I’d like to tell you that I took this picture on the go because I instantly recognized it as a rather rare Chevelle 300 hardtop coupe. But I didn’t; I took it because it’s so endearingly scruffy and reminded me of so many similar Malibu coupes that once were everywhere as second and third-hand cars in the later 70s and into the 80s. And inevitably driven by a younger version of the guy driving this one; you know exactly what he looked like if you were around then. Obviously he’s had it since that era, and has managed to make it a well-preserved rolling time-capsule; more so than himself. You younger readers: this is what 1979 looked like.
Anyway, it was only when I opened this image at home that I noticed the lack of rear deck trim; hmm; must have fallen off. But then it hit me: this is no Malibu; this is a rather rare Chevelle 300 hardtop coupe, with a vinyl top to really throw the casual viewer. And me.
Here’s how it looked in the brochure. Strictly speaking, it’s a 300 Deluxe, as the plain 300 was a true stripper without any chrome trim, and didn’t come in the hardtop body style. It seems a bit odd to offer this mid-low level Chevelle in a hardtop; there weren’t any analogous Bel Air hardtops.
Frankly, this is the first of it’s kind I can consciously remember, at least since the post big-sideburns era. Malibu coupes were extremely popular and everywhere; not so 300s.
300 Chevelle sedans, 2 and 4 door must have been quite rare but a 2 door hardtop?
A reference book I have groups Chevelles by trim but not by bodystyle so it’s not able to give a definite number. 300 and 300 Deluxe…all models, were outsold by about 5 to 1 by Malibus.
BTW, my reference book shows no 300 hardtop but does show 300 Deluxe hardtops.
The hardtop is called a sport coupe in the brochure I think. Classic car database does not have production numbers for each body style, only a total.
I didn’t realize Chevrolet made the 300 as a two-door hardtop at all, in either base or Deluxe form. (If I ever did, I had forgotten.) Did the Deluxe two-door come as both a post coupe and a hardtop, or only as a hardtop? Was the hardtop available any other years besides 1968?
In the pre-1973 era, the two-door Malibu was only ever available as a hardtop. Since most Chevelles that you see today are Malibus (or SS versions based on the Malibu), by default most two-door Chevelles you see are hardtops.
The two-door post coupe was only offered through 1969, and only in the sub-Malibu trim levels. After it was dropped, the sub-Malibu trim levels (by 1970 there was only one, and it was no longer called 300, just a base Chevelle) switched to offering the hardtop as their only two-door body style.
I believe that the B-O-P brands all offered the post coupe in their top-of-the-line trim level, at least in the early years of the A-body, and all continued to offer the post coupe in their lower-line trim levels all the way up until 1972. You’d think the Chevrolet, as the most downscale GM brand, would have had the widest availability of the post coupe. Instead, the opposite is true.
Trivia: from 1964-68, the Chevelle SS was always based on the Malibu. In an apparent attempt to combat the success of the Plymouth Road Runner, for 1969 the SS became an option package that could be ordered on either the 300 (IINM, only the 300 Deluxe was still around at that point) or the Malibu. ’69 was also the last year for the 300 post coupe. As a result, 1969 was the only year there were ever SS post coupes.
Yes, the 1968 300 deluxe was available in both post and hardtop coupe versions.
It appears that the plain 300 series went away in 1969; in that year it was only the 300 Deluxe, available in both post and hardtop coupe versions.
As you said, in 1970, the base line was just called Chevelle, and the post coupe disappeared.
The low-end 1970 Chevelle series was a mid-year addition, after the 1970 recession took hold. When the model year started, the Malibu was the base trim level. In Canada, the 300 Deluxe name stuck around through 1972.
One strange thing was then Chevrolet dropped the post-coupe/non-hardtop coupe (or should I said 2-door sedan?) in the Chevelle line-up in 1970 while the B-O-P continued to offer Skylark, F-85/Cutlass/442 and LeMans/GTO post-coupe with front vent windows until 1972. Here a photo of a 1970 Cutlass non-hardtop coupe https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1970_Olds_Cutlass_Sport.jpg and one of a 1972 Pontiac GTO 2-door sedan https://www.flickr.com/photos/coconv/8010807223/
The overwhelming majority of Chevelles of this body that I’ve seen are the hardtop. I know they made a pillared version but they were mighty rare, at least here, and at least in my memory. It’s a fine looking hardtop, so I’m glad Chevy chose to offer it in the Chevelle trims.
My uncle had a ’68 Chevelle 300 post coupe, with an I6, in light lime green. Was a ‘beater’ in 1974.
And this is what my high school parking lot looked like too, circa 1982
And mine, circa 1979 (though perhaps without the vinyl roof)
I had a white 1968 300 DeLuxe four door Sedan ,250 I6 and Slip ‘N Slide Powerglide box , no P.S. , no P.B. , no AM Radio ~ no nuttin’ as it has been purchased new by Sacramento , Ca. P.D. as a Metro car .
I loved it , paid $150 for it for my ex Wife to drive in the mid 1970’s and miss it still .
