Crazy insurance rules "back in the day"

[tom406]

I did an appraisal a couple of weeks ago, and got to talking to the owner of the storage place about his '70 Hemi Cuda. He spoke to the original owner, who drag raced the car here in the NW, and asked about the column shift automatic. The original owner told him the insurance was significantly cheaper if you got a column shift car. This seemed ridiculous to me, since a column shifted Hemi ANYTHING could still get you into trouble fast. So I just wrote it off.

Then I get the new issue of Hemmings Muscle Machines, and there's a write-up on a one-owner '70 GS Stage 1 4sp. He relates that he was ready to buy a (coincidentally) Hemi Cuda, but his insurance agent shot him down. (Didn't ask about the column shift exemption, I guess). He asked about Buicks, and the guy told him fine, just no racing stripes. Could it be a Stage 1 car with a 4 speed? Fine, just no racing stripes. So he bought it and got reasonable insurance, even though that Buick could probably get him into as much mischief as the aforementioned Hemi car.

So, to those of you old enough to remember, were there other examples of these arbitrary rules of questionable logic? If so, what loopholes were you able to exploit?

[Rixls6]

A guy I knew in high school in 1970, bought a brand new El Camino with the LS6 engine. He brought the car/truck over to us right after he bought it.
He told us that the insurance was cheaper if he got the 450 Horsepower engine in a pick-up rather than in the Chevelle.
I'll never forget when he opened the hood and showed us those "454 450 Horsepower" air cleaner labels.

[Schonyenko2]

That's absolutly right about elco's Lotta Ia. farm boys bought them and registered them correctly as trucks. Insurance co's never caught on.
Had a friend who bought a 68 GTO 400 2bbl auto column shift for a lower rate. Only 2 bbl goat I ever saw.

[Keith Tedford]

Here in Ontario, our el Camino is registered as a car. I got good insurance rates on our COPO Chevelle because it was just a V8 Malibu. Who was I to argue.

[Kim_Howie]

As we all know the VIN # didn't tell us what motor was in the cars. Ins. co. only had the type of car to go with. A Four dr hemi was the sleeper of the times.

[TimG]

When I was a freshman in high school, my neighbor ordered a '71 Chevelle SS convertible as a gift from his parents for graduation from high school that year. He had to order the car with a bench seat, column shift and no stripes at all to secure reasonable insurance on it. It was a 454 and a neat car. On occasion he'd give me, a drooling freshman, a ride to school in his SS 454. I remember it had an AM 8 track. Not an AM/FM 8 track, just an AM 8 track. The car was absolute trash in about three years and I'm sure it's long gone now.

[firstgenaddict]

My 68 GTO has Push Button AM with 8 Track and rear electric Antenna...