Maybe not that odd, but it was rare, in High School (early 80's), I had a 74 Dart Fastback with a 340, factory Hurst 4 on the floor, and factory sunroof. My brother worked the motor over a little, and that thing screamed off the line.
The two 66 Hemi 4dr Cornets come to mind, I think Don Garlits has one of them now, The 64-66 HPP option on dodge trucks (426 wedge). I was into mid sixties full size Poncho's for a while, one guy near here had a 66 Cat wagon, 421 H.O., 4spd with buckets, beige on biege, 8-lugs, talk about a sleeper!
Four years ago I bought a 66 Mercury S-55. All the 66 S-55's had the 428 engine. What makes this one odd for a Merc, is that it has the big shaft top loader 4-speed, black power bucket seat interrior, front disc brakes, a posi, and no air.
I had a `72 Maverick once that had manual tranny pedals in it.....an auto column shifter....and a floor mounted auto shifter....
Pontiac was especially good for having oddball combinations in the old days. I used to have a two tone '65 Pontiac Grand Prix with a bench seat instead of buckets. The '61 Bonneville I have now came with a 348hp tripower engine and a four speed, which was pretty unusual for a Bonneville. It's also kind of a stripper model - cloth seats, no power steering or brakes, no day/night mirror or tinted glass or any of the things usually found on Bonnevilles. It also was painted in 1959 factory colors...on the trim tag under color, it says 'special'.
Hee's a few of the oddballs I've seen around here: - 65 Pontiac StratoChief with a 396 2bbl, powerglide. No power options -63 Parisienne wagon, 409 4 speed - 57 210 4 door sedan, 250 hp FI, powerglide - 71 (I think) Cuda with a 383 Commando, column auto, bench seat bottom, high back bucket backs, pw, and a real small back window - 64 Impala SS rag, 327 3 on the tree with the factory console - it had an engine turned block off plate where the 4 gear shifter was supposed to be. - 69 Caprice estate wagon, full (all of them) factory options, including some SS stuff like the four guages that weren't supposed to be, and a 427 console automatic. Supposedly ordered that way by a GM customer service rep - my 72 2wd Blazer was a 350, 3 on the tree with a posi 4.11. Wiith the top off and two fat broads in the back it would damn near lift the front wheels off the ground. Pretty much anything running in my garage is oddball...........
When I was growing up, one of my parents' friends was a Mopar dealer. One day in 1960, he came by the house with a brand new Dodge that had just been delivered from the factory. There was different model outside trim on one side as compared to the other. In the interior, the door panels on the passenger side were white while the drivers side was black. It seems like some inspector in the factory should have noticed.
Is your grandfather's name Lou Philips?? I just checked the article and this car did come from Western Pa and Lou was the man who ordered it, and kept it until around '91 when it was sold to Don Fezell, a collector of early, high end Impala's..The car had, from what they wrote, around 55.000 miles on it then.. Tony
5-speed was an extremely rare factory option, not sure where they sourced it from. Motor had to be either a 260 or a 350 Pontiac V8, though. We had my dad's ordered new '70 Gran Prix. Base 350-HP 400, 4-speed, 3:55 posi rearend, none of the power stuff that usually came on these, no vinyl top.. and a GM screwup, it came through with a clock instead of a tach. Would love to know where that car went, last time I saw it (around 1994) it was still the goofy Corvair yellow my dad had it painted, cragar SS rims on it.. heard it was in Rochester. Friend has a '70 or so Chevy pickup with a round clock in the glovebox door. Looks factory, but they say Chevy never made one. We junked the remains of a 67-68 Chevy Bel Air wagon which had been a V8-manual trans car a while back, too. When my buddy went to move it, he pulled on the front frame and got about half the frame, ripped right out from under the car. So he sold that to a guy and the rest got crushed. In retrospect, I should have brought the generator up and sawzalled it apart and saved the column and pedal assembly.
Got another... A friend i went to school with had a 76 Cutlass two door with a 260 and 5 speed..forgot about that too...
"5-speed was an extremely rare factory option, not sure where they sourced it from. Motor had to be either a 260 or a 350 Pontiac V8, though." Must have been the 260 as it was definitley an Olds engine.
A friend of my uncle ordered a 65 Ford Custom with the med. riser dual quad 427 and 4-speed with 4:11's and Michelin radials. The car was dark green with bench seat. The only thing on the outside was the 427 emblems. Great sleeper and it would run. And it also had the factory headlight covers.
