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Howdy from Dallas!

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Post by texan01 Mon Apr 18, 2011 4:45 pm

Well apparently I never did an introduction when I first found this site.

I live in Dallas Texas and get around DFW quite a bit, chances are if you live in the area, you might have seen me zip by.

My name is Tommy (Texan01) and I have owned two G3s in my life, a sky blue '76 Malibu Classic sedan that my parents bought new and shortly afteward I got my first ever ride in a car in that one. We kept it for 24 years. I got it when I was 16 and drove it for 8 years from '92 to 2000. It unfortunately went away after losing a wheel on the road due to metal fatigue, it also needed complete floors, complete interior, quarters and was not very good on mileage for going to college.

Fast forward 10 years, I now own a metallic green '77 Malibu Classic that I bought for $300, a new transmission, major tune up and suspension rebuild, it's been a terrific car again. It's got somewhere less than about 160,000 miles on it. The previous owner never fixed the broken speedo cable and gear and it read 10486 so who knows. I know it has an unmolested 305, factory exhaust right down to the pellet catalytic converter and cold A/C.

Long term goals with it is to build more power into the 305, re-gear the rear end and swap in an overdrive transmission, fix the interior and toss some paint at it, along with fixing a minor rust hole right behind the rear door and wheel on the drivers side.

An action shot!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=9230763&l=fe2f8acf10&id=576349166
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=9256032&l=255671f052&id=576349166 if you squint you can see it. I put a '76 grill on it as I like them better, but the 77 grill is in perfect shape.

LIMEY EDIT :


Howdy from Dallas!  207969_10150268965009167_576349166_9230763_6289880_nHowdy from Dallas!  206844_10150270825154167_576349166_9256032_4590082_n


Last edited by texan01 on Mon Apr 18, 2011 5:15 pm; edited 2 times in total

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Post by Limey SE Mon Apr 18, 2011 4:52 pm

ha ha Welcome aboard Tommy LOL its kewl welcome


and green you better put some pics up LOL

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Post by texan01 Mon Apr 18, 2011 5:08 pm

fixed my link, I've yet to successfully post a picture in many forums. Funny considering I work in IT

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Post by 74MonteCarlo Mon Apr 18, 2011 5:13 pm

Nice! Love seeing a 4 door once in a while!

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Post by texan01 Mon Apr 18, 2011 6:08 pm

Thanks! fortuneately it doesn't need too many specific 4 door parts, a couple trim pieces that I can either patch together or find something somewhere for it. Back when I had the 76, parts were not really available nor was the web all that useful for finding stuff.

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Post by JB2wheeler Mon Apr 18, 2011 9:11 pm

Welcome Tommy. It is nice to see someone from the younger generations into 70s cars. My HHR is about the same color as your Malibu. JB
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Post by 1973montec Mon Apr 18, 2011 9:18 pm

Welcome
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Post by bigredlaguna Mon Apr 18, 2011 11:01 pm

Howdy Texan! The previous owner of my car lived in Dallas for a while and had the car painted the current color there.
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Post by 74chick Wed Apr 20, 2011 1:41 am

Welcome

I will keep a eye out for 4 door parts for you and the others with 4 doors & wagons.
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Post by texan01 Wed Apr 20, 2011 10:57 pm

JB2wheeler wrote:Welcome Tommy. It is nice to see someone from the younger generations into 70s cars. My HHR is about the same color as your Malibu. JB

thanks!, your HHR is faded metallic green? Mine's so faded it's more silver with a green tint, than metallic green now. the original paint has held up ok, other than the obvious 34 years of sitting in a car port (best guess) There's a big spot on the hood that has been rubbed through to the primer, it's got some bare metal spots on the the back, and a quarter sized rust hole in the rocker below the quarter window on the drivers side, If I put the rocker trim back on, you'll never see it.

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Post by texan01 Wed Apr 20, 2011 11:11 pm

Thanks ya'll!

When I got the car nearly two years ago, it was running on 7 cylinders, 1/2 a carb and had no 3rd gear or reverse. It had a plug wire off the distributor, and a can of marvel mystery oil losened at stuck lifter and it ran pretty smooth after that. 6 quarts of transmission fluid got the trans working ok, but 3rd and reverse were iffy at times. Sometimes it would bind up and start in 3rd gear, and just lock up if you'd put in low. It finally fried the original transmission coming back from a road trip, and lasted till I got within 1/2 mile from home. I drove that last bit in reverse as that seemed to work perfectly! I swapped in the 350 from the 76.

I had to replace the HEI as it had a frozen advance, a new timing chain since the factory original finally lost all its nylon teeth. I replaced almost all the original gaskets since it was a grease pit due to all the leaks. I've swapped out the working original AM radio with an Delco shaft AM/FM cassette out of an early '80s LeSabre, and the stereo mount for the front speakers from the 76. I left the AM radio in it for as long as I could stand it, but there's not much to listen to on AM here.

I put a new front end under it since the bushings had long since rotted away, it has a 96 Caprice 9c1 rear sway bar, and the original front bar. This setup actually makes it fairly neutral, it still understeers thanks to the tall and narrow 215-70-15 whitewalls.

I've racked up 15,000 miles on it since I got it and I've won several awards at car shows with it, lots of people like it just the way it is, unrestored original.

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