Clean, isn’t it? You’d suspect we found a bone-stock, 69,000 mile 1978 Chevrolet Malibu with the F41 suspension and ran with it, and normally, you’d be right: finding one of the newly downsized A/G Malibus in good condition and unmolested would be a score, indeed. Sorry to burst the bubble, but this one has been fiddled with a bit…not that you would tell from the outside. From twenty feet away, the Chevy’s Camel Beige paint and stock hubcaps are only betrayed by dark window tint, and unless the entire floorpan was missing, the car would be sold off as soon as it hit Craigslist. But about that fiddling…

Again, the Malibu’s near-stock look works, with gentle wear adding to the truthfully well-kept interior. Forget impressed, we’d be stunned to stumble upon this car in the wild. But then you see the first giveaway: the Lightning Rods shifter and console setup, raided from an Oldsmobile. Ok, so it’s not perfectly stock…it looks like it was a factory option and it’s well-done, so we give it a pass. Go ahead, take a seat in that flat-ass bucket and hit the key…

Okay, that’s clever. Someone clearly had an intent with this Malibu, one that we bet probably involved re-sorting a lot of late-night racer egos at stoplights. And it wouldn’t be a difficult build to do: take one well-sorted GM small-block of any era, keep it bone-stock quiet, and go hunting. It’s just the Malibu that Grandma kept neat and tidy, you just tinted the windows, that’s all. Nobody has to see the Lightning Rods shifter, nobody has to know what’s under the hood until it’s way too late. Wondering what’s under the hood? The answer is simple: whatever you want. The Malibu is being sold without an engine or trans for $5,000, which normally would be our walkaway moment for a Rough Start find, but hear us out: You have everything sorted for a nice little street hustler or a cruiser, and all you have to do is figure out the engine or powertrain. Cue the ire, an LS swap would be ideal, especially with an intercooled turbocharger, but any combination of V8 and four-speed automatic will suffice. Just don’t change up the look, it doesn’t get any better than that.

Craigslist Link: 1978 Chevrolet Malibu