I recently bought a basket case '71 Malibu mainly for parts. I've been checking it out a little closer and I'm stump on what this thing may have started life as.

First of all the VIN starts with 134. So I guess it was a base model Chevelle without the Malibu Trim.

It has a factory installed Posi 12-bolt with the frame braces, but no boxed arms.

It has the 3/8" fuel line. I started thinking maybe a Heavy Chevy, but, it has a sweep dash.

I guess you could have ordered the 12 bolt in any model, and I know tht the fuel line could be had with a small block. It just seemed wierd to see those items on a 134 car.

There was no interior, so, no way to tell anything from that.

Also, the trim tag was gone, so, no help there either.

I thought the SS dash was only an option in a heavy and the sweep was standard. I starting to think that all A-bodies with a 12 bolt had the frame braces.

In '71 you got a 12-bolt with any 4-barrel engine, from the 270-horse 350 up. Only if you got F41 suspension did you get the boxed arms, although the arms available today through GM are all boxed. F41 was standard on an SS but also available in '71 on a non-SS if it had the Turbo-Jet 400 (i.e. 402) which was the top engine in a non-SS.

The rear could be a stock original piece to the car, but it could have been swapped in by someone. Hey, you've got a 12-bolt.

I'm not up on the fuel lines for '71, but I do know that the vapor return was used then. Um, did the car ever have factory a/c?

frame braces mean nothing, seen them on plain cars.

Sweep dash was stanard in all Chevelle and Malibu except SS. HC did not come with a round pod dash unless you ordered RPO U14.