Re: 1966 GTO 421??
 

Do you know Barb Stempel? we lived together back in the early 80's. She knows a thing or two about GM cars [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/naughty.gif[/img]
Sam [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/burnout.gif[/img]

Re: 1966 GTO 421??
 

Apparently you are to young or don't recall the law suites against GM in the '70's when it was found out that they had installed Chevy engines in Oldsmobiles. This is why GM now has only has Corporate engines and a central Division called POWERTRAIN.

Re: 1966 GTO 421??
 

Welcome "Bobcat". I only WISH I were too young, and yes, I do recall the Chevy-Olds issue. That still doesn't resolve a question of engines with incorrect VINs being put into cars. Mistakes probably happened, but, there was a post that indicated it was routine to pull engines off the line, and, just go to "the next" one in line. There must have been some precedure to assure that every subsequent car that day didn't receive an engine meant for another car. Maybe you can enlighten us on what they did when an engine was pulled for engineering to test.

Re: 1966 GTO 421??
 

Mike

I'm not sure of the year, was it 67 or 68 that they started putting the VIN on the blocks?

Steve

Re: 1966 GTO 421??
 

1968

Mike

Re: 1966 GTO 421??
 

Welcome Bobcat [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/burnout.gif[/img]
Cool and funny the world of Pontiac and Royal Bobcat [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]
Very special history [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif[/img]

Re: 1966 GTO 421??
 

Good info on both posts Bobcat. The official stance from the factory and publications are that no 421's or 428's were factory installed. Special dealers like Royal etc. installed these engines for customers as an upgrade or upcharge. Unless it can be substantially documented as such you would have to agree that a GTO with this conversion would be an incorrect restoration. I disagree with your expanation of non-matching vin numbers in cars and that if one was off the whole line would suffer. One engine may be outfitted for A/C and power steering etc for a vehicle. If the next vehicle in line had or was missing these options the accessory mounting brackets are different as are balancer pulleys and water pump pulleys. Pictures that I have seen show all accessories on the engine before installation into the chassis. The workers would create bigger problems for themselves and really slow down production if they followed your explanation. My friend owned a 70 RA III Judge that was an original paint car and never touched a real survivor by the strictest definition of the term. It had three build sheets and only three owners. The car was ordered as a RA IV but came through as a III. The last digit was a 5 like a IV block should be but was coded a RA III WS block. The VIN on the block and trans was one digit off from the VIN plate. When the VIN number on the block and trans was submitted to PHS it was run through every possible vehicle series . The VIN on the block and trans came back "does not exist" from PHS. The engine and trans never left the engine bay on this car ever. This is an example of a factory mistake that from what I am told happened more than once.

Re: 1966 GTO 421??
 

OK Coppo I wanna know the story behind this gem of a photo, cough up the goods [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggthumpup.gif[/img]

Re: 1966 GTO 421??
 

That is great I have never seen the fixture that GM used to pickup the motors. Makes it easier to understand the brackets that came on the motors from the factory. I had something totally different in my mind.
[img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/worship.gif[/img]

Re: 1966 GTO 421??
 

Sorry Copo... I was in such awe over the pic, I didn't scroll down to see the caption.