Member: Brad Ramey

Car: 1977 Chevelle Malibu

Brad Ramey's '77 Chevelle Malibu

I know a lot of the club members have early model Chevelles, Malibus, and Beaumonts and don’t really include late 70’s models into the “club” so to speak because the “real” Chevelle ended in 1972.

My story is about a late 70’s Chevelle; the last Chevelle ever made. In 1977 Chevrolet decided that it was going to be the last year they made the Chevelle model. OPEC was putting gas prices through the roof and these large gas-eating boats were just not a viable option to families any longer.

So in 1978, we no longer had a Chevelle, we had Chevrolet Malibus; cars that were smaller, had smaller engines, weighed less and fit into the new platform, which also included the Cutlass, Grand Prix, Monte Carlo; the G body.

It was way back in 1984 when I bought my first 1977 Chevelle Malibu Classic. The original owner was a neighbour of my wife’s parents. It was a real nice silver/gray with a dark red half vinyl roof. The interior was impeccable; in fact the back seat was as new because the owner used the vehicle to make sales calls and not for family transportation.

I was more into how the car looked so I never really remembered the mileage it had when I bought it and I can’t remember what it was when I sold it; however, I do remember it had a 305-2bbl. As we all know, the mid to late ‘70’s Chevy 305 wasn’t even good enough to use as a boat anchor, but even with the cam issues, I trudged along and made the car the best looking ‘77 I had ever seen. When I had this car, I lived in Brantford Ontario, a small Southwestern Ontario town people may have heard about because of the Great One. Yes, Wayne Gretzky did not grow up in Edmonton.

Hardly anyone had late model Chevelles in Brantford, however, my car did turn some heads. I gave it a new coat of paint and added some black wall Goodyear Eagle tires on factory rally wheels and wow, she looked great!

After having the car for a few years, my wife began to travel throughout Southwestern Ontario with her job and having 2 cars with no air conditioning was not going to work. We kept the newer ‘84 Mustang and we decided to replace the “old” car with something newer.

This is where I left Chevy and went to an ‘86 Mercury Capri 5.0 litre. An absolutely loaded car; t-tops, power everything and wow, the car was amazingly fast and looked fantastic. Guess what, I missed my Chevelle! I missed the larger car, the nice smooth ride and the aura of having a Chevelle. I recall telling my wife, “If I could find another ‘77 Chevelle, I would buy it in an instance” .

Life took many different roads over the next few years. We had another child and the Fords were getting small. Trying to put a playpen and stroller into a Hatchback was next to impossible let alone trying to remain cool in a 5.0 litre car with a baby seat in the back. We had to make some changes; we got into the family mode and bought a mini-van.

In ‘93, we made a life changing decision to relocate to Winnipeg Manitoba from Brantford. My wife had an excellent opportunity to run a program there and I wanted to pursue other career options, so the move was happening. We arrived in Winnipeg during the first ice storm of the season, late October. Wow, this was going to be a change. We survived our first winter and during the first summer my in-laws came to visit. I was with my family and my in-laws at the local grocery store when I spotted a ‘77 Chevelle Malibu Classic Landau parked in a handicapped-parking stall. Walking up to the car was this little old lady. No kidding, a “Little Old Lady” story, but hey, this one is certified true!!

Wow, this car was great! The paint was dead dull green, but overall the car was in nice shape. I threw my Minivan into park and ran over to the car. The lady jumped in and locked her door. I scared the life out of her. I convinced her to roll the window down to talk to me. I asked if she would be interested in selling the car. “Well, if I had a nickel for every time someone asked me that” was her response.

I asked if I could leave my name and number with her and she said sure. I had no paper so I ripped the corner from a personal cheque with my name; address and telephone number and gave it to her. Nothing much happened until a similar day the following summer. Again I ran up and asked her if she remembered me asking about her car. She told me she had and that the car still wasn’t for sale. She said her son tells her she is too old to drive so maybe next year she will sell the car. Another year went by and still no Chevelle. I did take a test drive in one that another fellow was selling, however, the car just wasn’t right.

