There was a time in my childhood when my dad was a Malibu (and also Impala) guy.
I remember a Diplomat was thrown in there one year. (What a POS.) But mostly, it was Malibus and Impalas (convertibles.)
The first discontinuation of the Chevy Malibu took place in 1983, after nearly 20 years in production. The iconic General Motors sedan was brought back to life in 1997, but now, the company is phasing it out yet again—and this time, it looks like it’s for good. “To facilitate the installation of tooling and other plant modifications, after nine generations and over 10 million global sales, GM will end production of the Chevrolet Malibu in November 2024,” a GM spokesperson told the Detroit News, via Edmunds. The rep adds that production will also cease in January on the Cadillac XT4 luxury SUV.
What were your dad’s cars? (Or mom’s)
Model-T
🤣
However, the rumor is that GM is bringing back a redesigned Impala for ’25.
That’s okay, it’s a piece of crap any way. I own one.
General Motors will have to change their name to General Electric Motors.
Forcing the public to buy electric cars, as they cease production of fewer Gas powered vehicles.
GM continues to forge forward to Business Suicide.
How many Tax dollars are they being paid to GM to reduce production of gas vehicles?
Chevy Belair
1956 dark green and white
1960, 1962, both white
1964 copper
1967 switched to a huge blue Pontiac I learned to drive around the field in
1970 Plymouth Satellite
These were my Mom’s cars and for Sundays as Dad had old pickups and an old larger truck for hauling grain. He got a new pickup in 1970 same time as new car. Chevy that bright aqua green.
Modern midsize cars are yesterday’s mini cars. Today’s little cars are yesterday’s kiddie toys. The rich still enjoy properly sized automobiles, but Malibu drivers went from a nice sized rig to a just bearable little box. Now let’s do motors! You could make 500 horsepower and more right at home, out of a 350 Chevy and the automatic transmission would support it… if you didn’t get carried away. The little one must be able to be hot rodded but I wouldn’t know where to begin, beyond computer chip changes. Oh well, progress and all that.
Dad’s car was whatever was the cheapest used car! That man could squeeze a penny and get two nickels.
My mom had a Mercedes and my dad had a Lincoln Continental, a Caddy among other cars for business. Boring cars all. The Saab Turbo was not bad; Volvo box car. The best one was my mom’s Ford Galaxy convertible! I wish she had not sold it and then bought the Mercedes. Ugh!
Dad was a Pontiac man:
1962 Catalina wagon
1967 Tempest
1969 Executive
1972 Bonneville
The last decent Malibu Chevy made was 1972; everything after was made to satisfy government dictates.
Pontiac Tempest
Buick Skylark
Sunbeam Alpine
Totota Corona
Nissan Maxima
Claudia: Same with my old man. He used to buy one year old “company cars” from his aerospace firm. So he owned a series of GM low-end strippers that resembled police cars if the day. But the coolest was his 56 Chevy 210 with a Corvette engine under the hood.
My dad never bought new. In order of purchase:
65 Chevy II sedan (bought in 68, gave to my great granddad in 71)
67 Ford Fairlane wagon (great car, bought in 69, sold in 72)
72 AMC Hornet coupe (not as bad as it sounds, first car I wrecked, in 77)
During the 70’s, our fleet changed over to FIAT 124 models of all kinds, especially Spyders. Great cars, all of them. No American iron by 79.
I had a 1969 Malibu 327 I bought for 300 bucks. I had to get a new driver’s side fender, grille and hood. A few years later the timing chain broke, so I bought a 1968 327 Malibu for $200, and my local mechanic charged me $600 to swap engines. On the way back home with the ’68, a wheel bearing locked up and I had to cold chisel it off and replace it so I could make it back.
Ended up giving the car to my brother, it ran well for a few more years.
His next car was a 6 cylinder ’69 Firebird we dropped a 455 into. That car was insane.
I still only buy American made vehicles.
I completely forgot the 65 Ford Econoline telephone company van my dad bought in 73. for $500. We drove that thing everywhere for nine years. Long trips, short haul. Even welded a tow bar to drag home FIAT 124s for refurb.
The worst & last Chevrolet that I will ever own, 2000 Impala. When you tried opening the door it would shock whoever touched the door first, then at 3yrs every electronic engine control shorted out. Got it fixed & drove across the street to the Honda dealership & traded it for an Accord. The kid still drives the Honda.
60s el camino, was a powerhouse. think i was 8yo, dad got me on the highway made 100mph, scared shxtlss. dad loved the speed. i remember he told me about running a triumph tr3 from san diego to anaheim at speed. got to anaheim and one of the spin off wheels fell off after stopping. sold the triumph soon after. good times when a guy could make speed without all the government oversight and consequences.
Once cars are refined to the point they become reliable and fun to drive they undergo a redesign and become bloated and unreliable and the process repeats, but with less fun to drive. Until recently, now all cars are removing all of the fun factor and everyone insists on driving behemoth lumbering whales that weigh several metric shit tons with nanny aids everywhere that send their data back to the mothership. The only “fun” left in cars these days is “OMG it goes 0 to 60 in 3 seconds,” and that’s all you see people do with their $100k+ cars. Who gives a rats ass, I wanna take twisties and bang gears. A slow car driven hard is way more fun than a fast car that can’t be driven hard. EV is mostly to blame, of course forced on us with government, the ultimate killer of anything and everything good.
Growing up, it was (as far as I can remember) all Fords, the old shield logo with the lion and the “V”. Station wagon, convertible (he loved it, we hated the wind blowing us on the back seat), whatever.
After the family grew up and left home, he bought and drove older Caddys. They were never able to pass by a garage without stopping for an expensive repair.
