1973 Chevelle Malibu - 454 LS4
After purchasing a 73 Laguna in North Carolina (1500 mi round trip), a friend told me about a similar car for sale locally. He was not sure if it was a Laguna or not, just that it was black and had swivel bucket seats. You never know, so we took a trip (40 mi) to investigate. What I found was a 1973 Malibu with a 454 LS4 TH400, (Checked the VIN and it is a Y 5th digit) black on black that has absolutely ZERO rust on the car and as far as I could tell it has its original sheet metal. Believe me I was all over the car looking for signs of body work or repair and I found ZERO.
The car was shown to me as pictured here............
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| Looks good here. | Shot of the other side. |
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| Notice the 74 window look added by 2nd owner. Original 73 glass is intact behind a plastic insert. | |
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| Rear, notice that it was going to be raced, fiberglass bumpers, (have originals) removed the fuel cell. | |
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| Have to assume original miles. | Beautiful interior panels throughout the car. |
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| Dash has been cut for some gauges, console missing, aftermarket shifter. Swivel bases intact, seats replaced. | |
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| Arrow straight !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! | Beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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| OH YEAH!!! Big Block Powered!!!!!! | Another picture |
I then inquired to where the engine and transmission were at and he told me he had them at his other garage. We went t to the other garage and he showed me the numbers matching engine and transmission for "this" car. He also had all the other items that had been removed from the car with exception of the console and shifter. He then produced the following paper work............
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| Original build sheet from the car, VIN matches. | |
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| Original owner information. | Trim Tag |
He also has a complete folder of all work and maintenance done on the vehicle by the second owner.
Three days after inspecting the car and working on a deal for the car, I found to my disbelief that he had listed the car on EBAY. I contacted him ASAP and asked why he would do this as we were working a deal. He informed me that his daughter had taken the pics a week ago for placing them on EBAY and then she placed the Malibu as well as another car he was going to sell on EBAY. He was trying to sell the car minus the drive train as he was going to use this engine and transmission in another car. We worked out a deal and I acquired the complete car with original engine and transmission as well as ALL other parts for the car.
Will be picking up the car this weekend and I will post more later.
Picked up car, engine is in getting freshened and transmission has just been completely rebuilt and is ready.
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