“Well she lives in the city but she only comes out at night
She wears a black suede jacket and shades to keep out the light“
As we enter the final stage of our “late stage republic” and watch the remnants of our culture collapse around us, we can only marvel at how cool things used to be. Your journey into such 20th century archaeology can be greatly enhanced by Crypt Records and their awesome series of compilations called “Back From The Grave,” which reproduce some of the most raw, obscure rockers from the “garage rock era” of the mid-1960’s. A perfect example of this is provided by a previously lost lo-fi recording laid down by an essentially unknown band called The Retreds in Acton, Massachusetts sometime around the year that today’s feature car was built: both converge here with the name “Black Mona Lisa.”
By now, anyone reading this blog can clearly see that I have an affinity for the 1966 and ’67 GM A-body cars, and by extension the superb Model Motoring bodies that represent them; at this point I have acquired well over half a dozen of each of these models, the most recent being this one, for which I paid a premium: a solid black ‘67 Chevy Malibu SS.
I had no idea this car even existed in this color until recently, when I saw one for sale from one my favorite vendors that still seem to have an adequate-albeit dwindling-supply of these out-of-production bodies. Even so, I balked at the price being asked for this black version until one day I happened to be searching their wares and saw the listing reading “LAST ONE.” This is a marketing ploy, of course, to activate the “FOMO” in potential buyers, which is why I’m a little embarrassed to admit worked on me this time. But only a little: truth is, I wanted this car, I had the money, so having passed on it multiple times in the last few months, that little incentive was the shove I needed to finally push the button.
Several of the black cars I have added to my sports and muscle car fleets got mounted on colored chassis because I always feel like a black car on a black chassis is just too much black, but in this case I decided to embrace the darkness; mounted on a “standard” but brand new and thus UBER fast Ultra G chassis, this Malibu is fitted with Vincent “American Racing” 5-spoke wheels and a set of Road Race Replicas low-profile silicone tires. The rest speaks for itself, I would say!
To say this car is a tough customer is an understatement, for while this is a Malibu SS, it is not an SS396. Nope. This one is a 427! There never was an “official” factory-built 1967 SS 427 Chevelle; the 427 was always installed by the dealer or under a Central Office Production Order (COPO). Chevelles with factory-installed 427s displayed no Super Sport identification. But this one does, because that’s what Roland “Merlin” Morganthaler, a native of Boston, put there. Salvaging the powerplant from a wrecked 1969 L-88 Corvette, the “Rat motor” is fitted with a Crane High Intensity hydraulic cam; 1.7:1 roller-tip rocker arms to operate the Corvette valves, and TRW double springs work on the ported and polished heads. The engine is topped with a Holley 750cfm double pumper four-barrel that feeds an Edelbrock Performer RPM aluminum intake. A Muncie M20 4-speed and GM clutch bolted a Hurst Competition Plus shifter spin a 12-bolt rear end housing packed with a Moroso Brute Strength differential and 3.90:1-ratio gears, and disc brakes have been fitted at all corners.
“Merlin” doesn’t talk much, preferring to let his exhaust do the talking. Due to his Massachusetts roots, he is liable to point anyone asking questions about his car to this obscure record: “Well she looks pretty good, but don’t dare stare her in the eyes.”
This looks like not only a great car post but also a terrific music recommendation! Your pairing of music and cars is always stellar!