1966 GTO 421??

[Bobcat]

PMD did not officially put 421's in GTO's for public consumption. There wer some GTO's bulit with 421 from the factory, BUT and that is a BIG BUT, the owners rearly know it. If the factory was short on 389's a it was not uncommon to put a 326 or 421 in to a car slated for some other engins. Ther was NO way the line was going to be stopped for somthing like this. It was common that an engine slated for installation would be pulled from the line by engineering just to test it for tollerances. This would disrupt the sequence for a few cars. Yes, there was a 1966 421 tri power. There were also dealerships that installed 421's as a commom practice. Royal Pontiac, MI, Packer Pontiac MI and FL and Myrtl Motors NY, Gay Pontiac TX, Colony Pontiac FL and others. Hope this helps

[copo9566aa]

[ QUOTE ]
If the factory was short on 389's a it was not uncommon to put a 326 or 421 in to a car slated for some other engins. Ther was NO way the line was going to be stopped for somthing like this. It was common that an engine slated for installation would be pulled from the line by engineering just to test it for tollerances.

[/ QUOTE ] this is not cool for an all numbers match 389 GTO [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

[Bobcat]

In 1966 the vin was not stamped into the block. The block number was a unit number that would only be on the paper work. Numbers matching was not an issue at the factory. The date codes are within an exceptable span with most purists. If you look your engine over the heads are not nessarily the same date and time and rarely is the head the same as the block date. The assemblers aren't going to take the time to check date codes or casting #'s. '66 Cars may have
one 092 head and one 093. What than? Tell me would you have noticed? I doubt it. If you had an early or late car you got a hadge podge of parts. They used whatever was in the bin and fit was used.

[copo9566aa]

Welcome Bobcat [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/burnout.gif[/img]
Cool and funny the world of Pontiac and Royal Bobcat [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]
Very special history [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif[/img]

[DaJudge]

Good info on both posts Bobcat. The official stance from the factory and publications are that no 421's or 428's were factory installed. Special dealers like Royal etc. installed these engines for customers as an upgrade or upcharge. Unless it can be substantially documented as such you would have to agree that a GTO with this conversion would be an incorrect restoration. I disagree with your expanation of non-matching vin numbers in cars and that if one was off the whole line would suffer. One engine may be outfitted for A/C and power steering etc for a vehicle. If the next vehicle in line had or was missing these options the accessory mounting brackets are different as are balancer pulleys and water pump pulleys. Pictures that I have seen show all accessories on the engine before installation into the chassis. The workers would create bigger problems for themselves and really slow down production if they followed your explanation. My friend owned a 70 RA III Judge that was an original paint car and never touched a real survivor by the strictest definition of the term. It had three build sheets and only three owners. The car was ordered as a RA IV but came through as a III. The last digit was a 5 like a IV block should be but was coded a RA III WS block. The VIN on the block and trans was one digit off from the VIN plate. When the VIN number on the block and trans was submitted to PHS it was run through every possible vehicle series . The VIN on the block and trans came back "does not exist" from PHS. The engine and trans never left the engine bay on this car ever. This is an example of a factory mistake that from what I am told happened more than once.

[Steve_Hoog]

OK Coppo I wanna know the story behind this gem of a photo, cough up the goods [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggthumpup.gif[/img]

[Pantera]

That is great I have never seen the fixture that GM used to pickup the motors. Makes it easier to understand the brackets that came on the motors from the factory. I had something totally different in my mind.
[img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/worship.gif[/img]

[Steve_Hoog]

Sorry Copo... I was in such awe over the pic, I didn't scroll down to see the caption.

[sixtiesmuscle]

Are you saying that the factory would install an engine that had the wrong vin stamped on it? If they just went down the line with engines, how many could be misinstalled?? Wouldn't this be fraud?

[442w30]

I think it's an old wive's tale. Using that logic, there's some 326 Tempest out there with a 421.