1965 Z16 Chevelle production dates?

[mrrec]

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What would the earliest casting of any Mark 1V production blocks be? ~ Pete

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A 5 is the earliest I've seen. It is possible (but not likely) there were some Dec 64 blocks and heads but the early heads are not dated. Engineering received the #1 car on about the 24th of Dec, 1964 and hand made most of the special parts. It is very unlikely anything Z16 predated this by more than a few weeks. As an example, the 12 bolt rear center section used was cast (for all Z16s) in late December, but there is nothing special about the center section, so they built the GA rears on two days in January from a pile of centers that had been cast a few weeks earlier. Most components show a similar pattern: build a batch (199) on one or two days with a common casting date.

Dave