You won’t find this Chevy Malibu on any drag strip

BLOOMFIELD — In Greene County covering a trial Wednesday, I got to thinking about my car column for the week and realized there was no way I could make it back to town to check out the old Volkswagen I intended to write about.Panic set in. Then I remembered Kenny Robinson who, thank goodness, lives on the outskirts of Bloomfield. I got a call from someone who said Robinson owned a 1974 Chevrolet Nova I should write about.I changed gears. And stepped out of the courtroom to call the newspaper office to have someone search my desk for the scrap of paper with Robinson’s cell phone number scrawled on it. I gave him a call from the hallway.We had a bad connection. And Robinson claimed he did not own a Nova. But he did have a 1978 Chevrolet Malibu in prefect condition. “Fantastic,” I said. “Where are you?” Turns out he was a block south of the courthouse at the NAPA auto parts store, where he is a frequent customer.The judge called a lunch break, and I headed to NAPA and followed Robinson home to the garage where he parks his crimson Malibu. This is sometimes how this column comes about. I call someone up, then appear in their driveway. Just like that.The original owner of Robinson’s Malibu was a lady named Dorothy Johnson, who bought the car new in Greenwood and kept it in a garage when she wasn’t on the road. When she gave up driving about seven years ago, Robinson’s brother Joe bought the car. He sold it to his cousin Gary, who in turn sold the Malibu to Robinson five years ago.“Gary let it sit outside,” he said. “I got it, and it has not sat out overnight since.”The car came to him with no rust, the original floor mats still in place, a few dings in the body and less than 70,000 miles or so on the odometer. There aren’t many Malibus around these days.“About the only place you see them now is on a drag strip,” he said.Robinson did some mechanical work to tune up the old car and could not help adding a dual exhaust system. And the paint had faded, so he took the car to Brad King at Cross Paint & Body Shop in Ellettsville. He wanted to repaint the car its original color; King let him know it would cost him.“They only used this crimson red, with these gold flakes, two years — ’78 and ’79,” Robinson said. “There was just one place that could mix it.” He told me how much it cost, and I promised not to tell. But I think it’s safe to say that the paint on his Malibu is worth more than my soccer mom 2003 Ford Windstar van.It was important to Robinson that the faded Chevrolet be repainted its original color, since everything on the car — down to the 1970s short-pile shag carpet — is pretty much like it was when Dorothy Johnson bought it 32 years ago. Except for the dual exhaust and racing wheels Robinson added to make the car less old-lady-like.A two-inch downpour had soaked Bloomfield the morning I followed Robinson out to his garage. He insisted we take the car out for a drive anyway, and he took me down the road through puddles inches deep. When he turned the car around to come back home, he got out and said I could drive it back. I slowed to 10 mph through the puddles, hating the thought of water on that gold-flecked paint.Robinson said don’t worry, the car was due to be cleaned up. I figure he took a soft towel or chamois to it as soon as I left.Got a story to tell about a car or truck? Call 812-331-4362, send an e-mail to lane@heraldt.com or a letter to My Favorite Ride, P.O. Box 909, Bloomington, IN 47402.