I thought the Malibu was the base models and Chevelle was a trim group option , no ? .
Yes , these were _everywhere_ back in the day but as always , stupid assed Hot Rodders ran them right into the ground instead of cherishing and taking care of them .
-Nate
Mullet mobile! Big rear tires and small fronts, Cragars, jacked up rear ends, a sprinkling of dents and rust, glasspacks … the sights and sounds of the streets during the 70s and 80s. These were indeed everywhere until they all suddenly disappeared by the early 90s. After being driven into the ground, many have no doubt been resurrected as today’s restomods with rubber band tires, huge wheels, jacked up rear ends, kilobuck paint jobs, and Flowmasters.
…And John Shaft at the wheel.
More like this guy…
Dont forget the under dash tape deck with wires going everywhere and the big 6×9s cut into the package shelf so as to bring Aerosmith along for the ride. Who cares if it only has a 307 and a Glide. 🙂
And traction bars. Gotta have those.
Oh yeah! the 70’s,everything you said and more… Heres my example, a 1968 Firebird 400 with my little brother just chilling. approximately 1977.
They actually made a 300 convertible in 1966 and only in Canada. They were very rare but I did actually see one. Blackwall tires, hub caps, rubber floor mats, a real plain Jane strippo.
If you ain’t first, you’re last!
First time I’ve ever seen one in the wild! The 2 door sedan 300 (post coupe) weren’t that rare but this hardtop must have had very low production numbers. Nice find!
Yep, Class of ’79 HS kids would have base Chevelles jacked up and all. Classmate had a green ’68 with loud mufflers, and vinyl top, was a Malibu, not SS.
This is how most Chevelles were in the wild, kids, not all pristine 1970 SS 454’s ready for B-J auctions.
I’d forgotten about the Chevelle 300. My parents’ old neighbors had a ’69 300 Deluxe coupe with the dog-dish hubcaps…likely with a 250/Powerglide for motivation. I haven’t seen a Chevelle of that vintage in a long time. The ones that didn’t rust away from the salt (Ontario resident here) were hot-rodded and driven into the ground.
Not sure I ever noticed a 300 hardtop, but then these were about as far outside of my field of vision as it was possible to get in the late 70s. Like, wow man. Gimmie one of your Marlboros.
And the thing about a 300 is how the lack of gingerbread brings out Bill Mitchell’s beautiful lines.
I’d rather build one of these than an SS.
That’s pretty much what the COPO cars were, base bodies with big blocks.
The way that Collector Car market/industry hypes up the era, younger car fans think every Chevelle was an SS with big block 396-454. AS if all families had a ‘muscle car’ for Dad to drive to work.
+1. Chevrolet did move a lot of SS396 cars, but the vast majority of Chevelles were 2-door hardtops and 4-door sedans with the smallest V8 and Powerglide. Workaday family cars and nothing more.
Mom and Dad had a 69 Malibu coupe, with a 307, and I think it had a TH350. I don’t recall it having power steering, but it had power brakes and A/C.
Then they bought a 76 Malibu Classic sedan, which I kept till it was 24 years old. Now I have a 77 sedan and its a hit at shows since no one sees them anymore, they all seem to think I did something crazy and built a four door one.
307 with Turbo Hydra-matic? Not unless a previous owner bolted one in. Powerglides all the way unless you moved up the engine range.
350/350 became the most popular Chevy drivetrain combo in full-size cars and Chevelles as soon as it became available, even well represented in Novas.
I’m sure it’s also no coincidence that Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick had their own engines in that 350 size, paired with the 350 tranny, and it was enormously popular in their cars, too.
It looks like it should be leaving a liquor store with squealing tyres in a late night detective show.Totally bad ass.In 1979 I’d left University and landed a job as a Civil Servant and bought my first car a rusty 71 Vauxhall Victor FD,I was listening to Motorhead,Judas Priest,AC/DC and Scorpions.
I’ve been watching these since they first came out and only now, especially with the brochure image, does it come to me that these things bear a strong resemblance to the Novas of that era. Almost identical — not quite, but close.
Does anyone know when the term “post” came into use. When I was younger any car with a “post” was always designated a sedan, be it a two door or a four door. If there was no “post” it was called a two door or a four door “hardtop”. I believe that term was shortened from “hardtop convertible”. Which wasn’t a convertible at all but had the sporty look of one. Just wondering.
I think the term post has been around since the first hardtops. I don’t know when that was but probably early fifties.
I do know that I always avoided hardtops. Had a 67 300 two door post. Don’t know if it was a coupe or sedan by your terminology but I always thought a coupe. 230 and three on the tree. Good car.
plane jane + hardtop = strange.
I’m usually interested in the cars automakers build at the height of their powers. Usually it is when they let the most unusual combinations slip out the factory doors.
“You younger readers: this is what 1979 looked like.” Damn straight 😀 !
Man, this would have been the guy throwing beer bottles at bicyclists back in the day…intimidating! Kind of a date-rape-mobile isn’t it?
Women drove them, too. My third-grade teacher had a blue ’69.