EARNHARDT INTIMIDATOR SS

[82z96ss]

CWilliams I'll be there Saturday. WOuld love to see your Berger there.

My Brother n Laws 02 35th Ann. SS has the knock, and my cousins 00 SS has had 2 or 3 trannies so far. My 96 SS, I believe it has the T56 in it, tranny seems to be bullet proof. Many a time it has endured down shifts when accelerating [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/[/img] and never been in the shop for the tranny or rear end. Knock on wood that continues with the ZL1.

[CWilliams]

82z96ss- Are you talking about being at Year One on Saturday? My Brother and I are delivering a '55 Chevy to Milt Robson on Thursday or Friday, thats what I was talking about.

[82z96ss]

nope I was talking about being at GMMG. Picking up my Z this weekend.

Thanks for the post Matt, now go fix my car! Just Joking.
I didn't realize he carried so much history behind the cars. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/worship.gif[/img]

[JoeC]

Matt, were you at the GM Nationals Carlisle show? I heard this same story there about Dale E. It was during a seminar with some people from GM and they took some questions from the audience. I was the guy who stood up and asked why Chevy didn't build a 427 car using the C5R engine. He said there were too many problems getting certification for it. I said that I thought it could be done since the Viper and some import supercars were over 500 hp. He said they were "Halo" cars and GM didn't want to build cars like that. I was thinking he just didn't get it.
A 2003 427 Corvette would have been a great 50 anniversary Corvette special edition. GM is getting blown away buy Viper and Ford in the supercar market. I later heard that Dale E was thinking of building a special edition 427 Corvette street car similar to the C5R race car he drove.
Did Dale E. ever mention anything to you about building a 427 2003 Corvette?

[berger21]

Matt, what does GMMG stand for. Go Matt Murphy Go?

[GMMG_Murphy]

Yes, I was in on that discussion at Carlisle and on the stage with the GM guys. We (GMMG) thought about doing an emission legal 427 but the expense and small cam needed to get it to pass would have you a $25K motor making the same HP as a cylinder head & cam shaft LS1 or LS6. To me, these 427's, for the cost, have to be making 600HP and close to that in TQ. Not sure what GM is doing or thinking about using a 427 in a factory Corvette. They sell it through GM Performance Parts and the Corvette, I think, will get a new motor in the next gen and the LS6 will be standard.

GM did not make a long term casting for the 427 so that is a major reason why it is so expensive. I did talk with Dale in length about doing more dealer built cars for him and his dealership. The Camaro was going to be the first in a line of Dale Earnhardt Specialty vehicles. At the time he was driving the C5R Corvette, the 427 was a mystery motor and no one knew much at all about it. Katech decided to sell it and that is how we got involved in building them. We can thank Charlie Lillard, Bill Porterfield, and Kevin Suydam for pushing me to build these cars with the 427 as an option.

GMMG's name came from two last names - George and Murphy and Motorsports Group. But it is legally listed as GMMG, Inc. Someone said you should tell people that it means "Give Me More Gusto." Well, I need to get back to work . . . we delivered ZL1's # 52 and 40 today and #62 and 46 are going this weekend. So far 39 have been delivered. Most of the rest will go this month.

[Stefano]

Matt,
Thanks,Very cool info.

[NCGuy68]

Matt,

Thanks for the info about the 427 block. It was my understanding that this was the block used by the GM "Vette" race teams. What other engine components make a '427' in your view?

Thanks for your reply.