Earliest LS6/M22 production date?

[Xplantdad]

There was a Canadian one that was earlier than Greg's from what I remember?

[the427king]

Lane may have to recall thier model?.....

[1972convss454]

The earliest built LS6 to date came from the Leeds plant and was sold in Canada. It is fully documented and was built in late November. You have always heard they didn't start production on the LS6 until they stop production on the L78. I actually have a build sheet from the Leeds plant for an L78 that was built after the Leeds LS6.
Still interesting that these two early built LS6's were both sent to Canada.
The green "Pilot Car" was built at the Baltimore Plant in early December. IIRC

[TopRat]

Yes the Green Pilot car was built in Baltimore and had a scheduled build date of 12-09 (12B). The Baltimore Pilot was a TH400. I’m wondering when the first M22 LS6 was built? Apparently all the really early LS6’s were TH400. My White LS6 had a scheduled build date of 12-11 (12B) and is a M22.

[olredalert]

----Red Alert (also a t-400) was a december car (December 22).....Bill S

[ohhawk]

Originally Posted by COPO

There's an Autumn Gold Turbo 400 equipped car built November 25th also at Leeds, and a 12B Dec. 9th built Turbo 400 car from Baltimore, but I'm not aware of any 4-speeds that are before your build date.

I had a Black 12C LS-6 Convertible M-22 built in Van Nuys that was purported to be the first convertible LS-6 built. Have been out of Chevelles for a while, so not sure if anything earlier surfaced.

Our previously owned LS-5 convertible was made the same week (12C) in Van Nuys..........also with the M-22. Also one of the earliest built as an LS-5.

[1972convss454]

I'm no expert but it is my understanding the M22 was the hold up on the LS6 to begin with. Rick or Chris I know can shed some light on the subject.

[GotGrunt]

Originally Posted by 1972convss454

I'm no expert but it is my understanding the M22 was the hold up on the LS6 to begin with. Rick or Chris I know can shed some light on the subject.

Yes, the fine spline M22 was designed for the 1970 454 Chevelles and their delay was the reason for the very early LS5/6 cars all being TH400.

[ls6owner]

The earliest documented and known as of this date is our old Autumn Gold pilot car that was built at Leeds on November 19, 1969 and shipped to Haney Garage (commonly known as Mussalem Motors). It was a TH400 car. We sold the car in 2019.

The other pilot car (the green one) was built at Baltimore on December 9, 1969 IIRC. It too, was a TH400 car.

It appears that the M22 became available mid December as there are several examples in that time frame.

Oliver

[TopRat]

I got the code off of the diff yesterday.