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I've had three of GM's downsized intermediates...an '80 Malibu coupe, '82 Cutlass Supreme coupe, and '86 Monte Carlo coupe. None of them were what I'd call horrible, either. The panel gaps were a bit tighter than my '76 LeMans, and I don't remember them being bad, at the time. But I have a feeling that,now that I have an eye for it, I'd notice them! The downsized cars definitely felt flimsier, but when you consider GM was even more extreme in jettisoning the weight from them than they were the B/C bodies, I guess that's to be expected. I do remember the Malibu and Monte Carlo both had padded dashes that cracked, horribly. I don't think the Cutlass's dash cracked, but if my memory is serving me right, its dash was a more rugged, leathery-texture material. My grandmother's '85 LeSabre had the same texture, as did every Mopar R-body I've had, and my '89 Gran Fury. That stuff seems less prone to cracking.
My '76 Grand LeMans has the stuff that feels like it would crack, but it hasn't. However, the padding on the LeMans doesn't go all the way to the windshield like it did with the Malibu and Monte Carlo. There's a metal (or might just be plastic) piece that sits on top of the dash, between the padding and the windshield, and this might be what makes the difference.
One thing that I found a bit surprising, too, is that despite being a larger car, the '76 LeMans doesn't really feel any more cumbersome than those downsized cars did. Maybe it's because there's really not *that* big of a difference in wheelbase? 112" versus 108.1"? In overall length, the LeMans is 208", while the Malibu was only 192.7". But I think the Monte and Cutlass were around 200-202". The LeMans also has 225/70/R15 tires on Rally wheels that I think are 7" wide, whereas those downsized cars just had 14" rims. The Cutlass, at least, had Olds Rally wheels, which were probably wider than normal.
Forgetting a lot, but a super clean 70ish corvette convertible in red, and a factory 5 cobra coupe replica.
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You comments about the '76 LeMans not feeling cumbersome rang true with me as well. They were really nice-riding and handled well. Thinking about it I remembered that in '83 or '84 I took a vacation road trip in it. I remember I gave a co-worker a ride to her parents home on the way (they were in New Brunswick) and carried on from there. But the damndest thing is that I can't recall what my destination was! Probably a shopping trip to Freeport Me. but I have little if any recollection of it other than when driving home on the expressway I narrowly avoided a speeding ticket while being in a pack of cars pushing 80mph. I dropped out just before a rise, and on the other side was a platoon of RCMP cars reeling in speeders. But that speaks to how good a highway car it was.
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Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-2021 Sahara 4xe-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
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Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
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2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Blue is a refreshing change from all of the black Eldo Broughams. When were you at LeMay, benjaminh?
I have never seen in person a '59 Eldorado Brougham, total redesign, but I hope sometime in my life I do.
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It was maroon with a sliver roof I just remember it being very shiny.
Not only the top of the new-for-'77 big Chevys' dashes cracked, but particularly the Malibu and Monte Carlo dashes from '78 to the end get cracks starting in the center and going the whole way down to the radio/heater pod. I do occasionally see some with no cracks.
It's all subjective of course, but I tend to like the Caprice Classic and Malibu Classics of that early-downsizing period best of all of the GM cars of the same wheelbase, due to generally simpler styling and slightly-shorter overall length in some cases, but that is frustrating about the dashes.
Of course, Chevys were built in higher volumes than B-O-P which is a slight turnoff to me, but GM cranked out so many cars back then no one could really say the B-O-P versions were 'rare'.
On the Chevy and Buick '78 midsizes, I like how the upper-center instrument panel was pushed back to the windshield. It's wasted space, but I think it's a slight impression of roominess. The Pontiac and Olds did not do that, and some will say to better looks I know. I like the Chevy's optional cluster with round instruments, three-plane instrument pod, gloss black trim and gold pinstripe outlining...zero woodgrain. That changed in '80.
Andre's post about lengths reminded me that although they were on the same wheelbase, the '78 Monte Carlo was nearly eight inches longer in length than the Malibu--all in the hood, I'm sure (192" vs. 200"). The Malibu looks lean in comparison to my eyes. All that said, I was absolutely stunned when I first saw a new '78 four-door Malibu Classic in two-tone gold and cream, and a '78 Grand Prix in that lightish green metallic, hidden "out back" of a couple dealers. They really did take the downsizing much-further than the '77 full-sizes did.
