SD 396 wrote:

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HyperHenry wrote:

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Hey Guys

New member here as well as a new Chevelle owner. Can sometime tell me what badging goes on the fenders on a 66 Chevelle Malibu SS?? Is it just the cross flags or does it have the cross flags with engine size or is the engine size in script above the cross flags??

Thanks very much

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Just the crossed flags. No engine designation.

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HyperHenry wrote:

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Hey Guys

New member here as well as a new Chevelle owner. Can sometime tell me what badging goes on the fenders on a 66 Chevelle Malibu SS?? Is it just the cross flags or does it have the cross flags with engine size or is the engine size in script above the cross flags??

Thanks very much

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67BBSD wrote:

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from 1973-1976 my Dad had a 66 malibu SS 283 powerglide-it had cross flags and 283 above it. An old girlfriend's Dad is the original owner of a 66 malibu SS 327 4-speed it has cross flags and 327 above it. I had a 67 malibu rag this year it had cross flags and 327 above it, the neighbour has a 67 el camino it has cross flags and 327 above it.

I rember a 66 el camino with a 396 glide it had the big turbo jet cross flags as did the malibu SS with 396 or a super sport chevelle.


-- Edited by 67BBSD at 22:03, 2008-10-28

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67BBSD wrote:

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the cross flags for 283 and 327 on a malibu are the same, the numbers 283 or 327 are separately mounted-

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The crossed flags by themselves indicated 327 power in 1964, 283 power in 1966-67. Those flags were combined with separate 283 numerals in 1965 only. 327 numeral were used 1965-67. Incidentally those flags also were paired with 409 numerals on the big Chevies of 1964-65.

I dont know what the production figures were for the 1966 Malibu SS other than 499 L34 coupes and 50 L34 convertibles. The Malibu SS was a bucket seat and console package that also included special exterior trim. It was available on any 6 or 8 cylinder Malibu Sport Coupe or Malibu convertible, so actually production stats are not public.

A few years back I wrote an article on "The Obscure Malibu SS of 1966-67" that appeared on the Can-Am Chevelles & Beaumont website. It has been a couple of years and later articles have been posted in place of it. That article is included in a CD that a guy by the name of Dale McIntosh sells that covers as much info as you can find on all things 1967 Chevelle. It was also featured in an issue of the CCCB (Canadian Classic Chevelles & Beaumonts). I may as well post it:

"While in the United States Chevrolet was marketing the 138-series SS396, in Canada there was a curious version that was not well known or understood. In fact, its very existence is doubted by many - the Malibu SS of 1966 and 1967."

"Following on the heals of the 64/65 Malibu SS, where the SS was really more about trim than drivetrain, in Canada they continued with that marketing strategy. Although the 1965 Auto Pact between Canada & the U.S. would soon have a marked effect on model offerings, the 66 models were already committed to production."

"In the U.S. there were a number of different series, many drivetrain combinations and many options. In Canada they made do with only 2 series, simplified drivetrain choices and fewer interior options. In the U.S. there were 300 series, 300 Deluxe series, the Malibu and the SS396 series. In Canada there was only the 300 & Malibu series. Since there was no 300 Deluxe series for a base wagon, it was shifted into the base 300 series. Canadian production was perhaps 1/10th of that in the U.S. in terms of volume. Sheer economics dictated a more simplified lineup. For probably that reason alone, convertible production needed whatever means to get production figures up to the point where the body style was profitable to build after tooling up. Besides offering a convertible on the Malibu, there was also a 300 convertible to appeal to the traditionally thrifty Canadians. Combine that production with the Chevelles fraternal twin the Beaumont and it is likely that GM Canada built the cars profitably with that formula. However, the base 300 was not a big factor on convertible sales. For example, only 96 of the V8 300-series convertibles were built for 1967! There were never more than about 200 or 300 of those cars produced annually as six cylinder or eight cylinder models."

