81 Malibu "Iraqi Taxis".....a COPO car?
Did any of the "Iraqi Taxi" '81 Malibu stick cars end up in the States? . From what I recall, GM Canada built thousands of these '81 Malibu 4 door, 3 spd. manual trans. cars with factory polution equipment deleted for a special run of Taxis destined for Iraq. . Foreshadowing the good dealings with Iraq who went stiff on the deal, GM got stuck with boat loads of non-pollution compliant vehicles. . The Canadian government allowed an exception here and these cars hit the dealerships as a special deal. . These are still seen on occasion and one great thing was the boneyards had a healthy supply of stick conversion pedal sets etc. as these cars died out a few years later. . Were these built by GM as a COPO car? . I recall working on one about 20 years ago and finding a 1-1/2" round, orange decal under the dash or somewhere on the vehicle that said COPO. . I'd forgotten this but came across the decal in my tool box a couple weeks ago. . Food for thought?
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