[jeffschevelle]

I've been posting for years that the car is legit every time it comes up in a thread. Glad it finally was restored and made available for all to see. And very glad Mr. Mattison was able to provide that engine code list, further verifying it.

Mark Meekins showed me pictures of this car 20 or so years ago, that he had taken in the 90's. It was still wearing its original paint (which was the case all the way up until the recent restoration). There was no sign of any lettering ever being on it. At that time it still had (and now still has) a convertible boxed frame with the partial VIN on it, and many Z16-specific parts including steering column, radiator, sway bars, springs, front 11" brakes and spindles, and special riveted wheels (including the original spare which still has its CORRECT square-edged Firestone Super Sports 7.74x14 gold line tire, not the earlier pie crust version that is sold by Coker). The car also had the mag caps in those old pictures.

Mark had pics of the window sticker too. Although it is different in some respects from a KC regular production w/s (as it was probably printed or typed in the Central Office along with the work orders for the various components of the car), it is real too. The COPO number is on it, and those pics were taken years before Mr. Mattison unearthed any of the documentation bearing that COPO number. So unless someone was psychic, the w/s is real.

As to the HP, it was definitely a 425. The Tonawanda work order (or whatever they called it) calls out to build a 65 full size L78/K66 (396/425 with transistor ignition) engine with 3 modifications - (1) substitute LH L37 (which is the Z16 engine RPO) exhaust manifold in place of LH L78 exhaust manifold, (2) substitute RH L37 exhaust manifold in place of RH L78 exhaust manifold, and (3) substitute an L37 oil pan in place of L78 passenger car oil pan. (All those items are identified by part numbers, and the part numbers tie back to the descriptions above.)

That also confirms that the car would have come with orange valve covers, not chrome Z16 covers. If they had been chrome, that would have been listed as an additional substitution.

Given the big front brakes, the original rear axle would have been built in a Z16 housing with big brakes too. I don't know how to verify what the original gear ratio was, unless the current owner was told what it was by his cousin who ordered the car new. But either way, in light of the other purpose-built specs of the car, no doubt it was a posi, and it was probably the lowest gearset that was available at the axle plant for a Chevy 12-bolt at that time. The original axle was replaced as part of the Olds drivetrain swap back when the car was still fairly new, but an accurate appearing clone axle is in it now.

Another extremely interesting tidbit, that has nothing to do with the performance aspects of the car but shows just how specific the original owner was about what he wanted on his new car -- This car never had the bright rocker panel moldings that were standard on all regular production 65 300 sedans. Again, the car still had original paint before the resto, and there were never any holes drilled for any molding attaching clips. Makes you wonder why he wanted the mag caps rather than dog-dishes, but to each his own!