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Car of The Day:March 25, 2010; Johnny Lightning '81 Chevrolet Malibu
Topic Started: Mar 24 2010, 10:25 PM (614 Views)
craftymore
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Support your local demo derby.

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The car for today is Johnny Lightning's 1981 Chevrolet Malibu.

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Wikipedia.com
 
For the 1978 model year, the Malibu name which had been the bestselling badge in the lineup replaced the Chevelle name. This was Chevrolet's second downsized nameplate, following the lead of the 1977 Chevrolet Caprice. The new, more efficient platform was over a foot shorter and had shed 500 to 1,000 pounds compared to previous versions, yet offered increased trunk space, leg room, and head room.[1] Only two trim levels were offered - Malibu and Malibu Classic. The Malibu Classic Landau series had a two tone paint job on the upper and lower body sections, and a vinyl top.

Three bodystyles were produced (station wagon, sedan, and coupe). The sedan initially had a conservative six-window notchback roofline, in contrast to the unusual fastback rooflines adopted by Oldsmobile and Buick divisions. To reduce cost, the windows in the rear doors of 4-door sedans were fixed, while the wagons had small moveable vents. In 1981, sedans adopted a four-window profile and "formal" pillared upright roofline. The 2-door coupe was last produced in 1981.


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Howstuffworks.com
 
The 1981 Chevrolet Malibu received what amounted to a "radical" styling update for a car that had changed little since its 1978 introduction: Sedans adopted a rear roofline more formal than that of their Buick and Olds siblings. Other changes were more subtle.

The 1981 Chevrolet Malibu engines mostly continued from 1980 but now wore GM's Computer Command Control (CCC) emission system. The base 229-cubic-inch V-6 made 110 horsepower (down from 115), as did the California-only 231-cubic-inch Buick V-6.

The 305-cubic-inch V-8, now with 150 horsepower, was relegated to station-wagon duty, so the sole optional engine on sedans and coupes was the 267-cubic-inch V-8 with 115 horsepower. The three-speed automatic added a lock-up torque converter to aid highway mileage.

As before, the bulk of sales consisted of sedans, with ritzier Classic versions being somewhat more popular than the base models. Station wagons and coupes were likewise more popular in dressier trim.

And despite a substantial across-the-board price increase (the most popular model, the Classic sedan, was up more than $1,000, to $6,961), sales dropped only slightly to a total of just under 242,500.


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For more info and pics of the real '81 Malibu, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Malibu

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This casting by JL was just released last year and has been released in four different paint styles. These include a spoilers version plus a BWF one and two stock-ish model as well, this particular one with stock appearing paint. For $2, it seems ok but I could live without the wheel choice here. Also appears the placement of the rear axle is off. It does have an opening hood and decent engine detail. Like all other JLs in the 40th and Forever 64 line, it has a plastic base.

Since JL is suppose to release a 'new' 2.0 line which includes metal bases and better details, I'm curious how much better this casting could be with a metal base, proper trim detail and realistic rims/rubber tires. ;)


Think these tires and rims from the '87 Monte Carlo would look right at home on this Malibu. Pics is via Wyatt @JLcollector.com. Thanks Wyatt. :thumbup:
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Swifty
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
It's hard to argue with this car at this price point. The casting is good (not quite perfect, but not bad by any stretch of the imagination), the color combo is striking, and this only the second Malibu of this vintage in this scale (the first being a horribly mis-proportioned Hot Wheels taxicab/police car originally from the Scorchers range).
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be77bt
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be77bt
*In Memory Of*
I have all them.the bwf,gold @ yellow,the burgundy one with the blower out ,an a other burgundy one.
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STUTZ
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Diecast junkie
Nice color combo.
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Tone
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Rocket 88
That toy model looks excellent - and it's from a forgotten year, the "rust belt" time era that some people criticized US cars for quality. It was the year I took Drivers Ed. :)
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Sak
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Ezekiel 25:17
Nice one. I hope to find it.
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ivantt
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New casting? Quick! Take it apart!
The upcoming PIP series version with metal base is a "Ready-to-Derby" item.
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harlans toys
matchbox
looks a lovely model that does and i really like the colour combonation
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