I was in the midst of replacing a ‘86 Hyundai that had seen better days with another daily driver. A ‘91 Ford Taurus was in my sights; something for work and family trips. I had taken the Taurus from the dealer for the weekend. I just got home from the dealer and the phone rings. This guy begins by saying, “You don’t know me, but my name is Jack McKay and you approached my mom a couple years ago about buying her car. Well, the doctor took her license and she can’t drive. Do you want to buy it?” Well, now what!!! I asked the price. He told me $4,000.00. I couldn’t afford that much and still buy the Taurus. I know you guys out there are saying a Taurus,NOOOOOOOOOO, don’t do it! I set up an appointment to see the Chevelle Saturday morning at 9:00 AM. I was excited!

I decided to take my 5-year-old son with me to go and see the car. We pulled in the parking lot of this senior’s apartment complex , introduce ourselves and proceded to the underground parking lot. The car had been in storage all winter and was covered in dust and dirt. I opened the door and sat in the driver’s seat. Wow, air conditioning, light package, tilt wheel, power windows, and a back seat that had never been used. I pop the hood; a 350-4bbl with a mere 53,844 original miles! This was in ‘96 and it was a ‘77. I figured it was around 2850 miles per year; a true used for getting groceries only car. I decided to take my 5-year-old son with me to go and see the car. We pulled in the parking lot of this senior’s apartment complex , introduce ourselves and proceded to the underground parking lot. The car had been in storage all winter and was covered in dust and dirt. I opened the door and sat in the driver’s seat. Wow, air conditioning, light package, tilt wheel, power windows, and a back seat that had never been used. I pop the hood; a 350-4bbl with a mere 53,844 original miles! This was in ‘96 and it was a ‘77. I figured it was around 2850 miles per year; a true used for getting groceries only car.

I asked for some information. Her son, Jack, tells me that “Mom” drove the car to his house during the summer and for groceries. She also used to go to the lake a couple times a year, but come October, she parked it in the underground parking and left it until May of the next year. Never winter driven!! It seemed that “Mom” didn’t like Manitoba winters.

I decided to take it for a drive; it took a little to start it and as it fires, a big cloud of black smoke comes from the exhaust. I laughed as I looked at my son in the passenger seat staring at the glove box. Big car huh?? We headed out to the main road where I put the pedal down a little, with a couple of coughs and sputters, the 4 barrel kicked in and we took off. What a sound!!! I have driven a Minivan and a Hyundai for 5 years, so any serious movement felt great.

I arrived at my house with the car and my wife looks at this thing and says I am completely nuts wanting to spend good money on a car like that. Now, my wife is a great person and I love her, but she was thinking of me getting a ‘69 Chevelle SS Rag, not some big old relic from the 70’s. Hey, I would love that, but it would be a little more than 4 grand. She goes on to say that we need a daily driver and this wasn’t going to cut it, however, if you can get both cars for this amount of money, then so be it. I took the car back and asked once again, how much. Again he tells me 4 grand. I can’t believe I did this, but I offer him 2. Needless to say, he was not impressed. I asked if he would talk to his Mom and let me know. He told me to call him when I had a more reasonable offer. Now what can I do? I want the car, but I can’t do both and I don’t want to use it as a daily driver. I sweet-talk my wife and she raises the bar another grand. Well, my thoughts are, “Hey, maybe I can work with this”. The same evening he calls me and says he talked to his mom and since I was the first person who showed serious interest, she was willing to take 3 grand.

I set up another test drive where I can have it checked by a mechanic. Well, $20 bucks later, the mechanic tells me it needs a muffler for a safety check. How can I negotiate a lower price with that??? I take the car back to Jack to start talking again. By the time he got home from work, I was on the second beer that his wife had offered me. We sit over our beer as I tell him it needs some work for safety and will he take $2,350. He puts his elbows on his knees, leans forward and says “do you like the car?” I answer “Yes, I do.” He leans further and says, “You want the car’’? I replied, “Yes I do”!! He says, “It’ll be 3 grand!!!” Damn!! I wrote the cheque right there and later that night went to buy the Ford.

The car now has 63,094 miles and has still never been winter driven. The average yearly mileage has dropped to approximately 2427 miles per year. The Chevelle does need some work. The paint is absolutely dead and there is some surface rust on the rear quarters and some under the vinyl. It remains all original except for a couple of mechanical goodies. I will eventually get the car painted, install a new vinyl roof, upgrade the 350 and along with a nice set of 8-inch Corvette Rally wheels, I can cruise in style with a car that everyone forgot was the Last Chevelle!!

Out of 238,216 Chevelles made in 1977 only 37,215 were Malibu Classic Landaus.

Brad’s ’77 Malibu Classic Landau is equipped with the following


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