"As for the Malibu SS, it was the means by which you got bucket seats in your 135 or 136 series Malibu Sports Coupe or Convertible. In the U.S., the RPO A51 stood for Bucket Seats, but in Canada it stood for an option package referred to by GM Canada as The Sports Option. They may as well have referred to it as The Malibu SS Option since thats what it was, but it also turned a Beaumont Custom into a Beaumont Sport Deluxe. It even turned a Pontiac Parisienne (sort of a Catalina/Chevrolet hybrid) into a Parisienne Custom Sport. "

"The Malibu SS, or the 'Malibu with the Sports Option' (as GM put it so clumsily in the brochures), was a trim option mainly. You bought and paid for Bucket Seats, Console (except 3-speed manual column-shifted cars) and the low cost P01 Wheel Covers. Chevrolet would add the ribbed rocker panel moldings and matching rear quarter extension from the SS396. Malibu SS emblems sourced from the 1965 models adorned the quarter panels. Front and rear it was pure Malibu, lacking any hood or grille modifications whatsoever. Out back for 66 they simply used Argent paint fill in the Malibu rear cove to differentiate the SS. Under the conventional hood you could specify all the regular Chevelle engines; the 194, 230, 283 2-barrel, the327 275-horse 4-barrel, PLUS you could also specify the 360-horspower Turbo-Jet 396 V8. This was a legitimate situation where a 136-series car could have a 396, whereas today it marks a U.S. car as a fake SS. Transmission choices in Canada were pretty straight forward as well; 3-speed manual, 4-speed manual (M20 only) or Powerglide automatic. The only ornamentation that showed your Malibu SS as being big-block powered were the crossed-flags on the front fenders. The 396-powered Beaumont Sport Deluxe was a true sleeper since it used the same 'V8 insignia that was used on 283 & 327 cars. No redlines either for 1966. "

"The situation was much the same for 1967. In the U.S. you could get a Malibu with either bench or optional bucket seats and power ranging from a 140-horse six to a 325-horse 327 V8, and you could get an SS396 with either bench or bucket seats and a 396 with either 325 or optional 350-horsepower (375 horses added secretly late in the run). Meanwhile in Canada you could get a Malibu with bench seats and power ranging from the 140-horse six to the 275-horse 327. Or you could specify Bucket Seats on your Malibu making it a Malibu SS and get engines ranging from the 140-horse six to the 350-horse 396 V8. The Sports Option came with buckets, console, P01 wheel covers (now with SS center emblems), while GM gave the wheel opening moldings and ribbed rockers from the SS396 to you in place of the usual Malibu fare (lower body side moldings that ran aft of the front wheel to the back bumper). The Malibu SS emblem was again employed. The front and rear styling was regular Malibu, with no Big Block hoods being used even with a 396, and the rear was pure Malibu. They didnt even get any special rear end paint (Argent, Black or otherwise), to distinguish a Malibu SS. Oh, I almost forgot that the wood grained dash strip was used, along with the Malibu script above the glove box. At least the horn button said SS instead of Chevelle. For 1967 the 396-powered Malibu SS came standard with F70-14 redline tires mounted on 14x6 wheels. Also not even mentioned in the brochure, but somehow ordered by a few 396 buyers anyway, was the same low wide optional D96 side striping (the same one offered in the U.S. on the SS396 optionally). "

"So, do you now think youre finally straight on the Malibu SS in Canada? Well, they stopped with that scenario in December of 1966. Starting New Years 1967 the Malibu SS was gone. You could now get a 138-series SS396 as in the U.S., and you could now also get bench or bucket seats in your Malibu and still come out with a Malibu. No more 136-series cars with 396 power, it was 138-series only.

Cam Milne"

From what documentation I've seen, once the D55 console option appeared on Canadian Chevelles and Beaumonts, the 'Sports Option' ceased to be. My Chevelle was built on December 15, 1966 and the car in front of it had a D55 console, so it was just a Malibu with buckets and console, not a Malibu SS. I have seen a '67 Malibu SS that was built in late November '66 that had just the A51 option and no D55, yet it was present on the car (the guy ordered his Chevelle new and still has it to this day!)

I don't know how, but double post.
 
Deleted.

Carl Stevenson wrote:

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"Or you could specify Bucket Seats on your Malibu making it a Malibu SS and get engines ranging from the 140-horse six to the 350-horse 396 V8."


I disagree with that statement. It is made to sound that all 67 Malibu's with buckets were SS cars and that is certainly not true from what I have seen and believe to be authentic.

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67BBSD wrote:

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I'm with ya Carl-I've had malibu's with bucket seats that were not Malibu SS, I had a Sport Deluxe Beaumont and Super Sport Chevelles with bench seat-now for the kicker-I just e-mailed Wayne to see if he has GM vintage documentation on his 66 Malibu SS 327 4-speed-he's the original owner and it has a bench seat !

 

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