In 1963, If you sat down with a car dealer...

The '70 396 was a factory bored .030" big block which turned it into a 402.. Since they were running a 400 small block also, guess they (GM) figured they'd call it a 400... Or.... They were too cheap to have some 402 fender badges made up... I've seen some '70-'71 El Caminos with the 400 fender badges and when you popped the hood, there was a big block planted in between the fenders... Some of the '70 versions also had the 402/375 L-78 motors in them. One other little tidbit.. All the '70 SS 396 cars, Camaro, Chevelle, El Caminos, Monti Carlos and Novas were all 402 powered... I've never seen a SS 396 Monti though.... Maybe it was a SS 454...

 

Yes .,,that's true ,,but even tho they had a 402 in em ,they still used 396 fender emblems and ,,called em 396's ,,the Blazer 400 fender emblems referred to the new 400 Small Block ,,i think ,,,,,I Hope the site lets me post this group of pictures ,,top left ,the '69 Camaro was a 427 COPO car ,,top right ,is a '65 Plymouth satalite Factory Lightweight 426 Hemi car runnin' a 427 L-88 Biscaine ,bottom left ,see that green '69 C-10 4wd pick-up ? it had a 396 BB in it ,was the tow truck for the "Silly Bear" B/Altered NHRA Nat'l record holder up there ,,bottom right ,,just a couple ole` gassers ,,

 

Also, not true. NO law enforcement cars ever came with 426 Hemis. The other two 426 Hemi four-door '66s were also special-ordered by regular customers. A third car (blue) in now in Sweden, and the fourth was ordered new in Canada.

There were always rumors of Hemi cop cars; but if any existed, they were modified by a dealer or by a state patrol shop, or a city PD shop, or some other entity. Keep in mind, during the 426 Hemi era, the vast majority of Mopar highway patrol squad cars (only Ford uses the term "Police Interceptor", BTW) were the large "C"-body cars, such as Chrysler Newports, Dodge 880s & Polaras, and Plymouth Fury I and IIs. (NO Hemi C-body cars ever!). The smaller "B"-body cars (Coronet/Belvedere) were primarily, but no way limited to, city and county departments. Police Mopars will have a "K" in the second character of the VIN from 1966 through 1980, regardless of the body style (two- or four-door sedan or wagon). You'll not find any such car with a Hemi engine code.

 

Well Now,,,in'66 ,,outside of Anchorage ,,a bunch of us got caught street racin' ,,the Alaska Hi-Way Patrol officer gathered all of us around his 4 door Dodge patrol car ,,and proceeded to tell all of us ,,,musta been 25 or 30 ,,that the was NO WAY we could outrun his Patrol Car ,,then he opened the hood ,,there it was ,,a 426 Dual Quad Hemi ,,,he also showed us the 16 inch hi speed tires and the 160 mph speedo & in dash Tach ,,from '66 to '69 ,,all of the Alaska Hi-Way Patrol MOPARS had Hemis ,,
Now ,,that being said ,,i don't know if that was factory or a dealer deal ,,but even if the dealer put the Hemi's in em ,,i don't think he woulda put the 160 mph speedo and in dash Tach in em ,,
they also all had 35+ gal fuel tanks ,,since they had to cover so much territory ,,
that same Cop awarded me the Street Eliminator Trophy ,at the July 4th ''69 Drags ,,Sponsered by the Alaska State Troopers ,,and his words to me were ,,"Connman,i'm glad you took my advice and took your racing off the street" ,,yeah right ,,lol,,lol,
oh ,and yes ,,everybody called me Connman from hi-school ,thru out the Air Force and even people i didn't know very well thru out the '60's,,'70's ,,'80's and even now ,,

 

The Coronet would've had a '67 Coronet R/T 150 mph speedo in it, except it would say "Certified" on it The only tach you could get in a '66 OR '67 Coronet would've been console-mounted, no in-dash tach until 1968. A sixteen-inch wheel/tire combo??? Most 16" wheels then were maybe [/Ifour inches wide, while the cop wheels were 6" wide, and they were 14", since 15" were not an option on the '66 or '67 cars, and definitely NOT 16" wheels! A dual-quad Hemi engine in a cold climate would be all but impossible to keep running and tuned right. A 35-gallon tank on a car that would've got maybe six miles to the gallon gives barely a 200-mile range - hardly something that would've been used outside Anchorage or Fairbanks, and not a rural.Highway unit. Nice try. Great story, though.

One modified car done by the State Patrol shops...maybe. A fleet of them...no. Certainly not in Alaska. I've lived there.

I call BS on your story, completely.

