I have what i believe to be a 1971 chevelle SS i have also been told it is a malibu with the ss package heres the vin 136371L127729 whats the difference.

For 1971, the base Chevelle was called just that, a Chevelle. VINs started with 133xx (6-cyl) or 134xx (V8). Malibus were 135xx and 136xx. The Malibu was an 'upscale' Chevelle much like an Impala or Caprice is an upscale Biscayne. All 69 to 71 SS cars were based on the Malibu but there's nothing in the VIN or on the trim tag (except Canadian cars) that denote the SS option. From 65 to 68, the SS was a separate model (137xx and 138xx) and 64s were 457xx and 458xx.

Your VIN shows a 71 Malibu built in Van Nuys (Los Angeles) and only a build sheet, POP, some type of paperwork, or a matching numbers big block will tell you if it's a real SS.

Just a clarification. An oversight (I'm sure) in Dale's explanation.

In 1971 a Chevelle Malibu SS option could be ordered with an optional small block V8 (not a 307 as it was not optional, it was the base engine in the V8 Malibu model), no longer was the big block the mandatory engine like is was since 1966.

And even one more tidbit: in 1969 the SS396 package was available on the 300 Deluxe (2-door post body, not a hardtop). The 300 did not receive the Malibu trim even when gussied up with the SS package.

Some people use Chevelle and Malibu interchangeably and that's technically not correct. The line is CHEVELLE, one of the models in that line is MALIBU. For model years 1964-1972 all Malibus are Chevelles, but not all Chevelles are Malibus.

And then, later in the 70s, the term Chevelle was completely dropped and it was just a Malibu.
Similarly, the Chevy II came out in 62. The upscale option was the NOVA. Several yrs later (after the body change of 68), Chevy II was dropped, and it was just NOVA.

So, I guess depending on your age, you came to know them originally as a Chevelle, or, if you are somewhat younger, you came to know them as Malibu. In the first years, there was the Chevelle Malibu SS, then Malibu was dropped and the SS became a Chevelle SS. I think 74 was the last year of an SS, and after that it was just Malibu or Malibu Classic.

Hi THANK YOU ALL I did this for two reasons, One I wanted to know the terms for myself, and second to prove to someone else that if you ask the specific question like what is the difference between chevelle and malibu you will get alot of some what different answers that basically say the same thing depending on how you interpret them. would this be a correct? again it was fun and thankyou, Jim

and also the 69 yenko chevelles were actually trimmed like a malibu not a chvelle so we should start calling them yenko malibus hahahah same with the copo 427s too i believe

Oh boy yencos copco another can of worms there hahahaha

1969 Yenko and COPO Chevelles had all SS 396 body trim except for the SS 396 emblems.