The second generation Malibu was really a fitting evolution of the original, and is the car most people think of when they hear “Malibu” and “Muscle Car” in the same sentence, though in truth, most of the high performance cars were lower spec Chevelles, as were the hot 396 SS versions. The Malibu had been firmly moved to the upscale Chevelle neighborhood. The two door sports coupe (hardtop) body style was semi-fastback, but not so “fastback” as to be unfashionable. Specialty shops in the guise of dealers turned out ultra-high performance versions of these cars, such as Yenko and Baldwin Motion SS427 Chevelles and Malibus starting in about 1969. Straight line performance was “everything” and many a Malibu shut down the competition in impromptu races between red lights both on Woodward Avenue and all across the proverbial fruited plain. Certainly, considering the Malibu line had only been introduced to the public a few short years prior, a sales rate of over 265,000 upscale versions of the Chevelle were nothing to sneeze at in 1968, and Malibu handily outsold the lower-spec Chevelle line.