Well, both the books I mentioned and used for the facts I stated are 1966 GM, Chevrolet books. Not something some car guy threw together and stuck a bowtie on it. Both are used by the dealer/salesman with the buyer to order a vehicle and were supplied to the dealer by GM. The books are what they are. I can post pictures of them.
That is the problem, accuracy. Some people go crazy to try to have their car restored accurate and factory correct. If there isn't a build sheet or window sticker to accurately restore a car, then what should be used for reference? No build sheet? No window sticker? It would then make sense to use dealer books, handouts and other GM/Chevrolet documentation. There are other books published out there that are a huge help and when used in conjunction with GM reference materials, help confirm things. If you can get them to all agree with what your trying to find, then that's great. But it doesn't work all the time. Unfortunately even protect-o-plates and build sheets aren't always 100% accurate. For example, I recently saw a build sheet for a '66 L72 Chevy that was delivered the first week of May, 1966. The broadcast code for the carb on the build sheet was EF. EF is for a 1965 L78 carb. Why would that be when approximately 1,000 L72's built before it probably had the correct code EE? "E" and "F" are close on a keyboard/alphabet and can easily be confused at a glance. A type-o?? This car was built at a Doraville which was a BOP plant. Not all plants referenced everything the same. Was there actually a left over Holley 3130 from 1965 that was sitting on a shelf that somebody said "Oh, what's this doing sitting around? Throw this on a car.". If it did in fact come with a 3130 instead of a 3246 there is no way to prove it. I have a good friend that is restoring a 1968 L72 Biscayne. It still has the protect-o-plate. The POP shows the "ID" suffix for the engine code which is for L72. But at position D for the carburetor source code it has an "R". That "R" is for Rochester. Did L72's come with Rochester carb's? They didn't according to all the resources I've seen. Has anybody out there ever seen a Rochester carb on a GM factory Rochester aluminum intake on a L72 427? I don't think so. Here's another example of a conflict as posted by another member of this site.
https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/show...o=&fpart=1
What is the end-all reference? Is there one? Not that I know of. If somebody has a build sheet, window sticker and POP, and they all agree, and it all agrees with ordering information, then there wouldn't be a question. If you see an official GM reference that says a certain combination is not available, it brings up a conflict. I think that's why this thread started.