Hot Rods The 1963 Chevrolet Impala Z11 factory lightweight car

Thank you. I missed that. So they really didn't save much weight for all the effort of making aluminum parts, except it made the front end light. It's really interesting what the factories were doing to win on Sunday and sell on Monday. The new race cars like the IMSA Corvettes are hardly recognizable and these looked just a common car. I've seen a Tempest light weight but have never seen a full sized Pontiac with the Swiss cheese frame.

 

Related article
Wow, don't recall seeing this before, this car is actually a 62 Impala with a non Z-11 engine but that is where the mundane ends.
You historian type guys may find some discrepancies in this article but there are a BUNCH of cool old photos (with text attached) to absorb.

"In this story, let’s examine a handful of color prints taken by Chevy fanatic Charlie Sanden in 1967. Most significant, Charlie was friends with the late, great Smokey Yunick, whose Best Damn Garage In Town was a Daytona Beach, Florida, legend. If you didn’t know, Yunick was one of NASCAR’s pioneers, working closely with Hudson, Pontiac, and Chevrolet in the 1951–1967 time frame. The unifying bond between Charlie and Yunick was the fact both attended the same Chicago-based engineering school, though not at the same time, as Yunick was older than Charlie."
Teaser shot



The rest of the story
Here:
https://inthegaragemedia.com/charlies-smokey-mystery/

 

learn something new everyday. i thought the z11 was the new big block not a w head.

 

And FWIW the Z-11 heads and intake along with aluminum front sheet metal was available over the counter for the ‘62 Chevy’s. The parts were installed by the buyer and the car would run A/FX, not S/S.
The Z-11 crank with its longer stroke and the 12.5-1 pistons were not cataloged at that time.

 

I saw a pair of these exhaust manifolds at Hershey flea market years ago. They look heavy.

 

You might be talking about Don Fezell. Our car club went to see his collection of cars more than 10 years ago. At that time, he had the "63" Old Reliable Z 11 plus two more. I have pictures some where. I'll post when I find them.

 

Yes sir, that's the name. Thank you.