At $11,999, Would You Get Your Ricky Bobby On In This 1977 Chevy Malibu?

Bobby Allison holds the NASCAR record for most consecutive races in which he led at least one lap. Today’s Nice Price or No Dice Chevy is a tribute to that ‘Coke Machine’ car in which Allison set the record. Let’s see if this Malibu’s price tag will set the record for good deals.

Racing Tech 5 | Nascar Garage 56

Trademark laws have been established to ensure the integrity of brands and reduce consumer confusion brought about by similarly named products serving specific categories. Those laws don’t, however, extend carte blanche for brands across all categories. That’s why the 2006 Dodge Magnum SRT-8 we looked at yesterday shares its name with both a condom brand and a malt liquor best savored out of a discrete paper bag. There was little confusion regarding our Magnum’s $14,999 price. Despite the car’s seeming decent condition and having well over 400 horsepower under its hood, few of you found that tenable, marginalizing the Magnum in a 72 percent No Dice loss.

At the 1979 Daytona 500, eager spectators filled the stands expecting to see a fight, but then a race broke out. Or maybe I have that backward. What happened was that Donnie Allison—Bobby’s brother—was running in the lead, with Cale Yarborough hot on his heels in second. On the final lap, Yarborough made a move to steal the lead by coming in low on the inside. Allison wasn’t having any of that, cutting off Yarborough’s Oldsmobile with his own and trading paint until both drivers were caught in a slide that took them up into the wall and then back down across the track, digging into the infield grass. Mere seconds after both cars were culled from contention, Richard Petty flew past and on to win the race. Donnie’s brother Bobby came in mid-pack and, wanting to give his brother a lift back to the pits, stopped at the wreck in the middle of his cool-down lap. Yarborough, possibly rattled by the wreck and definitely angry from being denied at least a second-place finish, mistook Bobby for the instigator of the crash and attacked him with his helmet, drawing blood. The helmet gave way to fists in a brawl that Bobby Allison would later claim he won, saying that Yarborough was “beating his face on my fist.”

For most people, the Daytona 500 fight will probably be the most memorable aspect of Bobby Allison’s NASCAR career, although as a racer, Allison can tout many more notable and less contentious achievements. Today, he’s what we might call a living legend to those who follow NASCAR. He’s considered a founding member of the “Alabama Gang and was a 2011 inductee into the NASCAR Hall of Fame honoring his long and successful career. Is he famous enough, however, to warrant a tribute car for the street?

That’s just what this 1977 Chevy Malibu purports to be. Decked out in livery resembling Allison’s “Coke Machine” racer of the mid-1970s, this Colonnade Coupe certainly looks the part, and presents as a total time warp to an era when NASCAR racers hewed more closely to their street kin than they do today.

Like the track version, this Landau-roofed Malibu is V8-powered. That’s a 170-horsepower 350 SBC which is mated to a standard three-speed automatic with a column shift. The car is dealer-offered, and it would be nice if that dealer had offered more info in the ad as to the car’s history and condition. Instead, it just claims the car to be a “Fun little cruise night driver,” and boasts that it “gets a lot of attention.”

It does look pretty good both inside and out—if you jones for a NASCAR wet dream—and rolls on wholly appropriate steel wheels mounted with Goodyear Eagles. The only issue seems to be the saggy headliner in the cabin which probably isn’t that big a deal. Speaking of big deals, check out how long this coupe’s doors are. Each is so big that, to be accessible, the lock button is mounted halfway along the top. At the back end, there’s an ashtray that serves rear seat smokers.

Bucket seats lend a bit of sportiness to the car and the color-coordinated interior is spot-on for its era. Heck, there are even the wonderful crotch coolers for both bucket occupants. The ad can’t be bothered to post the actual mileage, listing it as 123456 but thankfully does note that the title is clean. The price tag for this tribute car is $11,999.