Difference between revisions of "Chevrolet Malibu"

 

 

'''Iraqi Taxi'''<br />In 1981, [[General Motors Canada|General Motors of Canada]] in [[Oshawa]] produced a special order of 25,500 4-door Malibu sedans for [[Saddam Hussein]]'s [[Iraqi]] government The deal was reportedly worth well over 100-million dollars to GMCL. These special order Malibus carried the unusual combination of GM's lowest-power carburated V6, the {{convert|110|hp|abbr=on}} {{convert|229|CID|L|1|adj=on}} engine mated to 3-speed tranmission with a unique on-the-floor stick shifter. All of the cars were equipped with an all-white exterior, air conditioning, heavy duty cooling systems, tough upholstery and {{convert|14|in|mm|sing=on}} stamped steel wheels with "baby moon" hubcaps and trim rings.<br /> However only 13,000 units ever made it to Iraq, with the majority of the cars becoming taxis in [[Baghdad]] (once the cab-identifying orange paint was added to the front & rear fenders).However in 1982 with the balance of ~12,500 additional Malibus either sitting on a dock in [[Halifax Regional Municipality|Halifax]] or awaiting port shipment in [[Oshawa]], where they were built, the Iraqis suddenly cancelled the order.<ref>http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F00E3D71439F933A05750C0A964948260</ref> Excuses reportedly included various "quality concerns" including the inability of the local drivers to shift the finicky Saginaw [[manual transmission]].This issue was eventually identified as being due to an apparent clutch release issue that eventually required on-site retrofitting by a crew of Canadian technicians sent to Iraq to support the infamous "Recall in the Desert".Later speculation was that the Iraqis were actually forced to back out for financial reasons, due to their escalating hostilities with [[Iran]] requiring the immediate diversion of funds to support the ramping Iraqi war effort.Then GM of Canada President [[Donald Hackworth]] was initially quoted as stating GMCL intended still try to sell the Malibus overseas in other Middle East markets- however in the end, the orphaned "Iraqi Taxi" Malibus were all sold to the Canadian public at the greatly reduced price of approx. $6,800 [[Canadian dollar|CAD]] and over the years have acquired a low-key 'celebrity' status.