Well, the Brougham Whisperer, AKA Jason Bagge, has found yet another vintage example of GM rolling stock! This time it’s a once-common midsizer, the ’77 Malibu Classic sedan.
Like so many of the cars he’s tracked down, this car more or less fell into his lap. He bought it from the original owner, an elderly lady who’d been using it daily for 40+ years.
Originally sold at Buchanan Chevrolet in Spokane, it’s been local ever since. As Jason sums it up: “Not my favorite car in the world by a long shot-but an original 62k car with all records going back to new with the original Buchanan Chevrolet window sticker for 800 dollars cash? Couldn’t say no.”
All original paperwork was still with the car!
“Drives like a dream, everything works and the cruise at 65 mph on the highway just buzzes right along.”
“This thing does not need much. The dent in the door and a hubcap and that’s it. Everything else is super nice. Runs like a new car.”
They only made 76,776 ’77 Malibu Classic sedans, divided between sixes and V8s, there’s no breakout between them. Not a whole lot compared to the ’77 Monte Carlo, which sold 224,327 base coupes and 186,711 Landau coupes!
Let’s face it, coupes, especially personal luxury coupes, were the gotta have it car in 1977, so despite the Malibu being offered in sedan, coupe and station wagon versions, the Monte Carlo reigned supreme in Chevy showrooms. Factor in 40 years of attrition and this is a rare birdie.
I like the blue on blue color combo a lot. A cousin had a ’77 Cutlass Supreme coupe in this same color combo back in the mid ’80s, with the color-keyed Super Stock wheels and white landau top.
I was just a kid, but already a car fanatic, and I loved that car. It was just a clean, used car in 1986, but it had style, dammit.
Jason’s plans are adding the missing wheel cover (already on the way from a friend) and popping the dent in the rear driver’s side door. He told me he’s been hit up with people wanting to buy this car more than any of his recent cars.
He’d sell it if the right offer comes along, but definitely not for eight hundred bucks, haha! I’ll be doing a more elaborate post when he gets it perfecto-unless he sells it first! At any rate, a nice surviving example of ice-blue metallic Colonnade rolling stock!
Other posts on Jason’s previous cars:
1976 Caprice Classic Sport Sedan
1976 Caprice Classic Landau Coupe
1976 Ninety-Eight Regency four-door hardtop
1976 Bonneville Brougham four-door hardtop
A friend had one in high school circa 1983. We called it the Malipooch, as in dog, because it could barely get out of it’s own way. We were all gearhead wannabes but I can’t remember if it had a tiny V8 or a V6. All I remember is that it was a terrible car. Its only redeeming value was that it WAS a car and it was his. It was also a horrid non metallic mid 70s brown.
Too bad your friend could get something real cool like a Corona or a not Opel by not Isuzu. It might still have been brown but you wouldn’t have to get by on a tiny 5.0 V8 or a 4.1 six. A small block after all is so difficult for a gearhead to get extra power out of even after years of providing effortless torque to its first owner.
We figured it wasn’t worth the effort. Now, I did have another friend who had a 78 4 door Impala with the F41 suspension, a 350 with a TH350 with a shift kit, and dual exhausts. That was a great car. But when we wanted to go stoplight drag racing we took my other buddy’s Chevy pickup with a built 454. That was the fastest vehicle in my circle from light to light.
I really like the ’78-’83 Malibu. I don’t think about this version very often, although cool story and a rare car in 2019 to be sure.
I wonder what made the owner go with a Malibu sedan over the ’77 Caprice or Impala.
The malibu was cheaper than a comparable Caprice or Imala, despite being the same exterior size-
Interesting that they went for the 6 window sides on this. With the Chevy being so often a fleet car, it might have been better to have a thicker C pillar and more easily incorporate a vinyl top. The vinyl top being the way to signal that your basic car was not a fleet special.
I will say it held up well. One hears that the upholstery and door panels were so cheap with the plastic changing colors and turning to chalk. This car shows that with proper maintenance, it could prove quite durable.
By ‘proper maintenance,’ you must mean parking it indoors and driving it the equivalent of four years’ worth of miles in forty years. These interior really did turn into chalk well within a decade if parked where sunlight could get to them.
I agree CJ, a garage and an occasional wipe down did wonders for the plastics lifespan, Since it is hard to argue that the drivetrain was less than top flight, and the design was miles ahead of the other domestics, whats not to love?
I don’t find Colonnade style to be superior to that of Chrysler’s intermediates, although their quality may have been at that point. I always thought the Colonnades were GM’s way of punishing the electorate for allowing regulators to push for roof crush standards and enact bumper standards. Ford’s crazy front overhangs may have been even more awkward, but Colonnades were about as bad as one could achieve without messing up overall proportions.
Was that bumper sticker added or removed?
Added, I think he has a box of them! He’s put them on several cars.
They really ruined the look by using the stacked rectangular headlights to replace the single round ones. The automakers got permission for the rectangular size from the Feds by arguing they would improve aerodynamics and fuel economy, but then used them to make nice looking front ends ugly and less aerodynamic.
Although the plain ’77 Malibus still had single round headlamps. http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/static/NA/Chevrolet/1977_Chevrolet/1977_Chevrolet_Chevelle_Brochure/1977%20Chevrolet%20Chevelle-05.html
Stacked rectangular headlights were like the quad high beams of 1958, once they were allowed, everyone did it, GM Ford and Chrysler. Its funny how stack headlights had their first run from around 1963-1968 and then again from 1975-1979.
Obviously this is a car you buy for the time it represents – not for any quality of the vehicle itself. Of which there were few: Strangled engines, awkward styling, unnecessary weight, poor execution of bumpers. Add to that the quality of the plastics of the time; and…did not some of these get that wonderful THM200 transmission?
If you remember the time, then the car represents something you long for but can never have back. But me…although those were interesting years, I had other cars. No amorous adventures in any back seat of one. They tended to be driven by older people – unexciting, grey-haired owners the age I am now. Completely unappealing.
Good find, though. And sounds like it’ll be a good investment for your friend.
I think the TH200 was in the downsized replacements in 1978.
Had a 75 Malibu Classis Coupe from late 1976 – mid 79 while in college.. Baby blue body with a white painted top and navy blue interior. Mid size then but probably as large as my Genesis G80 is today if not larger. At 18, I though it was a great car.
I remember riding in at least 2 exact twins of this car at some point or another in my childhood, that shot of blue rear door panel and the high bench seat really takes me back to riding in the back seat of one of these.
That bumper sticker is awesome for anyone who knows about Spokane. Expo 74 was a big deal for the city. My wife’s grandfather had a bunch of his semi-trailers painted as advertising. If you want an old and forgettable car, you can find it in Washington (caveat: I think Spokane has a history of using road salt on bridges).
I have been looking for this exact car for YEARS! It’s on my bucket list to find my car from High School. Can you see if he can whisper up another one? Or let me buy this one from him? Please………………………
A ’77 Malibu classic was my first car. My first one was solid white with blue interior. When I retired it due to a messed up engine I talked my dad into buying another one because we had a whole car for spare parts. My third car was another 77 Malibu Classic also white body but this one had a green vinyl top and green interior. I have a special place in my heart for this vehicle.
Please please please let me know if you ever sell this car! It’s on my bucket list to find my first car and it was a blue Chevy Malibu Classic sedan 1977 just like this one.