This Vehicle Was Sold

In 1980, at a time when the United States was on good terms with Saddam Hussein in Iraq, he ordered from General Motors, 25,000 Malibu's with unique specifications, a bit different than the Malibu's sold in the United States. The vehicles were manufactured in Canada (only), metric (speedometer in Kilometers), 6 cylinder, 3 speed stick shift (on the floor) and a heavy duty undercoating and cooling system as the cars were untented for use in the Iraqi desert, and heavy duty cloth interiors. To make a long story short, 20,000 were shipped to Iraq before Saddam Hussein canceled the remaining 5,000 due to a border conflict with Iran and he was running short on funds. The last 5,000 had already been put on-board a ship, ready to sail, in Oshawa, Canada. The vehicles were then off-loaded from the ship and literally sat on the dock warehouse for nearly a year until GM decided what to do with the Malibu's.

Because the vehicles were not originally intended for the North American market, it was decided by GM to sell the remaining 5,000 only in Canada for $6,500 a piece. Before they could be sold, they had to meet current standard. Seat belts were added, an adapter was added to the gas tank funnel to restrict on unleaded gas pump nozzles and a clear plastic label was added to the surface of the gages to should "Unleaded Only". The $6500 price was a tremendous bargain for families wanting a solid inexpensive sedan. Needless to say, it was one of the best sales jobs GM has done, as all 5,000 were sold within the first month.

Over the years, the cars lived out a good life and most seemed to vanish from the Canadian landscape. You can occasionally find one but they are few and far between. Nothing fancy (it did have a AM/FM radio and cassette deck, although the rear seat windows were set in place, with only a small air vent for circulation in the rear.

In researching the vehicle, I found multiple stories on the Internet of how many GM made and how many were shipped and number sold in Canada. Many were copies of somebody's blog, verbatim, which showed 35,000 originally ordered with 5,000 finally sold to Canadians. The figures were off. However, one of the articles I found among the documents which came with the car, is an article written by noted Canadian car columnist, Len Coates, for the Toronto Star. Since his was a review of the vehicle shortly after they became available, I tend to believe his figures more so than others. A reprint of his article is shown below. Further searches of earlier postings show only 25,000 were ordered with 5,000 sold in Canada.

Where did I get mine?

In 2015, one of my fellow workers in Bloomington, Illinois, was being transferred to a new position in Atlanta. I was helping him pack for the move and hauling off some items he didn't want to take with him. When it came to the garage, I noticed he had an older car which seemed to do nothing but collect dust. I asked it he was taking that with him too, at which point, he said no and asked if I wanted it. Apparently, his parents, in Toronto, had originally purchased the vehicle, but used it little. It sat in their garage for many years. He had brought it with him to Bloomington with the idea of fixing it up but never got around to it.

It wasn't until I drove it home and started going through all the documentation that came with it (original sales invoices, etc.), that I first discovered the true history of the Malibu, affectionately known as an "Iraqibu" or "Iraqi Taxi". The body had minimal rust, the engine ran, though a bit rough, and there were only 46,400 KM on the car. Convert that to mile and it amounts to approximately 27,000 miles! I've never really been a car nut in the past, but I figured it would be a good time to take up a new hobby.