Chance sightings are often my favorites.
Here in Edgewater, there seems to be an unusual abundance of vintage cars.
Every once in a while, I’ll catch sight of one in traffic.
Very soon, with the warmer weather approaching, even more such Curbside Classics will be out and about.
Remembering these newly-downsized Malibu four-door sedans, I have one nit to pick:
Only the front windows roll down?
Let met get this straight…
Everyone was supposed to be able to afford the optional air conditioning?
Totally bogus, if you ask me.
Maybe GM had just gotten greedy, or lazy, or both.
Anyway, there’s still a lot to like about this generation of Chevy midsizer, otherwise.
Leg room, head room, and usable trunk space had all increased with this redesign.
It got better gas mileage, too, with a weight reduction of 500 – 1,000 lbs. over the previous iteration.
Better use of space, all around, was one of its strengths.
Usually, I have my camera with me at all times.
Clicking away in rapid-fire succession has produced some of my favorite series of shots, on multiple occasions.
Looks like the paint on this one has seen better days.
All the same, the body looked nicely dent-free, and I liked the custom wire wheels on this one.
Something good is to be said for both of those things.
Since seeing this one in my neighborhood in January of last year, I haven’t spotted it again.
It’s possible that it “lives” in a different part of this vast city.
Crossing this intersection in style on this particular weekend, though, it had made my Saturday afternoon.
Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois.
Saturday, January 21, 2017.
Related reading from GN: Vintage Review: 1978 Chevrolet Malibu Classic – Car And Driver Goes Crazy For F41.
One of the elders in my church bought one of these brand new in 1978. I was just 14 but I remember riding in it with 5 others and it seemed pretty cramped for 6 people, it was quite a bit narrower than the previous model. The armrests carved into the back doors didn’t really seem to help much. I remember he spent the extra $$ for the nicer version with fancy tu-tone grey/black paint and nice cloth interior. It seemed to ride ok but struck me as a step down from previous models (which I had also ridden in). The impressions of a 14 yr old boy who voraciously read everything about every new car.
I don’t know what it is but I can always tell the photos that are taken in Chicago, you really capture the feel of the city. Those cars are turds but you did manage to polish this one a bit. Good job.
I’m the same way. I can usually tell if it’s a Joseph Dennis post just by the background of the pics. I did grow up in Chicago and it’s immediate suburbs though so my eye may be biased.
I like these malibus and the 78 is a particular favorite of mine as it’s the only year with those tail lights. i know the 2 door is a huge fave(shades of the 55 chevy?)but i like the 4 doors as well. as for the rear windows……….almost every malibu left the dealer with ac by this time. i do agree that rear door windows not going down is just stupid, but the car’s looks make me overlook that.
C ars I always see in Chicagoland
A re never nearly as interesting as what Joe finds
M ostly just late model imports, SUVs and CUVs in black/grey/white
R eally boring, ordinary cars, no spark of an old Malibu Classic
Y es, no matter how imperfect, nothing’s better than seeing oldies going strong
P erhaps it is in our perspective?
R emember when so many beige and light brown Malibus of this vintage were common?
O r a myriad of Chevettes, Citations, and Celebritys…
G ave us a sense of nostalgia for early 70s Chevelles.
R eally, it is in our perspective.
E specially when modern cars are so much safer, and better made.
S ometimes, we see cars like this, and reminisce about better days…
S ometimes, it’s best to appreciate how far we’ve come!
H opeless design and color pallets aren’t a reflection of function
O ur perspective on the matter is warped due to the qualities of the maker
M any of which became known for style over substance during the malaise era
O ther makes favored clean design and had more substantive quality
G iven this association we currently associate safe design with substance
E ven though countless examples throughout history prove otherwise
N ew car design is about blending in anonymously and old cars were expressive
E ven Toyota is trying to break the modern formula with their latest efforts
O f course it’s polarizing, but is it aesthetics or perception of lesser quality?
U gly is subjective but substance is hard to refute, therefore we adapt
S ometimes progress is destructive and it takes reflection to realize what’s lost
L ike you, I love seeing old cars on the street.
O nly this one has a bad case of rust rash on the body.
V alue was one of this car’s strong suits.
E xcept for some weak Turbo Hydramatic 200s.
I can’t believe I am going to say it –
T his car would look better with Chevy Rally Wheels.
