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Originally Posted by UK SD455 MUSCLE CARS
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Of course there were other cars from all manufacturers that either slipped or were sneaked past company policy. The Banshee, the AMX II were 2 famous ones, but who knows how many more "normal" style cars with special options slid past the crusher and got certificates of origin? Having been in and around dealerships my whole young life I saw a lot off the wall cars.
I know of one '66 GTO that had a 421/338 h.p./2speed auto combo. The car was very low option and sold as a 335 h.p. 389 to a man in his 40's at Roughton Pontiac. Nobody would have ever known if it had not piggy backed a bearing under warrenty and the mechanic realized it when he pulled the engine apart. Nobody would likely have intentionally used the 338 h.p. motor. If they were going to the trouble why not a 376 hp 4 speed car? Obviously a mistake, somebody that got a 2+2 or some other full size and thought they had 421 probably had the GTO's 389 under the hood.
I saw one of the 7 or 8 LS6 '71 Chevelles built(some say none were built), it was sold new at Colonial Chevrolet, a red bench seat, auto on the column, black interior car with cowl induction and the 425 h.p. decal on the open element air cleaner sitting on the Holley carb. My stepdad had a one off '65 Dodge pickup. It was a shortbed 2wd, dark blue and white. It had a 426 wedge, A-933 4 speed and a Dana 60 with 3.54 gears. It had a one off Hurst shifter built just for that truck, the truck was originally built for Cotten Owens to use as a pit crew truck/parts hauler for his Dodge NASCAR team and came from Dodge that way.
Remember that in the days before the assembly line was fully automated, a lot of strange things could, and did get built. Some on purpose, some by accident. Also a lot of test mules ended up with COO's and titles, even though they were "checked off" as crushed.