 

Well,,First of all ,,Anchorage and the southern most part of Alaska has better winter weather than the lower 48 MidWest ,,very rarely did it get below zero there ,,and even then it was only 5 or 10 maybe 15 below for a nite or two ,,only the Northern part gets that really cold sub zero weather ,,where did You live at in Alaska ,,Fairbanks ??? surely not Anchorage or you wouldn't have made that statement ,,
Second ,,,call it BS if you want ,,,but i was there ,,saw it,,

 

I ran in the first two Midnite Sun 600 Mile Snow MoBile races up there ,,in Jan ,when we left Achorage ,,it was 35 above zero,and no snow ,,they had to haul snow in for us to run on ,,three days later ,,in Fairbanks ,,it was 70 BELOW Zero ,,and a Ice Blizzard ,,
if you've followed the Ididarod Sled Dog Races over the last 30 years ,,the same thing happens to them every Jan ,,
those same two Jan i ran in the SnoMobile race,,it was 40 below and a blizzard with 2 to 3 feet a snow ,,in Des Moines ,Iowa ,,

 

Oh ,, A CONSOLE??? in a COP CAR ??? there wasn't any room for one of those with a bench seat and all their radio,communications gear and lights n siren panel ,,,,not to mention their Riot Shot Gun and a 30/30 Lever Action Rifle ,and maybe a Thompson Sub Machine Gun ,,pre M-16 days ,,,

 

Say ,,anybody know what size tires the California Hi Way Patrol ran on their"Cruisers" back in the middle to late '60's ???/,,

 

OOOPS ! Well,,i guess i was wrong ,,they were speed rated 15 inch tires ,,sorry
i guess the 16 inchers didn't come out 'till later ,,

 

My cousins had a white '64 3/4-ton LWB with (I think) a 409 on their farm outside of Wahoo, NE in the mid-'70s. What a stump-puller! And it never met a gas station it didn't like. I've got to go there next weekend for a family reunion - will need to see if they still have it. Farmers never throw anything away...

 

In 63 I bought my first car a 53 ford sedan,owned it for the next 30 years.LOL

 

Doubt it for the 64 Mercury Comet! I seen the Shelby shop (Burbank, Ca) were the GT350 cars were built back than, Ford shipped the Hi Po 289 Mustang Fastbacks to his shop they were missing the hoods, back seats, etc than they did the modifcation to the supention and engine mods etc. this was only on the 65 and 66 body's were a real race car you could buy if you had the money around twice a regular production Mustang. 63 Galaxie the stock ones I seen were all low risers maybe in a late production 63. Probally on the 65 Galaxie high rise in a super stock race option package.

 

64' 427 Lightweight Galaxies had the High Riser heads...63's were low riser heads..

 

It sure was a great time back then! I went with my dad when he ordered a new 56 F100 took about 4 to 6 weeks to get it only a couple options. Remember there were car magazine articles that gave all the parts package codes for the different options so you could go an order them. Liked seeing some of the combo people would put together for stock drag racing classes that probably were never built but if it had a factory part number for that year you could get it ok’ed through tech if you could document it. Like a 57 Chevy Sedan Delivery with a fuel injected 283 vet motor and a 4 speed hydromatic trans.
On the post about ordering a car in Germany. I also remember them coming when I was stationed there they had a Mustang Mach 1 that was displayed and they offered to ship it there so you could use it. The military use to offer to ship car back home to the states for something like $200 to $400 found a 56 Porsche Super S that was going to ship but because it was German spec they said no way. Said those days are gone think it mostly due to all the government BS reg's we have to protect us from ourselves. I am try to reshearch an old Tasca Ford race car called the Zimmy I and the Changer I. Am going to rebuild my 63 Fairlane bracket racer along that theme of an old A/FX & the Gasser's.

 

Yeah thats what I remember the High riser did not come out until late in 63, besides the 64 Galaxies and Big Merc's were also used in the 64 Fairlane Thunderbolts drag cars.

 

All I know is now you cant go in and order what you want,they want to sell you what they want and thats it. I was inquiring about a new mustang,challenger and camaro and could not get one stripped down with no accessories,I would have to take one with power windows,a/c and all that stuff and told them thats not a muscle car but a luxury car that I was not looking for and would take my money and build a old car instead.

 

Are you kidding me? You really expected any of those cars to be available with manual windows? I bet you wanted manual steering and drum brakes too. What would be the point, to save weight and go faster? You'd be hard pressed to get anything at all....I'd say nearly impossible.....without even a radio these days. As standard production vehicles, those cars are all quicker, fully loaded, than most anything Detroit ever offered in the muscle car heyday without a doubt.

 

Back in the 60s the local Ford dealer here in town wanted a new T-bird but his wife said they had to have a 4 door. So he ordered a new 64 Galaxie 500 XL white 4 door hardtop, 427 2-4 barrels, bucket seats, 4 speed. The dealer is long gone but last time I checked a guy here in town still has the car in his shed.

 

A few years ago, Porsche offered a "club racer" option which was simply a list of delete options (radio, AC, sound deadener & insulation, etc.). For this you paid an additional $5,000 on top of the $70 or $80K for the basic car. No driveline or suspension improvement features were included with this option.

