Malibu Monday: Recapping the 1965 Malibu SS Project Thus Far

The crew members of American Modern’s The Build have been working their butts off for over a year on their 1965 Malibu SS project car. Though the classic Chevy still has a ways to go yet, the crew has made huge strides towards having a fully built resto-mod that they can be proud of. So, we figured we’d recap just how far the crew and their car have come since the very beginning. Check out the progression below and be sure to catch up on all the Malibu Mondays you’ve missed!

Check Out the Top 10 Malibu Mondays Here:

When we first introduced you to the American Modern project car, it was in very bad shape. The car came into the possession of the American Modern crew after it had had an unfortunate run-in with a brick wall, messing up the car’s front end, pushing the engine out of whack and tweaking the rest of the drivetrain. The car also had some other body damage, interior work and other odds and ends that needed to be tackled.

To get the project rolling, Claims Specialist Rick Drewry headed the overlooking and tear-down of the entire car. As luck would have it, many components on the Malibu were good enough to be saved, whether they were in useable condition or in need of minor repairs. One thing that couldn’t be salvaged, however, was the frame. For this, American Modern turned to a donor GTO that had suffered complete damage in a fire.

Fast forward a month or so, and the American Modern crew had torn most of the car down to its bare bones, including gutting the interior, and were working on separating the car’s body shell from its damaged frame. Next came massive amounts of frame work and then a full sandblast of the body cavity.

Pulling the engine off the frame and checking it out came next in the project order.

To help figure out exactly what the engine needed and have it rebuilt properly, Drewry turned to Smyth Automotive. In their care, the Malibu’s engine was checked over, cleaned, reworked and put back together.

Next in the lineup of things to do was body work. From minor rust repair to total re-skinning of the rear quarters, much of the Malibu’s body was retouched in some way. Dents were pulled, panels were straightened and even the interior framework was addressed and corrected.

Once the vast majority of the body work was taken care of, the American Modern crew moved on to mocking up a rolling chassis for the car, tearing down and cleaning the Malibu’s Muncie transmission and putting the engine on the frame- a huge accomplishment considering how far the car has come.