A dream that a lot of people have, is to one day sell their home and other possessions when they retire, so they can travel the country by RV. Traveling the country in an RV usually means that you are towing a little car around to use as a driver, and while most pick a small, late-model car to hook behind the RV, that is not the route that the Fords took when they retired.

Lynn Ford and his wife Linn drive across the country in their motor home, with a beautiful 1966 Chevrolet Malibu in tow. Although it is one of the cleanest Malibus that we’ve seen used as a daily driver, you’d hardly believe us if we told you it had over 300,000 miles on it. The car has traveled coast-to-coast five times.

“I’ve put a lot of miles on this car,” Lynn explained. “We tow it about 5,000 to 6,000 miles a year, and drive it an additional 12,000 miles a year.” The couple has owned the car for twelve years, and actually bought it to replace a 1965 Impala that they used to tow behind the RV.

A few years ago, during one trip that took them through Ohio, the Impala was hit, and the rear 1/4-panel was severely damaged. They took it to a body shop for repairs, but it wasn’t long before the body filler started to crack, and it needed work again. Long story short, they decided to take the car off the road, and do a full-blown restoration. As you can imagine, completing a restoration while you travel is tough. Right now the car is in storage, but Lynn works on it when he gets home, and it has been a continuous project for the last twelve years. But, with the Impala out of commission, they needed something to travel with them.

“That’s why we got the Malibu,” Lynn explained. “We wanted to get something to drive while we were restoring the Impala.” The Malibu had a 327 cubic-inch engine and three-speed manual transmission when they bought it, but shortly after that, Lynn installed in a Muncie four-speed transmission behind the small-block. The engine ran fine until it blew a head gasket three years ago while they were in Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana. It was time for a new engine, so Lynn ordered a 350 cubic-inch crate engine from Chevrolet. “It’s not a super high-performing engine,” Lynn explained. “but it gets about 300 horsepower.”

When the couple bought the car, the front end had been lowered, and only allowed about 1-inch of suspension travel before it would hit the ground. Lynn remedied that by rebuilding the suspension with OE-style equipment. The car is still a work in progress, and Lynn is thinking the next step is new paint. “It will always need work,” Lynn said.

With so many miles of use, it also received some attention on the inside. Lynn replaced the front seat when the springs started to go bad, and has since reupholstered the seat as well. The new bench came out of a ’67 Impala, which was a strategic move. “The seats in the ’67 Impala are safer than the ones that came in the ’66,” he explained. “They have the locking seat back, so if you get into an accident it won’t fold up on you.”

Lynn’s wife Linn was in charge of how the car sounded, so she got to decide on the exhaust system. “I got to decide what it sounded like,” Linn said. “and I wanted it just loud enough so that people would know I was coming.”

As far as tow vehicles go, this would definitely be our top pick. What do you think? What would you tow behind your motorhome?