I grew up in California and, before moving my ass to New York, the two cars I and every other teenage boy desired above all else were the '68 Chevy Malibu or the '72 Chevy Nova. The Malibu was even memorialized in the Cake song Stick Shifts and Safety Belts. I preferred the four on the floor model for the sheer control and off the line speed... but the automatics were good too.
Both were coups with front and back bench seats that could have fit six people comfortably or eight with a little squeezing. They also averaged 15 MPG on their best days assuming a rebuilt engine. Blowers and horsepower modifications would greatly reduce this number but they had huge tanks.
The '68 GTO (or Goat) was also a classic but harder for a teenager to get their hands on to fix up in the mid-90's (when I was going through my car lust). By then, most of the yuppie dad's had bought them up for their weekend projects. But it was memorialized in the movie My Science Project, a Fisher Stevens classic.
In the west, the Malibu and Nova can be had for as little as $5K depending upon its condition.
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Cars I Wanted While Living In California
Date: 2008-01-21 03:32 pm (UTC)I grew up in California and, before moving my ass to New York, the two cars I and every other teenage boy desired above all else were the '68 Chevy Malibu or the '72 Chevy Nova. The Malibu was even memorialized in the Cake song Stick Shifts and Safety Belts. I preferred the four on the floor model for the sheer control and off the line speed... but the automatics were good too.
Both were coups with front and back bench seats that could have fit six people comfortably or eight with a little squeezing. They also averaged 15 MPG on their best days assuming a rebuilt engine. Blowers and horsepower modifications would greatly reduce this number but they had huge tanks.
The '68 GTO (or Goat) was also a classic but harder for a teenager to get their hands on to fix up in the mid-90's (when I was going through my car lust). By then, most of the yuppie dad's had bought them up for their weekend projects. But it was memorialized in the movie My Science Project, a Fisher Stevens classic.
In the west, the Malibu and Nova can be had for as little as $5K depending upon its condition.