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just for my own grins, it would be nice to know when they started really working on these cars, once I saw you guys using the mid 1956 dates in the above threads. I have always been into big brake cars (jim knows) and I have an early 1956 intake manifold for a fuelie. Would these sebring cars be the first fuelies made? Would they have any engine prototype stuff on them? probably not...except for a mule?..
side note, there is what I believe is a 57 sebring pic in the recent street scenes thread on this site. That was cool to see (I bet no one noticed). side scoops showing plain as day.
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If you really want to get into the history of these cars and Rochester Fuel Injection, buy Ken Kayser's book " The History of GM's Ramject Fuel Injection on the Chevrolet V-8 and its Corvette Racing Pedigree"
Yes, the title is a mouthful, but the book has 594 pages of text and photos and is full of imformation never before published.
In 1975,Ken purchased a 57 Corvette "Pilot line fuel injection model", vin number #162 that was built the first week of October 1956. That purchase sent him on a hunt for more information. He was a GM Powertrain engineer with Chevrolet since 1968 (Just retired in 2008), so he knew his way around the company.
His records indicate Chevrolet began the engineering of Fuel Injection in 1955 with John Dolsa's (the creating engineer of Rochester Fuel Injection) US Patent #2871842 filed on May 31, 1955. In October 1956, 4 fuel injection cars were made.
Ken tracks every piece of history up thru the end of 1957. It is a great source for history lovers. You can order the book at his email address
[email protected].