15k: Madibu Cow Disease: 1982 Chevrolet Malibu Wagon with LY6 V8 Swap
The Chevy Malibu was a forgettable midsized sedan from the 80s and not worth a second glance…unless someone has shoved a modern fuel injected V8 under the hood, painted the bumpers body colored, tinted the windows and bolted on a set of Torque Thrust style wheels. Today’s feature has been transformed from Maliboring to Malibadass. Find this 1982 Chevy Malibu Wagon with LY6 V8 swap for $13,200 in the middle of Missouri via craigslist.
Wagon…check. De-badged…check. Cool wheels (not too small, not too big)…check. 400+ horsepower fuel injected V8…check. If you can live without shifting your own gears for a minute (we are talking directly to all the 2002Tii-slushbox haters), this is about the most badass 80s car on the block for less than fifteen large.
Pop the hood and you see a thoroughly massaged and ready to rock 6.0 liter Chevy V8 that is not described erroneously as an LS1 (yay for accuracy on the interwebs!!) and is correctly called an LY6 – which came from a 2007+ GMC truck. Original power was rated at 360 horsepower, but with the sellers indicated modifications we’d be shocked if it was less than 400 hp.
A brief glance inside had the staff at DT confused (why such a big brake pedal?) until we realized the left pedal was the foot e-brake as this thing is shifted by an automatic transmission – but a Malibu in any form won’t win corner carving contests – it is a street/strip car at best. This one could strip the street down to dirt with gnarly burnouts.
See a cooler looking Malibu? tips@dailyturismo.com
As a certified (certifiable?) wagon nut whose stable includes two 2005 Legacy GT wagons (one a Stage III 5MT the other a Stage II 5eAT) and a "massaged" '89 Volvo 745 turbo, I whole-heartedly approve of this message. The want is very strong with this one.
Auto makes sense here as the car is built for straight line speed, the BMW is a perfect backroad machine or it was before that no talent a$$ clown ruined it.
Thats one Big Anaconda Induction !
Yup, this would tow our trailer nicely.