1973 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu SS454 wagon: It hauls—and hauls

For most classic car fans, a Chevelle SS or Malibu SS isn’t exactly an uncommon sight at shows and auctions. As one wag once joked, Chevy built 63,000 in 1967 and only 130,000 survive today. But how about a wagon? Yes. One was made—for only one year—and last year when I posted a photo of one on a ’70s car group page, one armchair expert insisted that it was simply a Malibu wagon with a 454 and someone just tacked the emblems on.

I get the same thing when I discuss the 1965 Fleetwood 75 (“It’s a ’64; the ’65 was a totally different body!”) and the 1959–60 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham (“It’s just a ’60 or ’61 regular Cadillac!”). Even when I post a picture from the brochures, it tends to fall on deaf ears (or eyes). People love their preconceived notions, that’s for sure.

As many of you undoubtedly know, in 1973 GM completely redesigned its A-body intermediate cars. Everything was new, convertibles were no more, and pillarless two-door hardtops were replaced with pillared “Colonnade” styling. It was very modern for the time, despite the shrieking from those who adored the 1968–72 midsizers. But that’s a story for another time—though I do have photos of a spectacularly original bronze ’72 Chevelle two-door hardtop I need to write about soon.

At any rate, somehow along with the myriad of new mid-size cars, was a peculiar new model. For while the SS coupe continued to be available, albeit in an all-new body, somehow there was now an SS package available for the Malibu wagon. Why? Who knows. Maybe it came up during a three-martini lunch. Maybe some product planner said, “Hey, let’s make the SS available on the wagon with a 454 and see if we sell any!” Perhaps it was the same guy who decades later said, “Psst, hey, put a Corvette engine in the Cadillac CTS wagon. And give it a stick.” I love that guy … if he exists!

It wasn’t prominently advertised, either in the showroom brochures or in advertisements. The first I heard of this model was back in the late ’90s. I had recently acquired some 1973 Chevrolet wagon brochures from a very nice eBay seller, Bill Hilyard. I bought a lot of brochures from him back then.

The ’73 brochure touted that the Chevelle and Malibu wagons were “brand new, all with a hatchback tailgate … They’re smooth and quiet too, with a new cushioning system and precision tuning of the front and rear suspension.” And as I was flipping through the brochure (which I still have, and which assisted in the writing of this article), I found way in the back, listed among the available options, confirmation of the SS package for station wagons.

As you can see above, it was largely a décor package, though all wagons got a V-8 from the get-go; there would be no SS wagons with the “Turbo-Thrift” 250-cubic-inch six-cylinder, thank heavens.

The most noticeable features were the contrasting paint on the lower body, blacked out grille, and of course, the SS emblems. The standard engine was the tried-and-true 350, but if you had the cash and could afford the gas, you could get the 454 V-8 and surprise the other dads in their Country Squires and Grand Safaris.

Finding production information on these special wagons is not particularly easy. I have copies of both American Cars 1945–75 and Chevrolet: The Complete History, but I came up empty. However, I did discover that in 1973, a total of 28,647 Chevelle Malibu SSs were built, of which 2500 had the 245-horsepower, 454-cu-in V-8. Logically, most of the SSs sold were coupes and not the elusive station wagon.

Fortunately, my friend Sean Flanagan saw my post awhile back on this car and referred me to a link to G3GM.com, which provided the numbers I sought: A total of 1432 SS wagons were built, with a breakdown of 1361 with the 350 V-8 and a mere 71 with the 454. Yes. she is a rare birdie.

I wasn’t sure of the color, but fortunately my Chicago pal Jim Smith worked at a big Chevy dealership in the ’70s when he was in high school, prepping new cars and the like. He identified the color as Chamois. As he related, “That’s the name Chevrolet called it. We took a few ’73s in on trade that came in that color.” It’s a very ’70s color, to be sure!

Jim was also kind enough to provide some pictures of another ’73 SS wagon he had. While the Chamois one is oh-so-’70s, colorwise, I love the red with the contrasting dark silver, even though red is such a cliché on Chevy SS models.

I found it interesting that both the car I photographed and the one Jim shot had the third-row seat. It seems kind of counter-intuitive that one would order an SS package for the wagon and then order the third seat as well. Apparently, for dads who wanted to haul—and haul!

I spotted the Chamois example at an AACA regional show last August at Bend XPO in East Moline, Illinois. The show didn’t officially open until Saturday, but our office closes at 1 p.m. every Friday, and I was looking for something to do. It was a warm but rather gray day, and I didn’t feel like making a gin and tonic and reading a novel on my postage-stamp deck without sun, so I stopped by my friend KV Dahl’s garage, and he was showing some cars to another car guy, Dave Mills.

As we were chatting, KV said, “Hey, go on over to the show, no one will mind.” So after ogling several of KV’s classics, I said my goodbyes, and snuck into the show venue.

Unfortunately, I was only there about a half hour before they started turning off the lights as folks finished detailing their classics for the show. I didn’t have much time to gawk at all the beautiful cars, but I covered as much ground as I could. There were many nice cars—including several others that I’ll be writing about at some point, including a fantastic “flat-top” 1959 Impala Sport Sedan—but I was pleasantly shocked to see this SS wagon.

I knew they existed, but I’d never seen one, ever. It was so cool! Practical, yet crazy. Just my style. Of course, I returned the following afternoon with the rest of the showgoers and took many, many photos. The SS wagon was such a cool idea. Sure, it didn’t sell, and today most people don’t even realize these were ever made. It’s good to know that stuff like this was once put on the market. Just do it. No focus groups, just offer i,t and see what happens. I love it.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.