Mr. Metallic Posted April 30, 2024 Posted April 30, 2024 I love mid-60's GM styling. I had been after a 64 Malibu for quite some time and finally got one in a trade with my friend Chuck Darnell. This is what I started with. Despite the brushed on house paint (including on the tires ? ) I was excited to have one to work with. This was about 5 years ago, well before Round2 announced they were retooling the kit. I tried stripping the paint with several different methods (Super Clean, 91% Alcohol, Citrus Strip, over cleaner, and lastly Easy Lift Off) Here is where I finally gave up. The black paint that is left is pretty much part of the plastic. Good enough. Once I got it stripped down I was able to evaluate what I had. A good body, with one of the vent window posts missing. However I did not have a rear bumper, so after a fruitless search I started formulating an alternative plan. After seeing a builtup survivor of a 64 Malibu wagon with the custom parts on it I decided to try to track down those parts, including the straight 6 engine. Around the time that Round2 announced their new 64 Mailbu sedan is when I got the wagon custom parts on eBay. I recently decided I should probably try to get this finished before the new kit hits the shelves, so here we go. The 64 Mailbu is a curbside, so in order to add the engine I was going to have to cut open the hood. Easy peasy. But that meant I would also have to add a firewall and radiator support. Thankfully my friend John Berry had a spare 65 wagon body that I was able to secure those items from. Let the cutting begin. To begin I cut away the Malibu hood. Then I cut away the glued in firewall and the molded in rad support from the donor wagon. The firewall was very straightforward to fit, only having to trim away the mounting tabs from the front of the interior tub. The core support required a bit more work, but nothing crazy. I just had to add a flange to the sides made from Evergreen to attach it to the body. And here's the trial fit. Rolled pan is attached and the grille slides right into place. Off to a strong start. This is being built like a person in the mid 60's got their hands on both 64 kits and wanted to build a "full detail" sedan. So the detail level will be equivalent to that. Next up is finding wheels/tires and beginning bodywork. 1
LennyB Posted April 30, 2024 Posted April 30, 2024 Looks like an interesting project. Don't know that I've ever seen that custom gill treatment, it that from an early tooling?
Mr. Metallic Posted April 30, 2024 Author Posted April 30, 2024 (edited) 1 hour ago, LennyB said: Looks like an interesting project. Don't know that I've ever seen that custom gill treatment, it that from an early tooling? The custom parts are from the 64 chevelle wagon, which was modified into the 65 wagon. When they did that they changed the custom parts and deleted the inline 6 too. The 65 is still issued to this day. Edited April 30, 2024 by Mr. Metallic 1
FoMoCo66 Posted April 30, 2024 Posted April 30, 2024 Awesome 60s custom. It would be cool one day to build an annual AMT kit with all the custom parts.
Scott8950 Posted April 30, 2024 Posted April 30, 2024 It's always great to see these old builds get restored....
NitroMarty Posted May 1, 2024 Posted May 1, 2024 It's gonna be cool, Craig... Looking forward to seeing the finished product at the fall Kemps' meet in October! 1
Carmak Posted May 2, 2024 Posted May 2, 2024 So, you ended up with Chuck's nasty green Malibu! You are the perfect person for this. Do you have a plan for the rear? If not, you are welcome to dig through my stash of vintage custom front and rear ends. Craig
Mr. Metallic Posted May 2, 2024 Author Posted May 2, 2024 1 hour ago, Carmak said: So, you ended up with Chuck's nasty green Malibu! You are the perfect person for this. Do you have a plan for the rear? If not, you are welcome to dig through my stash of vintage custom front and rear ends. Craig Haha, you knew of Chucks green Malibu? I appreciate your offer, as always, but the rear pan from the wagon fit pretty well back there, so that's what I'm going with.
Carmak Posted May 2, 2024 Posted May 2, 2024 2 hours ago, Mr. Metallic said: Haha, you knew of Chucks green Malibu? I appreciate your offer, as always, but the rear pan from the wagon fit pretty well back there, so that's what I'm going with. I was at the meeting where he showed it "as a survivor??". I was waiting to see how bad it looked under the paint.
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