'63 factory test car?

[Patrick H.]

Re: '63 factory test car?

Bill,

The article said it was a 64 that was sent to the Proving Grounds for testing, then sold to a PG employee. He in turn sold it, etc. and now it is in general private hands.

I don't have it quickly accessible; I'll try to find the article later this weekend and post it, but I believe it was in CF.

Patrick

[Patrick H.]

Re: '63 factory test car?

Bill,

The article said it was a 64 that was sent to the Proving Grounds for testing, then sold to a PG employee. He in turn sold it, etc. and now it is in general private hands.

I don't have it quickly accessible; I'll try to find the article later this weekend and post it, but I believe it was in CF.

Patrick

[Patrick H.]

prototype parts

Jack,

Would you believe that a friend of mine, who lives just around the corner, has a set of prototype late model LT1 performance heads with casting numbers that "don't exist"? I keep telling him not to ever get rid of those...

Patrick

[Patrick H.]

prototype parts

Jack,

Would you believe that a friend of mine, who lives just around the corner, has a set of prototype late model LT1 performance heads with casting numbers that "don't exist"? I keep telling him not to ever get rid of those...

Patrick

[G B.]

Engineering test coupe

I wrote an article in the Fall '96 Restorer about my search for '65 #22. One of the illustrations in the article was a "car shipper" form for '64 FI coupe #4,667. This '64 (while housing the FI engine from '65 #22) was sold to a GM employee after it was used at the engineering center for testing fuel injection choke designs.

[G B.]

Engineering test coupe

I wrote an article in the Fall '96 Restorer about my search for '65 #22. One of the illustrations in the article was a "car shipper" form for '64 FI coupe #4,667. This '64 (while housing the FI engine from '65 #22) was sold to a GM employee after it was used at the engineering center for testing fuel injection choke designs.

[Bill Clupper]

Re: Engineering test coupe

Jerry, I'd view this as entirely consistant. the Engineering center in Warren Michigan did use a number of cars for development, not heavy duty testing. The most famous of these probably is the only '65 Z-16 Convertible ever built, which was built at the tech center from a smallblock car and then sold through the employe fleet sale. That is a very different scenario from the one which would involve a "proving grounds" development type vehicle run at the Milford Proving Grounds facility about 40 miles away. Those cars generally got a pretty complete "thrashing" during the PG testing. You don't want a car that has made many trips over the Belgian Block road, and GM policy was not to release those types of vehicles for sale. Incidently, the PG is where many of the cars built as "83" model year vehicles used up their useful lives. Last one I saw was being used for '85 model year engine development. Not that strange things didn't happen in the mid-60's, but it wasn't usually at the Proving Grounds

[Bill Clupper]

Re: Engineering test coupe

Jerry, I'd view this as entirely consistant. the Engineering center in Warren Michigan did use a number of cars for development, not heavy duty testing. The most famous of these probably is the only '65 Z-16 Convertible ever built, which was built at the tech center from a smallblock car and then sold through the employe fleet sale. That is a very different scenario from the one which would involve a "proving grounds" development type vehicle run at the Milford Proving Grounds facility about 40 miles away. Those cars generally got a pretty complete "thrashing" during the PG testing. You don't want a car that has made many trips over the Belgian Block road, and GM policy was not to release those types of vehicles for sale. Incidently, the PG is where many of the cars built as "83" model year vehicles used up their useful lives. Last one I saw was being used for '85 model year engine development. Not that strange things didn't happen in the mid-60's, but it wasn't usually at the Proving Grounds