Here I have a different take
Obviously this is about the Malibu
Not the Civic in the background
Despite their glaring similarity in sizes
Amazing what 40 years can do to the body
I literally lived 2 blocks down from the header photo with the white and brick building on N. Lakewood Ave. When my lease was up in August 2016, I don’t think the building had white paint yet. Have the commercial spaces opened yet? There was supposed to be a restaurant opening in that spot in 2015, but the building owner clearly wasn’t on schedule, and that never happened while I lived in the neighborhood. The upper levels were supposed to be luxury apartments. For the record, when I moved there in in 2014, that building was gutted and vacant. How times change.
I lied, it was white by then. Here is a photo looking in the direction the Malibu eventually turned toward. I have this because an ex forgot where we had our first kiss, and me being me, had to jog his memory…
S adly, this building’s ground floor is still unoccupied.
T here seems to be trouble finding tenants since the restaurant and dance studio moved out.
I don’t know why, as it looks like such a cool building on the outside.
L ittle else has changed around the intersection of Bryn Mawr and Broadway since 2016.
L et’s hope something cool ends up in these storefronts.
E ither a coffee shop or even a bookstore would be a welcome addition.
M eanwhile, the residential units on the second level appear to be occupied.
P ity, about you and your ex, but as for me, I believe everything happens for a reason.
T hough I don’t know you, those have always been my two cents, not just regarding relationships, but pretty much everything.
Y ou have a great weekend, former neighbor.
Thanks Joseph, for the update, and the kind words.
My brother had one of those, it was comfortable in that 70s era style. He had a lot of trouble with that carburetor. It would probably make a nice sleeper today.
There is a huge following for RWD A/G bodies, since easy to drop in a GM crate motor for more power, and low cost. Purists will go on and on, endlessly, about “malaise”, but one can modify a G body and it won’t lose collector value.
Fabulous post once again by Joseph.
At some point, you’d think he’d run out of cars to photograph, but he never does.
Really impressive how well he gets clear shots of vehicles in motion, too.
Thanks for the article!
Thanks, CJC. Come springtime, there will probably be (again) no shortage of vintage Detroit iron in Edgewater, and as Elmer Fudd would say, it will be Wabbit Season. 🙂
Looking forward to summer here. Proximity to Humboldt means quite a bit of vintage Detroit iron cruising down Division. 60s Impalas are almost Camry-like in their ubiquity on a nice Saturday afternoon.
My above post was also an acrostic but I don’t think anyone recognized it 🙂
Just another quick Friday afternoon check-in from an overworked lost poster:
I’m finding it increasingly endearing when I see formerly workaday family sedans elevated to classic status like this one seems to be to its owner. When I look back on the cars of my parents while I was growing up (mostly higher-level coupes, PLC’s and the like) my mind wanders to what I perceive as rows and rows of those cars lined up at some cruise-in somehere.
There are only so many Monte Carlos, Cordobas, Elorados, etc. to be oogled, and after a while they just bore me. This is an honest sedan that would’ve taken the kids to CCD class and Mom to Shop Rite, but with a little TLC and just the slightest touch of bling it’s gone from grocery getter to fashion statement.
I hope it’s gotten a good quality respray and a set of whitewalls and is still out there cruising in style.
MTN, I liked this car exactly for just the reasons you described: it was just a regular, former-everyday sedan that, though the paint was bad, still looked like it reflected pride of ownership by the lack of dents and rust, and the presence of those nice rims.
In a 78 road test by CR a Fairmont was faster, roomier, just as quiet, got about the same mileage and cost $350 less. Plus roll down rear windows. I don’t see the Malibu’s appeal.
I had a 1980 Malibu with the V6 and the Turbo Hydro-crapmatic 200 transmission.
The car was bought new by my grandfather in 1980 and was well taken care of by him and also by my dad when my grandfather gave it to him. I took care of it when it was given to me. But what a bucket of shit that car was.
I really don’t miss the car at all.
As you can tell by my avatar, I own one of these. Actually, I have owned my ’79 coupe since it was new, as I ordered it to please myself. It is somewhat of an oddball in that it has the 267 V8, four speed manual transmission, F41 handling suspension, bucket seats,rally wheels, and sunroof. It is and has always been a great car. In fact, it served as our family and vacation car for many years. I still try to drive it a lot in the warmer months and it has only made me walk once, due to an ignition module failure. I also have experience with the previous model having owned a ’75 El Camino. Believe me, there is no comparison between the two in driving experience.
I have considered writing a COAL story about this car and some of my life experiences both good and bad that I connect with this car.
And, yes those fixed rear windows are a real aggravation to me, too.
Please do a write up on that Malibu! That sounds exactly like the ‘Bu I mentally built in High School. (I was driving a 1980 Grand Prix LJ with the Pontiac 265 at the time.)
