[SRR]

Originally Posted by jrunner

Many years ago I had a 66 el camino with a factory 427 turbo 400 with a 12 bolt rearend. It was a plain Jane bench seat roll up windows. What we thought was crazy is the butteryfly windows were power. I’m sure it was special ordered from Chevrolet for the original owner back then if you had the $ you could order almost almost what ever you wanted. Guy I sold it to is a lucky sob.

"Engines

Six V8s and two inline six-cylinder engines powered the 1966 El Camino. The base engine was the 120-horsepower, 194-cubic inch inline six featuring a single carburetor and 177 ft.-lbs. of torque. An optional 230-cubic inch inline six was available as a single-barrel carb, with 140 horsepower and 220 ft.-lbs. of torque. The standard V8 featured the 283-cubic inch version with either a two- or four-barrel carburetor. The two-barrel carb model generated 195 horsepower and 285 ft.-lbs. of torque while the four-barrel carb wielded 220 horsepower and 295 ft.-lbs. of torque. A 327 V8 was offered as a four-barrel carburetor model generating 275 horsepower and 355 ft.-lbs. of torque. Three versions of the 396-cubic-inch V8 came with four-barrel carburetors with 325 horsepower and 410 ft.-lbs. of torque, 360 horsepower with 420 ft.-lbs. of torque, and 375 horsepower with 415 ft.-lbs. of torque. The 1966 El Camino equipped with the 327 V8 reached 0 to 60 MPH in 9.4 seconds and the 1/4-mile in 16.9 seconds at 85.2 MPH."

[455Grandville]

Originally Posted by gtospieg

A guy at my bowling league tells me his buddy has a 67 Chevelle SS that came stock with a 427. Not a Yenko, Nickey, Dick Harrel, Motion or COPO. I call BS. He googles it on his phone and says "Look it says here they sold 80,xxx 69 427 Chevelles". Again I call BS. Did a 427 ever come in any Chevelle other than from one of those "special" dealers?

I don’t think they even sold 80,000 SS396s Chevelles.
The L78s 375 horse models are rare as it is; the guy that bought my Camaro new had to order it as none of St. Louis area dealers had one at the time, most were 325s & 350 horse models.

[sdbob]

Around here the 375 hp were rare(excluding Corvettes). A friend had a red 68 Camaro 375 with 4spd. Raced it alot with his brother at the strip. Then tubbed it, then somehow brother wouldn't give the car back to his brother in his garage today.They arent speaking. Another local guy had a Nova 69 I think with 375 auto in gold. A guy I knew in college had a 375 Chevelle 4spd in red he bought new. Still rare. Saw only 1 -360 hp 66 Chevelle. Boy the years fly by to keep all this straight!!

[Jay S]

The L-36 427 385HP that chevy used wasn’t exactly a wild engine. Not sure they deserve all the folk lore they still get. Some dealers must have installed them in Chevelle’s and El Camino’s before 69. Can’t say that I ever remember the factory doing it until late in 68 and 69 with the COPO cars. The 350 HP 396 and 385 HP 427 were nearly identical except for the extra cubes. They had 2.06” intake valves and used the lower performance oval port heads. The compression was rate at 10.25 IRC. The cam was a pretty small HFT and was 214/218 @ .050” lift, really wide LSA, up around 115. The lower HP 454s in 1970 were set up the same way, just more cubes yet. About the same HP, just more usable HP with more TQ.

The L-78 had the same heads and cam as a LS-6 454 and the hotter 427s. Solid flat tappet with 242* @ .050”. Then they had higher flow rectangle port heads with 2.19 valves, and at least another point more compression. If anything the L-78 was under rated at 375 HP, especially compared to it’s 350 Hp cousin.

One of my dad’s friends worked at a GM garage when the 350 and 375 HP Chevelle’s were new. He traded every year, I am not sure how many he had. He said he had both the 350 HP and 375 HP Chevelle’s. His last one was a 69 Chevelle L-78 4-speed. The dealer he worked for was connected to other dealers and they sold all the GM brand cars. He said in 1970 a yellow Buick with black stripes showed up at the lot, with a 455. He took it for a drive and immediately traded his L-78 Chevelle for it. I can only assume it was a Stage 1 Buick 455 GS , it had an automatic. He said it was wicked compared to his 396 Chevelle’s, his exact words were his 396’s had weren’t anything compared to that Buick. Lol, and out of the mouth of a die hard Chevy Guy. Pretty funny. Must have ran good..

My first car was a 71 Chevelle, I still have it. Working on painting it right now.

[mgarblik]

Had a friend with a dark green Stage 1 Buick GS. Bench seat, auto on column. Very sedate looking. One of the quickest, fastest cars in our little group. A real wolf in sheeps clothing.

[Skip Fix]

Those Buick GS cars were pretty good sleepers. Heck I knew a number of guys running high 10s with them with some ported iron heads and a cam in the 90s!

[carcrazy]

Originally Posted by Stuart

My cousin bought a new SS427/4 speed Impala in 1967, I think it was probably the 385hp version. It was Marina Blue, just like the one in the factory brochure - it was a great looking car.

My best friend had one. Absolutely a great car!

[sdbob]

My friend John who had the 67 Yenko 427,auto,with headers 4.33 gears. I rode in it when brand new. Qjet,cast iron intake. As I said ,when later yrs we tore it down 2 bolt ,small heads. I read it was 390 hp or as someone said 385. It was high 13 second car,uncapped initially. I remember him street racing a brand new either 68 or 69 RA ,4spd GTO.I think 68. We ran 4 times.First 3 were real close maybe half a fender by John.Last race he held it longer for the upshift. Then maybe a car. My 2cts.

[gtospieg]

Pretty sure the Buick GS 455 Stage 1 had 510lbs of torque, most of any of the Muscle Cars of the era.

[misterp266]

Baldwin 427s.

[nikrnic]

Not a regular RPO option.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

[gtospieg]

After over 1900 views and more than 50 comments(none stating, or proving you could order the 427 as an RPO)I feel confident that I can collect my $5 at bowling tonight. Now can I really get this guy to believe me?

[gtospieg]

I got my $5. He did his own research and when I saw him he said "I owe you $5". I said "Yeah I know".

[NeighborsComplaint]

Intermediates had a 400 CID limit from GM Corp. Dealer install, Ttuners (Baldwin, Nickey) or Copo were the only way to get the 427. Chevy did give out Copo orders to every Tom, Dick and Harry. You had to have some pull to get one approved.

[PunchT37]

Originally Posted by gtospieg

I got my $5. He did his own research and when I saw him he said "I owe you $5". I said "Yeah I know".

LOL.