History Days Of Optional Engines .

I Miss The Days When Cars Had Different Engine Possibilities....

 

One of those wasn’t a possibility

 

But.............^^^^^^

https://www.curbsideclassic.com/vin...e-v8-factory-built-dealer-option-coming-soon/

https://www.motortrend.com/features...d-327-small-block-into-then-new-1962-chevy-ii

 

but...NL means you couldn't get it. Even if the guy in the picture could get it.

 

Sure, but if it was available to everyone it wouldn't be all that historically significant!

 

new cars are for driving to Walmart and back. it doesn't matter what is under the hood.

 

Still not a 360hp fuelie like in the pic

 

yup, but in a few years you could buy the 350 HP 327 already installed. Or the 4 cylinder. Quite a difference! and all as options.

 

You can get a new Corolla with 139 hp or up to 300hp both Fuel injected but OT.

 

Yes, but those are not optional engines in the same Corolla. They are different models of Corolla, some with completely different body styles.

 

Let’s face it the days of sitting down and checking boxes are over. Now its packages and upgrades no more culling or piece milling the parts books/performance catalogs

 

Thanks DD Denny And Excellent Information...Appreciated...

 

Having owned a bone stock 62 Novi it needed a lot more than a 327 bolted in the forward bay. Steering, suspension, brakes, an extra wheel lug all the way around, a floor shifted 4 speed and some seat belts for starters. I liked the little car but the IL6 was plenty fast enough for that car as delivered.

 

too bad the blown 427 wasn't an option!

my 62 got it, anyways.

 

Eventually

 

Never was on the option sheet, but...
https://www.motortrend.com/features...d-327-small-block-into-then-new-1962-chevy-ii

 

L79 Nova! Music to my ears in 1967. I was in the market for a new car in 1967, and had settled on one. I went to the Chevrolet dealership to put in my order, but my wife at the time was swept off her feet by a yellow Malibu sitting on the show floor. We settled our differences by ordering a new Corvette (which was less than $1000 more than the Chevelle). Now ordering the optional engine in a Corvette was fun!. The base was a 300 HP 327, with options of a 350 HP 327, or a 390, 400, or 435 HP 427! (Funny, I don't remember the L88 being offered at all). Because of insurance reasons, I ended up ordering the 327/350 and a 300 HP air cleaner sticker. In those days, anything under 10 lbs per HP was risk insurance bait. A corvette coupe at 3005 lbs would qualify for "regular" insurance with the base motor.

After delivery, I replaced the 350 air cleaner sticker with the 300, just in case. Three weeks later, a representative from my insurance company showed up at my house to check the car. I opened the hood, and there it was, a 300 HP engine. He gave me the big Okey-Dokey, and I was in. It's a good thing he wasn't a car guy. If he was, he would have known that 300 HP cars had Orange steel valve covers, while the 350's had the neat finned aluminum "Corvette" covers.

I guess everything turned out fine, since I had an L79.

 

My dad had two really odd ducks, illustrating you could order just about any engine you wanted…

A 63 Chevy 4 door post car with a factory 409 with a 4 speed.

a 69 Malibu 4 door no option plain Jane with a factory 396, on 14 steel wheels with dog dish hubcaps. This one was ordered new by the Arizona Highway patrol.

both cars had documentation.

he also had a basket case 65 Impala with a 409.

 

I knew a guy who ordered a '65 Olds Vista-Cruiser wagon with a 4 speed and what he said was a 442 engine. It did have a 4 speed, but I'm not enough of a late-model Olds guy to tell if the engine was real. It did have a 4 BBL.

Another friend had a '65 Impala with a 409 for a while; as I remember, it was a pig.

 

I've told this story before...
My Dad did just the opposite of the "1 off" high performance option...he went "1 off " LESS performance option.
My Dad went into a Boonton NJ Pontiac dealer to order a new '63 Pontiac Grand Prix. The only engine options for the Grand Prix in '63 were 389s. My Dad being concerned with gas mileage wanted the newly introduced 326 instead. The dealer said he didn't think it was possible to order that, but would check on it. The next day the dealer called back and said for an additional $28, he could get the smaller engine option.
For years my Dad believed he had a "1 off" 1963 326 Grand Prix...but I always wondered though, considering the 326 and 389 look identical, that he got a 389 instead of a 326, and the dealer just put that $28 in his pocket.

 

Hopefully you are referring to the 66 Nova L79 because GM did some funny business with the 67 L79 Novas.
All I wish is that I had been born a few years earlier than I was as I would have bought one and would still own it.

 

Nope. 1967. I never had any experience with the actual cars so you may be right. Unfortunately, my wife made me buy the Corvette. To us, it was just an alternative new car once I solved the insurance problem.

 

I actually think the changes they made to the 67 borders on being criminal, typical front office bean counter move, they only built six or seven of them.
For those interested, do a Google search on the subject.

 

yeah they did the motor dirty in the passenger cars in 67/68. The Vette still had a proper one in 67 and then even the vette got the changes in 68.

 

My high school gig, early 70's, full service Gulf Station. A local fellow used to stop in regularly with a '65 Imapla 4dr sedan. 409, yellow w/white roof. At least 2 kids hanging out every window. He always had a big ole smile on his face!

 

I'm thinking this had some insurance guys confused too!

 

When I was in HS in 1969 a buddy's dad offered him a big block Vette. Only issue was he had to pay the insurance. Needless to say he never got it.

 

The little 4 cylinder was offered into 1970.

 

That’s what I remember. The L79 was dropped for 67 in the Chevy II. Al least it was no longer listed after 66. The 66 production was the end.

I wouldn’t be surprised if a few 67s slipped out though.