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1971 SS-Optioned Malibu

1971 SS Interior

The Z15-optioned Malibu sport coupe, convertible, or sedan pickup offered no more choices or restrictions than a non SS Equipment optioned Malibu sport coupe, convertible, or sedan pickup. A combination cloth and vinyl (or ‘coated fabric’ as GM called it) bench seat was the base bench seat but for an additional $19.00 over the cloth/vinyl bench seat one could order an all vinyl bench seat. Color choices were more limited than previous years with only Black, Light Sandalwood, Dark Saddle, Dark Blue, and Dark Jade in the sport coupe or convertible with Dark Saddle replacing Dark Blue in the sedan pickup.

When a Malibu sport coupe was ordered in one of the six two-tone paint combinations the interior trim color choices were limited based on the particular two-tone color combination.

Bucket seats did not require a console to be ordered, the console was still optional under RPO D55. The majority of buyers ordering bucket seats did opt for the console as well, but not all; 52,638 Malibus were optioned with RPO A51 Strato-Bucket seats but only 46,614 also checked off on the console leaving 6,024 Malibus with bucket seats but no console. When bucket seats and no console was ordered on a Z15 SS Equipment optioned Malibu, the various manual transmissions would still be floor shifted while the two Turbo-HydraMatic automatic transmissions would remain column shifted. The center console was color coordinated with the interior color, i.e., black for black interior, saddle for saddle interior, green for green interior, etc.

The Malibu sport coupe came standard with a cloth/coated fabric bench seat, an all vinyl front bench seat was optional for $19.00. Both the Malibu convertible and sedan pickup only came with all vinyl interiors.

Bucket seats are all vinyl, or "coated fabric." Chevelles did NOT have bright trim along the seat bottom. Buick, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac did, but not Chevelles.

Instruments

The 1971 dash panel was basically the same as 1970 and the Z15-optioned dash panel was different from the remainder of 1971 Chevelles. It gets kind of tricky here on what Chevelle got which dash assembly. All non SS optioned Chevelle and Malibu dashes have a linear (or sweep) speedometer with fuel gauge and warning lamps. All Z15-optioned Malibu dashes have three large round pods with fuel gauge in the leftmost pod, speedometer in the centermost pod and a blank panel in the rightmost pod with warning lamps in three smaller round pods. In addition, the dash carrier face is always black, the steering column is always black, and the SS steering wheel is black while the rest of the dash is color coordinated with the interior color. Any U14 Instrument Panel Gauges-optioned non SS Chevelle series and non SS optioned Malibu series gets the same black dash carrier face but the steering column and steering wheel remain color coordinated with the interior color. All U14-optioned Z15-optioned and non SS-optioned V8 Chevelle sport coupe and V8 Malibu sport coupe, convertible, and sedan pickup gauges put the fuel gauge, electric water temperature gauge and ammeter in the three smaller round gauge pods. The centermost pod still got the speedometer, the leftmost large pod got one of two tachometers based on the engine size, and the rightmost large pod got either a blank panel or an electric clock. The 1971 model year instruments have white numbering and tick marks as opposed to the green numbers and tick marks used in 1970. Even though the electric clock was a separate option under RPO U35, the clock was part of the U14 option.

As noted above the U14 option included one of two tachometers with different redline settings. All small block (307 and both 350) engines would get a redline of 5000 RPM, the LS3 402 and LS5 454 engines would get a redline of 5500 RPM and the U14 option could be ordered on any V8 sport coupe, convertible, or sedan pickup including the Chevelle series V8 sport coupe.

There is no such thing as “SS Gauges.” All SS Chevelles came with a different dash carrier than their non-SS Chevelle counterparts with only the speedometer, fuel gauge, and warning lamps. While the non-SS Chevelle came with a linear, or sweep, speedometer dash, the SS Chevelles came with a three round pod dash carrier. The left pod contained a fuel gauge, the center pod  contained the speedometer, and the right pod has a blank faceplate.

Any V8 Malibu sport coupe, convertible, or sedan pickup could order the Instrument Panel Gauge option under RPO U14. When a non-SS Malibu ordered the gauges, the dash carrier was identical to any Chevelle SS when it was optioned with the gauges. The Special Instrument Panel gauge option included (1) a tachometer in the left large pod, speedometer in the center large pod, a clock in the right large pod, an ammeter in the left small pod above the headlamp switch, a water temperature gauge the top right small pod and the fuel gauge was moved to the lower right small pod.

The Z15 option steering wheel differed from the Malibu steering wheel. All standard Z15 option steering wheels are black where the Chevelle and Malibu series would be color coordinated with the interior trim color. The other difference between the Z15 option steering wheels and others was limited to the script on the right side of the center steering wheel trim; Chevelles have “Chevrolet” script where Z15 -optioned Malibus have “SS” centered in the horizontal trim. The 3-spoke optional steering wheel design was gone and replaced with one of two optional steering wheels under RPO NK2 or RPO NK4. When ordered on a non SS optioned Chevelle both the NK2 and NK4 steering wheel was color coordinated with the interior but, like the standard SS steering wheel, were black when ordered with the Z15 option. The NK4 sport wheel has a bowtie emblem on the horn button. Many have been seen with ‘SS’ in place of the bowtie but these are believed to be from SS optioned Novas and/or Camaros and are not correct on Chevelles.

For more on 1971 Chevelle tachometers, click here.

Steering Wheel - Group 6.513

Both the Malibu and SS shared the same basic steering wheel. While the Malibu steering wheel was color coordinated with the interior and has the script "Chevrolet" on the center bar, all SS steering wheels are black. and have "SS" on the center bar.

The optional RPO NK4 'sport' wheel sports a 4-spoke design with a Chevrolet bowtie center emblem. Some owners swapped the bowtie emblem for an "SS" emblem like those on a 1971 Nova or Camaro, but this is not correct for a Chevelle.

The Z15-optioned Malibu headlamp switch, lighter, and both radio knobs were adorned with international symbols indicating their function. Non SS optioned Chevelles did have the same type of knob but with plain, black centers. This would change for 1972 when all Chevelles received the international symbols on the four knobs.