1966 AIM

[Donald O.]

Time to open a can of worms...

In the 66 AIM, it lists, in several locations, the options L88 & L89. It has always been my belief that these options did not begin until the 1967 model year. The dates on the AIM drawings indicate drawn on 11-2-65 and released on 11-26-65.

Is the AIM that far off?
If the options were cancelled & never utilized, why would the AIM keep them in?
Is this copy, from Corv. Am. correct?

Just want to make sure of what's correct.
Don

[Duke W.]

Re: 1966 AIM

Development of options requires the production of lots of documentation including the AIM sheets. In some cases the AIM sheets might be released prior to release of the complete package, so AIMs can have sheets for options that were never produced. In fact, it's not uncommon.

It's probable that the original intent was to release RPO L-88 during the '66 model year, but all the development work and testing was not completed in time. In fact, RPO L-88 was not released until well into the '67 model year production run.

Duke

[Joe L.]

Re: 1966 AIM

Don-----

Also, keep in mind that the AIM's were not a "static" document. They were evolving and changing throughout the model year as pages were added and deleted. The copies of the AIM's that we all have are simply a "snapshot" of one stage of evolution of the documents. Most important, it's NOT NECESSARILY the final stage. Our copies may have come from an "original" document that was not fully updated as new sheets came along.

Usually, when an RPO or other facet of a car's build instructions are cancelled, the sheet(s) of the AIM will be prominently labeled as "cancelled". This likely happened to the L-88 sheets in the 1966 AIM. It's just that sheets so-labeled didn't get into the "original" AIM from which all of our copies were produced.

[Loren L.]

It's Possilbe that the sheets were

placed there to provide a "production paper trail" to explain the Penske car if it was challenged at Sebring or Daytona. As I recall, at least one of the AIM pages has a rather quickly done "cancellation" stamp on it