I've posted this before, but I could like to find this very test car.
http://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/vintage-review-1978-chevrolet-malibu-classic-car-and-driver-goes-crazy-for-f41/
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
With the personal luxury coupes, I wasn't that crazy about any of them, but I think I liked the Cutlass Supreme the best. I think it was the switch back to single headlights on the Chevy/Olds/Buick that made me lose interest in them. Meanwhile, the Grand Prix was just too narrow to pull off that look with the turn signal in between the quad lights, and it looked awkward. Now, when they did the aero refresh for 1981, I thought they all looked good, and by then, I think my favorite was the Grand Prix.
One car I thought looked really nice, was the 1981 LeMans coupe. I really liked the slightly Firebird-esque front end they gave it that year.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2f/1981_Pontiac_Le_Mans_two-door_coupe,_frL.jpg/2880px-1981_Pontiac_Le_Mans_two-door_coupe,_frL.jpg
I agree with @andre1969 that the refresh of the '81 LeMans with that Firebird-inspired front end was my favorite of all. Too bad the engine choices were so anemic by then.
(Firefox is back on strike against images, so the pic was posted using Chrome)
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Nice wheels on that Pontiac, too.
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That front seat in the pic looks like a four-door sedan bench seat.
I thought the '81 Malibu Classic received improved styling in the grille and taillights that year, although the V8 selection was terrible...267 or nothing, and it had a hood ornament which to me didn't go with the trim styling concept. To get the gauges, you had to get the awful expanse of bad (and I mean bad) woodgraining that the Monte Carlo had. The standard dash, with idiot lights, still had gloss black which I like and now included a large expanse of it above the glovebox and heater and radio pod.
I don't know why this bothers me, but for '78 and later, the "Malibu Classic" nameplates outside coupes and sedans had the 'Malibu' above 'Classic', but on wagons the words were right next to each other. The emblem on the dash of all models was the side-by-side design of the wagon exterior nameplates. I don't know why they did this in '79 and later coupes and sedans. The '78 instrument panel has no interior "Malibu Classic" nameplates, which I prefer.
And yeah, that '81 LeMans coupe does look like it has the sedan seat...Photoshop hadn't been invented yet, but you can tell there's some kind of trickery going on there. Airbrushing or something like that. I know in the 1981 Pontiac brochure, for the interior mockup of the 1981 Grand LeMans, it's sporting the C-pillar of the '78-80 style, that had the flip out vent in the roof rather than the back door.
The one brochure I could find is not very helpful, but it appears GM made a product planning decision in '81 to limit what was offered in the LeMans/Grand LeMans. I cannot find anything that indicates you could get a coupe with buckets/console, for instance. Looks like column shift for all.
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Chrysler had a lot of issues back then, but I think sometimes it was little things like that, that were the ultimate slap in the face. I mean, could you imagine if GM offered the same hubcap on an Electra or Ninety-Eight that they did on an Impala?!
https://www.lov2xlr8.no/brochures/chevy/81mal/bilder/5.jpg
Interesting about the buckets/console. If Malibu offered them then it had to be a decision by GM or Pontiac management to deny them to the LeMans customer. Odd.
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@fintail
Larger gallery of pics here
https://oppositelock.kinja.com/2019-mbca-seattle-regional-show-shine-pic-heavy-1837155422
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
The LeMans in general was a fairly poor seller...it never really recovered from the first oil embargo, the way other midsized cars did. And in the wake of that oil crunch, midsized coupe buyers started flocking to the Grand Prix.
Off the top of my head, I think they sold around 100K units for 1975 (and that includes the Grand Am), 96K for 1976, and only 80K for 1977. You'd think the downsized cars would be a hit, but they only managed 120K for 1978, 136K for 1979, and I think the second fuel crisis dropped them down to around 85K or so in 1980 and 1981. And towards the end, coupes were a pretty small portion of an already small number.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
If so, car 3 is an early 50s 220 (a sedan), car 5 is an early 50s 300 (Adenauer). I don't have access to all of my pics here so I don't have individual pics, but here are the cars beside each other at a prior meeting (300 in foreground, then 220):
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When the '73 Grand Am came out, I remember thinking, "Why?". The mags did love it and it was a GM performance sedan with buckets and console. Interior was Grand Prix.
I agree, the '78 Grand Am looked better than the '78 Grand Prix, but I never saw many of that generation of Grand Am at all. I remember seeing Grand Ams of this gen with bench seat and column shift. I'll have to look at the brochure to see if buckets were still available on the sedans then.