Dad was an Olds man, as was my grandfather. Dad moved up to a Cadillac deVille as he approached retirement. My first car was a 1953 Chevy 2-door coupe
Oh, I forgot to answer..
What were your dad’s cars? (Or mom’s)
.. My old man insisted on driving Cadillacs, fleetwoods and whatnot with pillows for seats. Once he decided to get the new Audi 5000, and shortly after people were driving those things thru their garage for some reason, mixing up the gas and brake. My old man became terrified from the stories about it and he didn’t drive it much and quickly traded it for another Caddy.
Before I could remember, I was told mom had a Toronado. Afterwards she had manual Datsun hatchbacks 280SX and one other model I can’t remember, later on and her last car before passing, was a Nissan 300ZX Turbo that my dad drove because back then insurance was way cheaper for her to have the sporty car. At least that’s how I remember it. She didn’t want it originally because it didn’t have a chopstick (manual tranny). The old man moved the caddy only when the whole family went to the mall or some trip.
A few weeks ago I was behind an aged Malibu with dings and badly oxidized paint. On the back next to the “Impala” plastic chrome tag, was a nicely produced similar chrome tag that said SHITBOX EDITION.
My dad wasn’t a car person and had no particular loyalties. I remember Chevrolets, Fords, VWs, and lastly an Infiniti G35 (go figure! Not an old man’s car.)
Dad was a GM guy, notable cars were a ’68 Riviera GS and a ’65 GTO.
Bought his first Toyota in ’71 (long commute), and apart from a Buick wagon in ’77 to cart the kids around it was all Toyota.
I have had Infinitis the past 27 years (just 3 cars), just bought a Genesis.
Do you know that Ford currently sells only one car? Lots of trucks and SUVs of course, but no more Fiesta, Focus, Fusion, Crown Vic, just the Mustang.
I have a neighbor who has a Chevelle (became the Malibu) SS 396 built in 1968, which is a real muscle car. They also went up to a 454 V8 engine.
That POS Malibu of recent years with a tiny 1.4 lliter 4 and front drive was merely rebadging of an old brand.
Likewise recent Impalas were crappy front engine front drive vehicles with tiny engines. The last attempt at a real Impala was mid 1990s Caprice with Corvette engine and transmission.
I drive an El Camino, which is Spanish for “The Camino.”
No Impalas or Malibus from the past 30 years are really Impalas or Malibus. A piece of crap by any other name is still a piece of crap.
El Camino – the road
https://www.spanishdict.com/translate/camino
I remember my dad having a Corvair, a Karmann Ghia and a ’64 Mustang. All were bought used. Later in his life he would cruise the back roads looking for private owner cars for sale and make them ridiculous offers. If they took it, they took it and if not, no hard feelings. He had a lot of different cars through that and cleaned them up and sold them for a small profit. I got him a new Cadillac through the company discount program. That was his first new car ever.
I had at least 3 or maybe 4 Malibu’s. I lease, so every 2 or 3 years it was time for something new. I had so many Malibu’s because they were great cars. I really, really liked them. I had to eventually move to an SUV type vehicle about 4 or 5 years ago for visibility. The dumb-asses in this neck of the woods that plan our roads think it’s great to plant hedges and large shrubs at the corners of intersections of secondary roads and you can’t see what’s coming at you. The area is chock-full of “newcomers” with no drivers licenses and that come from countries where traffic signs and signals are evidently ignored.
I’d still be driving a Malibu if not for all that.
In the early 60s my dad drove VWs and he also had a couple of Austin Healey Sprites. After that it was mundane American cars, although the Chrysler Newport with 383cid engine would get up and move.
Grandpa had a 63) Chevy Biscayne (poor man’s Impala) which my mother ended up buying in 72 and was my first car in 77. Had a steering wheel big as a trash can lid and an indestructible straight six. Metal dash with zero padding.
And I remember you could leave the ignition in the unlocked position so you didn’t need the key to start it. Had protrusions on the ignition so you could grab with your fingers.
My Dad’s cars (that I know of):
1913 Model T that he built (around 1927) out of scrap parts from his father’s car repair business. 1913 was the year he was born. He lied on his driver’s license application and said he was 16.
1932 Plymouth
1949 Chevy (POS)
1955 English Ford
1963 Bug
1964 Plymouth Belvedere (paid $140 at a government auction)
1974 Ford F150 (another POS)
1984 Mercury Grand Marquis
He almost bought a 1987 Ford Mustang 5.0 but my Mom told him he could only buy it if he could get in and out of the back seat without help. He failed…
1992 Dodge Dynasty (I told him to wait for the upcoming Intrepid)
The Pontiac was a favorite of mine. GM brought it out first in the 1930’s as a sports car. Then, we had GTOs in the Sixties.
I had a Pontiac Fiero 6 cylinder in the 1980s and 1990s. It was my baby for many years. I squeezed 220k miles out of it, never had too many problems with it, just the expected ones, finally giving it to charity.
The most recent Pontiac that I know of is a good looking but underpowered 2- passenger sports model. I saw one a few days ago and I thought it was an outstanding design, but I guess GM didn’t sell enough of them, and it is now interred in the automobile graveyard probably for good.
My old man was & still is a Studebaker & less so an old Pontiac man. His favorite was his Pontiac Tempest drop top. Gray on the outside, black interior with a 455 that my Uncle found & helped dad install. Dad called it the gray ghost. I remember being a young buck in the 70’s with my dad, mom & sister cruising to see my Aunt & Uncle who live about 3 hours from us. Top down with my old man having his foot to the floor, wringing the old girl out. Glorious exhaust note from the duals running out the back. Mom yelling at my dad to slow down, me & my sis loving every MPH of it! Good times!