 

On top of everything else I read once that is actually now is more expensive to offer any standard deletes. I think it was in one of the new car mags talking about trucks.

Work trucks have had roll up windows for some time but that it is getting too expensive to have roll up windows offered at all because the power are so cheap because of the quantity of them they do vs. roll ups. Also it slows production line capacity to have odd ball stuff like that go though with all the automation and procedures they have in play.

That being said Ford does offer for not street use the Cobra Jet Mustang and Dodge has the Super Stock Challenger. The Corbra R's were strippers also.

Some people do ask for that 1963 option ordering ability still but I guess we are a minority on that. Most people want all the gadgets.

 

I hope this photo album werks ,,the first pic of the "Giddy-Up-ApGo-Go" '65 Dodge Coronet factory light weight Hemi car,( i'd painted the names on the sides )is when we raced it aat Polar w' the 426 Wedge in A/MP ,,then ,,it was bought and restored back to it's original 426 Hemi ,,and was raced atPolar in the '70's ,,then that owner shipped it to his winter home in Arizona ,,he lives in Alaska in the summer ,he's a Pilot/Fishing-Hunting Guide ,,,
enjoy the photos,,
http://photos.msn.com/Slideshow/Vie...GIGjkVpLJ3Nc!FJaL0CCgDh8a2JOEB2Co67Y$&index=0

 

I would sit down with two car dealers. First I'd order a '63 Grand Prix, black, all plushed out with power everything, including 8-lugs. 421/auto. Then I'd go across the street and order a split-window Corvette 4-speed fuelie. Red/red with knockoffs.

Back to reality!

 

Yes to the GP exactly, and the Vette same but Black and Black.

 

Well,,i love those Pontiacs ,,,but ,,in '63 ,,when i was stationed at Walker AFB ,Roswell,N,Mex,,i went with my roomate to the Chevy Dealer ,,,he bought a '63 Impala bubble top ,,Honduras Maroon ,,409-4 speed ,,i think i'd buy one just like it ,,if this was '63 again ,,

 

I'm sure you meant 62.

I was so dumb back then, I asked my older friend how much did it cost to get a 3 spd in his 61 Olds...he said 78 dollars less than an automatic.

In the early 70s a friend from church had to argue with the salesman to order an Olds vistacruiser wagon with a 4 spd. The salesman said you'll never be able to sell it. He said I don't care. My wife and I love driving 4spds and we need a wagon for the kids. They made him put down a sizable deposit in case he never came back for it when it came in. They did not want to get stuck with a 4 spd wagon that nobody would want.

 

YEP ,,my goof ,,i did mean '62 ,,

 

Here's one for you...
Back in the 80's, a friend of mine was building a hot rod, and he called me to come help him go look at a car that he wanted to buy for the engine/tranny to use as a donor.
We went up to a town about 50 miles south of Indy in southern indiana, and checked out a '70 Buick Skylark that was a former police car. Black body with white doors, and still some remnants of the police lettering on the sides.
Under the hood was a stage 1 455. GS air cleaner, hood, insturments... Even a GS logo on the passenger side of the dash... But every other marker and badge on the car said "Skylark".
It wasn't untill years later that I learned that according to the "experts", Buick never built such a car... No 455's in skylarks ever...

So, the car was real. I saw it, drove it, and helped pull the engine out of it... Was it a 4 door GS? Or was it a Skylark with a 455? Whatever you want to call it, to this day, the experts still claim it didn't exist.

 

In '72 i worked at Sumner-Ramsey Pontiac in Des Moines ,,there was a big recall for Pontiac timing gears/chains ,,those darn plastic ones were coming apart after 30-40 thousand miles ,,we were draggin' em offa the intersate by the dozens ,,with the bent valves and holed pistons ,,Pontiac said replace the engines in ALL of em ,,no matter how many miles they had on em ,in warrentee or not ,,they sent us 3 18 wheeler loads of crate motors ,,we parked the trailers behind the Dealership ,,we replace engines like selling popcorn ,it got so bad the Dealership bought 5 new wreckers and hired drivers because that would be cheaper AND faster than hiring the local wreckers ,,BUT ,,here's the really crazy part ,,we put 455's in where 350's shoulda went ,we put 350's in where 455's were ,,and ,,if you were a good friend of the mechanics ,,you could get a 455HO ,instead of a bone stock 350 or low hp 455 ,,when i left there in '73 ,,All of those truck loads of Crate Motors were gone ,,SOME went out the back door ,,one of the mechanics took a 455HO home and put it in a '69 Firebird where a OHC 6 banger was ,,Nobody Kept track of those motors ,,BUT ,,we had a lot of happy customers ,,at Pontiacs Expense ,,

 

Either it didn't work or the photos were taken at night. Pretty dark there.