First 65 Big Block

[Michael H.]

Is this the first 65 big block? This was a GM built car and the emblems are genuine. Obviously, the original intent was to have a 427 instead of the 396. Good luck trying to find this emblem when restoring this one. Car was built in the the first month of 65 production.

[Michael H.]

Re: First 65 Big Block Under Hood Pic

Unique location of surge tank.

[Wayne W.]

Re: First 65 Big Block

Same one thats in Noland`s book?

[Wayne M.]

This convert was at St.Louis National in '81 (?)

Had many custom parts, interior etc. Took a photo of trim tag. Very low VIN.

[Michael H.]

Re: This convert was at St.Louis National in '81 (

Yes, I believe it's the same car. I took this pic at the Flint meet in about 1978. Also had a weird paint code if I remember correctly.

[Rich G.]

Re: This convert was at St.Louis National in '81 (

I may be wrong, but I thought the first 396 was owned by Bill Mock. Maybe not anymore. I know the owner of the last 396 and his car and Bill's were featured at Bloomington years ago.

Rich Giannotti

[Michael H.]

Re: This convert was at St.Louis National in '81 (

Rich,

The car that Bill Mock has probably was the first production 396. The car in the pic was actually born a small block, then shipped to engineering and converted to a 427. It was done months before the actual introduction of what eventually turned out to be the 396 so it's not officially the first production big block.

[Rich G.]

Re: This convert was at St.Louis National in '81 (

Thanks Michael...that makes sense.

Rich Giannotti

[Bill W.]

Re: This convert was at St.Louis National in '81 (

I have 3 vins on my list before Bills,4 counting the prototype . I think it was #46.. I cant guarantee they are all real BB cars .

[Wayne M.]

Just the "LAST 396" licence plate

Which Charlie Steuart had on # 23512 when he owned it. There were about ten L78's produced after his. You're probably refering to Bloomington Gold special collection of 1995, which had more tankers displayed in one location than I had ever seen.

[Bill W.]

Re: Just the "LAST 396" licence plate

I have 3 on my list past Charlies .the last I know of being 23564 & 23566???.was there an article in the Restorer about 2 more 65s built than listed in the judging manual ???

[Clem Z.]

mine was 114271

and it was built the last week of march or the first week of april because i picked it up at the factory at st louis on april 16 1965

[Wayne M.]

Here's Trim Tag data from this VIN 00003

Dug out my 6 pictures taken summer '81. Third car produced [#1 was that silver/silver L76 coupe] [#5 was a fuelie (body style unknown) -- saw chromed unit at Carlisle, early '90s].

Trim tag data: (body dates) just "A" -- no day number
(style) 65 19467 (note below)
(trim) 421BG (originally tan w/ power windows ?)
(body) S1 (first St.Louis convertible body)
(paint) 900CC (originally white)

The interior in 1981 was still leather and power windows, color matching the "dusty turquoise" exterior. It had jacking instruction sticker for a tanker w/KO's. Mild lip cut-outs on rear fenders. Hood in bare glass.

Have never read an article done on this car. Where is it now ?

note format of style code. This carried through on St.Louis bodies at least until VIN 001500's, before dropping the "19".

[Michael H.]

Re: Here's Trim Tag data from this VIN 00003

Wayne,

Yes, that's the car. I have pic's of the VIN and trim tags but decided not to post because of owner privacy but I suppose that's a well known car so it's not really an issue. It is #00003.

I always wondered what happened to that car because, as you mentioned, there's never been any discussion of it in the last twenty five years that I'm aware of.

Michael

[Wayne M.]

I know of 3 L78's after (ex) Charlie's

Bill -- On my mini-survey of ALL the last day's 1965 model year production, I have the following L78 cars: 23512 / 530 / 556 / 564. This is out of a total of 12 cars I have on my list, from Charlie's to the last car off the line. I think your reference to 23566 is just a switch on 556.

The reason I say 10 big block cars after 23512 is that, from the start of regular L78 production, one in every 5 cars was a 396. So 4 (known) out of 12 (known) in the last 52 cars shows the pattern is still holding.

That Restorer article you're refering to was Vol 20 # 1, Summer '93. It was mainly to announce that the second-last car (23563) had been found. NCRS (through John Amgwert) had already known of the higher production figures since 1979, and in Summer '88 (Vol 15 # 1) mentioned that 23564 had been found.