Thanks. I will try to do that some time. I can’t figure out how to post pictures here. I am not exactly a computer genius.
I liked the design the first time I saw a picture of one. Then one day in the Doctor’s office I read a drive report on one with the four speed and F41 suspension and knew I had to have one. I am a Ford guy but the Fairmont held no appeal to me.
I remember that my late FIL bought one of those used in 1980 and it was a total POS from the moment he brought it home. Would. not. shift. correctly. You could be driving it down the highway at 55 and it would downshift into Low, and then back up, or upshift into 3rd at 20. Took it back to the local GM stealership 19 times for the problem, they could never get it fixed. Finally they told him they were not going to try to fix it anymore, just go away. In desperation, my MIL called the local GM parts plant, Delco/NDH Bearings, and asked if anyone could help her. A call to Flint was made, and the car was promptly fixed, this time for good. The transmission was replaced with a new unit, and the company took the old unit back for engineers to look at. The verdict? The transmission case was porous, as in a bad casting. They could not understand why the local techs could not diagnose that. It was the last GM car he ever owned.
Had a triple-Black Malibu Landau Coupe. V8, with the good suspension, and all the toys that make life worth living. Nice car… but a bit of a letdown after my ’77 Caprice. Malibu left me stranded in San Mateo over a weekend with a bad transmission modulator. Car got repaired (warranty), drove it back to Portland, and made it go away shortly thereafter.
I remember these cars as a kid. Most were really basic and cheap looking. I remember riding in one that was pale blue and it had horrible black vinal seats that burned you, the dashboard had all these blanked off spaces for guages and clocks and things. The woman who owned it hated it and complained about the slow v6 and balky manual transmission. The car was narrow and the back windows didn’t go down. It was like the world’s slowest cop car. The roof and exterior was ugly compared to the 81? Redesign except the Monte Carlo like front end piece. I also would say they were a step down compared to the colonade cars. More like a Nova than a Chevelle or Malibu. Vs the competition the volare or Aspen was a better car with more comfortable, better dash, opening windows and way better engines and transmissions. Also the Ford LTD 11 was a way nicer bigger, more comfortable and more upscalecar better in every way. And Fairmont was also a better car with better mechanicals and styling and drivetrain and interior. LTD was improved over Torino and Fairmont over the Maverick . The Chevy not so much. The mopars were not as good as the dart, but once sorted out were great cars far better than most give them credit for.
As a side note, the Malibu was one reason the Olds Cutlass did so well in these years. The Cutlass was everything the Malibu (and Monte Carlo)- handsome, upscale exterior and interior, and engines that actually worked- reliably.
My ’78 Cutlass that replaced the malibu was a twin of the one below. Underpowered 260 V8, but reliable as the hills. Great car- sold it to friends of the in-laws a year later. They kept it for about 15 years.
edit: …everything the Malibu and Monte Carlo weren’t…
Geez, real wire wheels…
ps: ’81 Cutlass Brougham 4door w/o Vinyl, FE2 heavy duty suspension, thm350C, engine upgraded by previous owner from 260 to 305, rear axle upgraded from 2.29:1 to ~3.08:1, posi added by me…
The Cutlass Salon and Cutlass Supreme’s were everything the Malibu and Monte Carlo weren’t…. except the Cutlass Salon’s had the fabulois faux-hatchback styling!!
I guesss the GM logic was as follows. Since the back windows in the 4 door models aren’t going to open, mind as well make the Cutlass Salons look like hatchbacks that don’t open !! (Same applies to the Century’s)
Note: I am one of the rare ones who actually like the styling of the fastback looking Cutlass Salons and Century’s
The Cutlass Salon and Cutlass Supreme’s were everything the Malibu and Monte Carlo’s weren’t. Except, the Cutlass Salons had the fabulous faux hatchback styling !!
I guess GM’s thinking was since the windows don’t roll down in the 4 door models, mind as well make the Cutlass Salon and Century models look like hatchbacks that don’t open!
I for one love the styling of the 1978 and 79 Cutlass Salons and a Century’s.
I think GM was ahead of its time with the faux hatchback design. Today, the Fusion, Sonata, Accord, etc,, all look like hatchbacks !!
Love the 78 ‘bu !!
I forget how off the Malibu sedans looked before the 81 refresh. The Collonade like roofline doesn’t do it many favors in the looks Dept.
Hopefully it’s owner will repaint it in its original color instead of the Candy Red or Neon Green that seems popular now.