hopping up jazz.
Not a bad ride otherwise.
Ugh, the era of rear bumpers that look like an attached extra piece of guard rail on it.
Having owned a 1975 Chevy Malibu, I will point out that this car has the headlight buckets and rear taillight panel for a 1975 Malibu Classic.
However!
The grill is from a 1974 Malibu.
The bucket seats are not original from a 1975 Malibu, or any Colonnade era Malibu.
The console shifter as well, obviously.
The slates over the opera windows are from a Laguna.
Quite the Frankenstein.
Hard pass.
Good catches on all those points.
Don’t the 75’s have the bow tie embossed tail light lenses?
I believe it would look much better if the white went all the way down VS that black stripe look.