Came across this story the other day... Pretty Interesting! 1965 Sedan This month, instead of discussing the 1965 L-79 Chevelle as we mentioned last issue, we’d like to take a moment to mention the rarest 1965 Chevelle that we have ever seen. Legend has it that there was a 65 Chevelle running around back in the 60s that was basically a factory race car. Supposedly it was a stripped down sedan with the Z-16 hardware and a 396. Like most people, we figured this story was just a concoction of wishful thinking, until recently when we were visiting Chevellebration in Nashville, Tennessee. While visiting with some friends who own Z-16s, they introduced us to a gentleman who had a very interesting story to tell. It starts in 1965 when an Engineer working for Pontiac wanted his own street race car. Just at that time, Pontiac was pulling out of racing completely, and Chevrolet had the Z-16 project in full swing. Since this engineer couldn’t get anything from Pontiac he approached his fellow engineers at Chevrolet in order to build a one off Chevelle. To keep the weight to a minimum they decided on a Sedan body, and then mounted it on a convertible frame, with the Z-16 brakes and suspension. They dropped in the Z-16 radiator, riveted steel wheels, and mag hubcaps. For running gear they used a 396, but opted for the corvette version which was rated at 425hp, an M-22 rock-crusher Muncie, and 4:88 geared 12 bolt posi. The car was painted black with red interior, and was a bare bones 300 sedan. It had a standard 120 mph speedometer, clock delete, idiot lights, radio delete, no carpet, and the outside trim was standard 300 issue trim. The only difference was a pair of 396 cross flags on the front fenders. After a few years of street racing this engineer ended up moving to Tennessee to open a speed shop. For some reason, we assume drivability, he pulled the engine, trans and rearend, and installed a much more mellow 1966 olds running gear. The car was then sold with 6000 miles on the odometer to the current owner, whom we met at the Nashville Chevelle show. This gentleman was kind enough to invite us over to see this rarest of the rare Chevelles. With much skepticism in our minds we entered the basement where this Chevelle is being stored. After an hour or two of scouring the car and a hundred or more questions we were left with what can only be described as a feeling of awe. After driving this Chevelle for a few years the current owner put it in storage and hadn’t touched it since. After all these years the elements had worn on the car a little, so the current owner is now contemplating a total restoration. It will be a fine day when a treasure like this hits the road again in all its original glory. In the next issue we will continue the 1965 Chevelle tribute with our L-79 article, and be sure to stay tuned in 2006 when we begin a tribute to rare 1966 Chevelles, and many other tech articles.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Jul 2014 14:28:19 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015