'70 Corvette LT1 Debut?

[mockingbird812]

Was doing some research on Deuces and came across in Bob McClurg's new book that Don ordered the first order of Deuces on 16 Dec 1969. So I had assumed he had SEEN the Corvette LT1 and was inspired to use it in the Deuce. So I guess he was privy to the fact that the LT1 would be debuting in the Camaro and Corvette in or around January '70.

[Mr70]

The seperately released 1970 Camaro/Corvette Press kit,as well as at least one salesmans Communication film/record kit released near the end of '69 stated when these 2 cars were coming out & what to expect in the way of available engines/options.
February 13th I believe..

[Bill Pritchard]

Sam,

I don't think the 70 Camaro debut was delayed due to a UAW strike. I think it was just production issues related to the new body style. I believe the 69 style Camaros were produced into either November or December of 69. That's why the new models were usually referred to as ' '70 1/2 Camaros'. I will most certainly defer to Corvette experts on the intro dates of that model

[LS6 RAT]

Delorean had become GM of Chevrolet division, because of the spring strike, Chevrolet had a lot of unfilled orders for Corvettes and Delorean decided to fill those orders rather than send them back, so he ran the '69 model(which normally changes over beginning in the month of August)production another 5 months thru December of '69, causing the 1970 model to start 5 months later than usual.

[Bill Pritchard]

You're saying there was a strike in the spring of 69 which affected 69 model year Corvette production? Was the Corvette the only car affected by the strike? Not being argumentative, just trying to understand....

[LS6 RAT]

[ QUOTE ]
You're saying there was a strike in the spring of 69 which affected 69 model year Corvette production? Was the Corvette the only car affected by the strike? Not being argumentative, just trying to understand....

[/ QUOTE ]

The strike in May 1969 delayed a lot of orders for the Corvette at the St. Louis plant, John Delorean decided to extend Corvette production beyond the normal model year run in order to full fill those orders, rather than return them to the dealers. '69 Corvette production continued thru December of 1969, long into the normal changeover model run.

[mockingbird812]

Good history lesson guys. THanks! Can anyone provide info on when the LT1 engine development was completed? Any idea who oversaw this development (engineer)? And - to summarize, both the '70 Camaro & Corvette were delayed for the same reason - May '69 Strike. Corporate decision was made to extend the model year to fulfill dealer orders?

[StealthBird]

The 1969 Camaro and Firebird extension run to November/December 1969 was not due to a strike, it was because of tooling issues (specifically, the failure by Fisher Body to create the rear 1/4 panel dies for the 1970 model). I think the "strike" reference may be in regards to the Van Nuys plant strike, but that didn't have anything to do with extending the 1969 model year.

Now back to the Corvette LT-1.