Colonnade Wagon: 1976 Chevrolet Chevelle
General Motors redesigned all their mid-size cars in 1973, going with a Colonnade styling theme which provided sedan-like roofs with pillarless doors. The concept was that the autos would safer in the event of a rollover. The Chevelle was part of the mix, and this change gave the nameplate a sales boost through 1977, after which the cars were downsized, but that’s another story. This ’76 Malibu Classic station wagon was intended to become a restoration project, but the seller has decided he’d rather go with a vintage truck instead. Another tip from Barn Finder Pat L., the wagon is located in Mineral Wells, Texas, and has an asking price of $4,500 here on craigslist.
Wagon sales continued to be brisk with the 1973-77 design. The Malibu’s were available in two trim levels, “regular” and Estate, and with 2 or 3 seats for passenger transport. We can’t tell from the seller’s photos if there is a seat way in the back, so we’ll assume it’s one of the 30,000 or so wagons built to house six in the 1976 model year.
The seller’s Malibu Classic presents reasonably well and doesn’t look like a car that’s begging for restoration. The paint isn’t bad – but it’s just been washed – and the body looks okay, as well as the interior being intact. The seller would have made his Chevy more marketable had he cleaned out the passenger compartment and taken the exterior photos somewhere other than a dirt yard.
We’re told there’s a 350 cubic inch V8 under the hood, paired up with a TH-350 automatic transmission. Both are said to do their respective jobs well enough for 65,000 miles. However, the seller doesn’t consider the vehicle to be daily driver material (without going into more detail). The Chevrolet is currently registered as an antique vehicle, which I presume means the plates come cheaper that way.
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Comments
Nice lines, still had some sexy curves before they got really straight and boxy.
I wonder what it really needs, other than a thorough cleaning, the price seems quite reasonable. If it wasn’t 1500 miles away and about $2K in expenses getting it back to PA, I would definitely look into this one.
What a great weekend cruiser it could be. You could even fit a 55 gallon drum in the back for gas…
Another lazy seller who isn’t smart enough to understand that presentation is everything when it comes to selling a car. A few hours spent cleaning the interior would probably translate into a higher selling price. Even so, it looks like a pretty good wagon in decent shape, so the ask seems reasonable to me.
Now this is cool. When is the last time you saw one of these at a car show in the sea of challengers, mustang’s, Camaros and more of the performance car set. Wish I had room.
Easiest way to tell if these have thecthird row is to look at the rear side windows. One piece windows, like this one has, are for the 2 row wagons. Third row wagons have wing window type vent windows on the very back.
Nice, solid wagon with a good looking interior. There is one of these, a 1973 with woodgrain, for sale on Facebook for $14,500. That being said, this one is $10,000 less, and it won’t take nearly that much money to make this one as nice as that one.
The Facebook one is kinda unique, it has the 3 on the tree and manual steering.
We had a 75 estate wagon. It was a 6 passenger with the rear side, flip out windows l. So those were not exclusive (at least for 75) for 9 passenger wagons. Also, because the rear window did not roll down, the rear quarter glass let some ventilation into that area where some of us kids would be riding (down to Florida from Michigan). Ours was a dark blue with woodside paneling. We had a set of Corvette ralley wheels my dad got from my uncle. Really a great car.
I had one of these 350 4 barrel beat that car to would not die. Had 4 bolt main bearings
Marge Simpson, your car is ready!
I bought one of these in Rome, NY when I was stationed there in 1976. I finally sold it in 1990. Bulletproof.
🎶 🎵
….I found out long ago, oooohhhh
It’s a long way down the Holiday Road, oooohhhh
Holiday Road
Holiday Road
Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, oooohhhh
Take a ride on a West Coast kick, oooohhhh
Holiday Road
Holiday Road
Holiday Road
Holiday Road
I’ve come back long ago, oooohhhh
Long way down the Holiday Road
Holiday Road
Holiday Road
Holiday Road
Holiday Road
Oooohhhh… 🎶 🎵
I had one of these back in the day. What made it unusual was it had swivel bucket seats and a console with a floor shift. Thinking it must of been rare and I wish I still had it
Buckets & a floorshift in a wagon? That is cool!
great malibu.
