another 'one of one'

[DW31S]

I just read the old post on this car, and I have the HMM magazine also, and will say this, which might or might not be in agreement with others:
I have, along with my brother, father and grandfather worked at what was the third largest Olds dealer in this great country of our's. In my 32 years, and their MANY years, have seen many things that weren't "supposed to be available". I remember vividly a certain white 1965 Olds Cutlass that had a 425 engine when it arrived on the car hauler. I know the car well and rode in it many times, and know much of the history of the car later on into the early '70s. Did Oldsmobile build this car? Absolutely. Did the assembly line build it? Probably not. I know of at least 2 Rallye 350 model Cutlasses that were built with W-31 drivetrains---again probably NOT assembly line builds, but nonetheless Oldsmobile builds. Or, how did Ron Garey show up ot the Winternationals in a W-31 that wasn't due for announcement until after the race?
I'm not saying the Impala in question is real or not. It sounds as though some well educated people say it IS real, while it also sounds as though some other well-educated people refute it's authenticity. I have never seen it in person, and frankly I am NO L72 historian, so my opinion stands that it COULD BE REAL, and it COULD be an engineering study mule that got out. It HAS happened before. And.....the known mules that DID escape were NOT verified with a paperwork trail because they weren't planned assembly line builds. Those cars were assembled from different areas of the division if you will, NOT on the normal line in the normal procedure.
Along the same idea, I bought a 1990 Olds Calais (actually had to make a donation to a school) that GM (Oldsmobile division) had given to an automobile shop class to disect to teach about different functions of components of that car. The car I got had no VIN, so therefore had no title, and was never intended to be registered for street use. I originally had intentions of building a NHRA Super Stock car, but eneded up selling the car instead.
Maybe this Impala is bogus, and maybe it's not but I have learned over the years that anything is possible.
As to the records being available for certain GM divisions: Oldsmobile records are not available like the PHS and the Sloan stuff. The Heritage Center docs. are not as precise and definitive and PHS ans Sloan. Canadian cars are much easier to authenticate.

[Kurt S]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: DW31S</div><div class="ubbcode-body">And.....the known mules that DID escape were NOT verified with a paperwork trail because they weren't planned assembly line builds. Those cars were assembled from different areas of the division if you will, NOT on the normal line in the normal procedure.
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When engineering need a car, they ordered it - from the plant. Nowhere else in GM did the tooling exist to assemble that vehicle. Engineering could and did modify cars, but that's not assembling it.
Early pilot builds might not have a VIN, but they are not saleable units and were not sold (e.g. your 1990 Olds).

This car is 168877L166557, 05E, near the end of the year. It has major issues from what I hear.

There *was* one 67 L72 built. JohnZ owned it. &quot;I bought it directly out of the Chevrolet Engineering Fleet in December of '66 with 3,000 miles on it; it was special-ordered out of Flint Assembly with the L-72 4-speed and used by the Chassis Development Group when I was working at the Chevrolet Pilot Line in Flint.&quot;

[Big Block Bill]

&quot;Late 1966 engine casting date, March 10, 1967 machine (build) date, documentation from GM states: information will be available on L-72 in Chevrolet series vehicles after April 3, 1967&quot; And this car in question has a 5E 1967(May 5th week) build date? And this all appeared correct to the people who judged the car? What happened to the 90 day before build date theory? Sounds odd to me.

Bill