GOTCHA: When GM Sold 25,000 Busted Cars to Saddam Hussein

Years before the first Gulf War, GM accidentally found a great way to mess with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein: selling him a bunch of defective 1981 Chevy Malibus.

[READ THE STORY HERE: https://www.thedrive.com/news/35121/w...]

In the early 1980s, Iraq needed cars to serve as taxis and government vehicles. GM needed money, and figured out it could get around US sanctions by selling Saddam a fleet of G-Body Malibus through GM Canada with the backing of the Canadian government.

GM custom built 25,000 Malibus with upgraded cooling, heavy duty suspension, and an anemic carbureted V6. It proudly shipped the first batch to Iraq… only for Saddam’s regime to cancel the rest of the order because the cars immediately broke down. Also because it was about to go to war with Iran and maybe couldn’t afford to pay for the rest. It’s kinda murky.

Anyway, stuck with over 12,000 desert-spec cars, GM eventually decided to sell them to Canadians at rock bottom prices. And thus a cult automotive icon was born: the Chevy Iraqibu.

0:00 GM vs Saddam
0:58 Let's Make a Deal
2:29 Iraqi Taxi Specs
3:28 Reliability Problems
4:32 Canada Gets Creative
5:45 Icon Status

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