I owned a 65 Olds 442 Convertible with the 400 and a column shift automatic, bucket seats and no console. Also had an ex-CHP 1970 Mercury Monterey (big) with 428 CJ and no power steering. Looked at a 65 Chrysler Newport hardtop with 383 and 4 speed. There was a 62 Galaxie 500 convertible for sale around here with a 6 cylinder and 3 speed column shift.
One of the guys I work with worked for a Pontiac dealer for years, and spoke of a GP optioned out the same way. When the original owner traded it in, it needed a clutch, and the parts manager tried looking it up, only to find that the Pontiac parts books showed no listings for a three speed equipped GP that year!
Years ago I put a clutch in a '67 Pontiac Bonneville Safari 3 speed, manual brakes & steering, radio delete, clear glass car. The owner was 6' 7" - his last name was Tromp ! ... also installed a Drag - Fast shifter in a '63 Catalina 4 speed 4 dr hardtop, 2bbl, dual exh., radio delete car that was bright red with white interior. Last year a specialty car lot near here had a '55 Chrysler Windsor 2 dr hardtop with a 301 2bbl & 3 speed OD. The Atomic Energy Commision site west of here had a fleet of Chenowith 2180 powered dune buggies to patrol the desert - heard they had a little trouble keeping them together ...
Ah the good old days of going to a dealer and ordering a car, and checking off the options or lack there of you actually wanted. No convenience package, no if ya get this ya gotta take that. My father ordered up a 65 Coronet 4 door. Bench seat, 383 2bbl, limited slip, three on the tree, PS, radio, and police wheels and tires.
I don't know if it was real or not but about 7-8 years ago I was reading a buddies "Old Cars Weekly" and in the background of a picture of a junkyard, setting on top of a couple other cars was a 57 Chevy "150" two door hardtop. We talked about that car for a long time. Also a neighbor had a green GTO station wagon. It was about a 68-69-70. He drove it till it fell apart.
After a bad experience with his first automatic transmission car my dad special ordered a 59 olds stick with 3 on the tree. He thought it would be reliable but he forgot to consider that I had just got my drivers license. Of course I had to impree all my buddies by reving it up and dumping the clutch at about every red light
Damn, I had the choice between getting that car for free and fixing it up or buying a 1967 Dodge Polara. I bought the dodge and dad junked the GP as it needed the motor rebuilt and some body work. At the time it problay had not run in four or five years. I loved the Polara but wish I could have saved the GP also.
My girlfriend is in the military and at work they have some late 70,s - early 80,s suburbans with Hummer running gear. It seems that this way it keeps spares to a minimum!!
In the 60s, my dad was a Ford dealer. He had a car that sat on the lot what seemed like forever (like, into 1966). 65 Custom (low-line big car), Rangoon Red, red interior, 390 4V and 4 speed. Did I mention it was a 4-door sedan? I think whoever optioned that one at the factory must have had a good laugh about it.
In 1960 I bought a 56 chrysler 300 B, 354 hemi, dual quads&a floor shifted 3 speed. A year or so ago I was on a mopar web site, found out that 300B was one of 8 produced. i should held on to that one,it would have been a nice part of my retirement portfoilo. LIVE AND LEARN Jack
My dad bought a 63 327 ss impala new and ordered it with a 3 speed column shift and a posi rear end. He said the 4 speed was about $400 more
Dont know haw rare it was but had a 66 Fury III two door with no power steering, no power brakes, slant six and three speed on the column with non-synchro first gear. Total pain in the ass to drive so swapped in a 383, auto, power steering and brakes and then got tired of it so I sold it. Car had thirty thousand miles on it when I bought it. That was is the early ninetys. Oh, it had dealer installed under dash air also.
I bought a 58 Impala 2 door HT from the original owner back in the mid 80's with a 6 cylinder and 3 on the tree. They said they ordered it that way because they did not want a V8. I even got the original sale paperwork.
Not in the least bit trad but there is a guy here in the metro that has a GTO Judge wagon. Fully papered and original.I could probably run off a large list of 'em. But a few that come to mind are a '57 Ford 4 door sedan with the odd factory blown 312. It was a cop car in a sleepy little town in SE Kansas when I lived there in the mid '70s.'64 Chevelle SS with a low performance 283 and a power slip, maybe not too rare but I owned it for awhile in the '70s.'64 Chevelle 4 door sedan, 327 power pack and 4 gear. Radio and heater delete. Was a high school buddies mom's grocery getter. (The motor and tranny my '64 SS should have had?)'54 Chebby wagon ordered with a Corvette Blue streak complete with the side draft carbs. ( I left that one alone and I don't even like inline 6s)
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