I like this, the 3rd, final chevelle (Malibu Classic) of whatever livery: sedan, coup, wagon, vert, comino. 5 or 6 motor choices, 3 or 4 trannies; the nice big square grill; luxo size…
I wish it was closer. I have been looking for a wagon like this for awhile.
I have a ready to drop in GM 5.7 diesel that I personally rebuilt years ago that was from my sadly rusted out Buick wagon.
Retro, diesel surfer wagon!
That would be cool! Love the Olds 350 diesel!
My parents had the ’75 version of this wagon. It was the first car in the family with cruise control – simple control button located at the end of the turn signal stem. Only way to cancel was stepping on the brakes.
We had a blast using it on twisty roads and the car would accelerate when it needed to slow down. We were idiots and surprised we never wrecked it.
Dad bought one used in 1977 with about 20,000 miles at the Chevy dealer where I was assistant service manager. All I did was change oil, gas filter, Trans oil and coolant at factory intervals. Never a problem in another 165,000 miles. Unlike today GM junk, rock solid reliable. Miss that car. 350 4 bbl.
I had a Colonnade wagon, a 1973 Laguna (in ’73,the top-of-the-line Chevelle was the Laguna, which became the Malibu Classic in ’74. The 1974 Laguna Type S-3 took over for the Chevelle SS). Mine was the basic model, with 6-passenger seating and without the woodgrain vinyl of the Laguna Estate down the sides. A previous owner had swapped out the original 2-barrel 350 in favor of a built 4-barrel 400 small block. I hardly ever see a 400 c.i. SBC built up as a performer, but that’s what it had under the hood. Air shocks on the back, and BFG TA Radials on Corvette Rally wheels. At a test-and-tune day at Maple Grove, I took it down the strip, just to see what it could do. It ran in the high 13s… with 2 kiddy seats strapped into the back seat! It was a great car, until my (now ex) wife got her license and proceeded to dent or tear (!) nearly every body panel on the car (she managed to leave the roof, hood, right front fender, and hatch intact, but she ran the right rear wheel into a concrete roadside drainage culvert and bent the lower right shock mount 180 degrees and breaking off the bottom of the shock absorber. Ever try to buy just one air shock? Not an easy thing to do, at least not in 1983. It was still a fun family car and, considering all the abuse my ex piled on it, it held up very well for us for about 5 years. The odometer read over 160,000 miles by the time it got stolen (!), and we never got it back. I like my cars to be a little unusual (I’ve had about a dozen Corvairs over the past 40 years or so), and a ’73 Laguna WAGON was definitely unusual, even back in 1983 when we bought it.
Sounds like your ex thought it was a rental car from the airport and not the family’s transportation. :) Was she really that bad a driver? Or did bad luck just follow her around constantly?
We lived in town, in a 150 year old rowhouse without a driveway. We did have a garage out back, but the ’65 Corvair that I was restoring had dibs on that. Well, she was terrible at parallel parking, and did it by the Braille method. She ran both sides of the car repeatedly down phone poles, on both sides of the car. One time, she misjudged a corner and hooked the right rear wheel on.the back bumper of a parked pickup truck, tearing the quarter panel all the way from there to the back bumper! The only fender she left straight got dinged while I was driving, when a kid on a 10-speed bike, with grocery bags on both sides of the handle bars, rode off the sidewalk between a couple of parked cars and right into my right front fender. We were all terrified when the car bumped over something. Turned out it was just the bike and not the kid. The bike was totalled but the boy got away light, with just a couple of broken bones and a concussion. Thankfully, his parents understood the situation and didn’t sue us for a million bucks!
Sounds like your ex thought it was a rental car from the airport and not the family’s transportation. :) Was she really that bad a driver? Or did bad luck just follow her around constantly?