More than 201?

[Lee Stewart]

Originally Posted by EZ Nova

It's just strange some websites mention that 396/375 opton. I knew about L79 El Co's in 1965, but wasn't sure if there were any 396's. Guess now I do.

Unless something like the company that ORDERED the L79 1966 Nova wagons! I thought finally 1 of those surfaced after all these years.

Some websites claim Chevrolet built a number of 1965 Novas with the 327/365 HP Corvette motor.

Some claim there were 1969 427 COPO El Caminos.

The amount of disinformation on the internet is staggering.

When it comes to Chevrolet stats and specs, I like this reference. Go right to the source. It's a good starting point:

https://www.gmheritagecenter.com/gm-...tion-kits.html

[L72copocamaro]

Originally Posted by Lee Stewart

Some websites claim Chevrolet built a number of 1965 Novas with the 327/365 HP Corvette motor.

Some claim there were 1969 427 COPO El Caminos.

The amount of disinformation on the internet is staggering.

When it comes to Chevrolet stats and specs, I like this reference. Go right to the source. It's a good starting point:

https://www.gmheritagecenter.com/gm-...tion-kits.html

Most often by people trying to validate something they want to sell and or scam others with.

[442w30]

Originally Posted by EZ Nova

https://www.musclecarfacts.com/chevr...965-el-camino/

The problem is you're looking at crap websites.

No way to know except with experience. Consider this the moment you learn this muscle car facts site is not dependable. I'm not into Chevys, but this is one of the few Bow Tie places where I can count on people for coming from a place of knowledge.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Lee Stewart

When it comes to Chevrolet stats and specs, I like this reference. Go right to the source. It's a good starting point:

https://www.gmheritagecenter.com/gm-...tion-kits.html

As part of my job, I used to have to review the information packets from an engineering perspective before they were published.

All of the full size truck documents from about 2000 - 2011 would have my stamp of approval.

K

[Rebelrouser]

Years ago I had access to all the vin's for every Z16 produced. The '67' vin was actually a triple black car. It was one of the last Z16's produced as it was further down the vin sequence list. If I can get into my old laptop-haven't been able for 10 years now- I could search my history of sites I searched. On a side note, they were all built on a convertible frame.

[JoeC]

There were some home built 396 Chevelles in 1965 such as the Grady Bryant Dick Harrell car

[jeffschevelle]

Originally Posted by whitetop

Here is a white Z16 left over ,no big block , has convertible frame with Z16 marking, 160-mph speedometer ,hand cut firewall,etc. Has binders of factory paperwork. This is how it came from the factory but with a SB and painted white.
Another Bellaire Ohio car. Lean to roof fell on it during a storm. A collector has it now and is restoring it.

Originally Posted by 1967Z28

What makes it a Z16 if it was built by the factory with a small block?

Originally Posted by whitetop

I never said it was a z16. It came from the factory with all the z16 parts except the BB

Somehow I missed the above posts, and pics of that white car. I would be very interested to see the "binder of factory paperwork". Several things weigh heavily against this car coming from the factory with any Z16 parts --

1. It is a Malibu (has trim holes down the side). If they were going to put "left over" Z16 parts (including a 160 speedo) on a non-Z16 car, why would they put it on a Malibu and not an SS?

2. Any "left over" Z16 parts would have been put into service replacement parts inventory. There were approx. 20 extra engines built (ostensibly for warranty replacement purposes, but you could walk in and order one from the parts department if you knew the part number). There were 160 speedo clusters available over the counter. Extras of the rear trim were also made and sold as service replacement parts.

3. Your first post said something about "hand cut firewall". But the firewall clearly shows that is an A/C car. There was nothing "hand cut" on a Z16 firewall.

4. If there was a left over "extra" boxed Z16 frame in the KC plant, then it would have been used on a convertible, not a coupe. Putting it under a small block coupe would require doing a set of one-off broadcast sheets for that car, with different brake lines, fuel lines, trans cross member, etc. Management would not have held up a "build-them-as-fast-as-you-can" assembly line to spec out a one-off small block Malibu that did not have a special engine in it (such as a COPO), just to use up an "extra" frame. They would have used it under a convertible, or put the frame into service parts inventory. Or they would have just thrown the frame away before they would have done all of that to slow down their assembly line.

So, odds are someone found and parted out a wrecked Z16 and all that stuff got put on this car long after it left the factory.

Or maybe this is the car that was sold at Huffman Chevrolet in Farmington, Illinois. Jerry's dad got one of the first Z16's for Jerry to drag race. Within hours of its arrival Jerry started stripping off everything not needed to go racing. Many items (like the PS, PB, AM/FM-Mulitiplex, tach, TOD clock, etc.) were installed on a new small block car on the lot, and added to the window sticker, to recoup some of the high cost of the Z16. I don't recall him saying that they swapped out the speedo cluster, but they may have. That would not explain the frame though.

But the frame can easily be explained if the car was ever wrecked bad enough to need a new frame. Service replacement frames (after a certain amount of time) were ALL boxed. They did that so they only had to stock two frames (one for Elc or Wagon, one for everything else) in inventory, rather than four. This is clearly noted in the Chevrolet parts books from the mid to late 60's.

With all that said, I'd love to be wrong! Please ask the owner to share the binder of documentation to educate us all!

[jeffschevelle]

Originally Posted by Rebelrouser

Years ago I had access to all the vin's for every Z16 produced. ... If I can get into my old laptop-haven't been able for 10 years now- I could search my history of sites I searched. On a side note, they were all built on a convertible frame.

If that list exists, boy I sure hope you can find it! But I am pretty sure you did not just find it on a website somewhere. There are 10 or more Z16 fanatics that have been hunting that list for 40+ years now; so if it ever was on a publicly available website I'm sure one of us would have found it by now!

Legend had it that Vince Piggins had the full list, but when he passed away it was nowhere to be found in his papers. I don't know if that was true or not.

Originally Posted by Rebelrouser

... The '67' vin was actually a triple black car. It was one of the last Z16's produced as it was further down the vin sequence list. ...

All credible stories from people who actually saw the convertible, which were from multiple different sources and pre-internet (so not just someone repeating what they read somewhere else), all say that the Z16 convertible was Sierra Tan with a beige convertible top and either a fawn or saddle interior (so "triple tan"). Triple black sure would have been a better looking choice though!

[Lee Stewart]

[flyingn]

my old Z16 from the mid 70's