1965 Chevelle 300, 396/425 M22 COPO

[markjohnson]

That 327 COPO 9557 caught my eye on the sheet also. There have always been rumors of 1964 327-365 solid lifter Chevelles and maybe that carried over into a few rare 1965’s because other than a Fuelie (I REALLY doubt that happened) I don’t know what else it could possibly be.

[jeffschevelle]

I've been posting for years that the car is legit every time it comes up in a thread. Glad it finally was restored and made available for all to see. And very glad Mr. Mattison was able to provide that engine code list, further verifying it.

Mark Meekins showed me pictures of this car 20 or so years ago, that he had taken in the 90's. It was still wearing its original paint (which was the case all the way up until the recent restoration). There was no sign of any lettering ever being on it. At that time it still had (and now still has) a convertible boxed frame with the partial VIN on it, and many Z16-specific parts including steering column, radiator, sway bars, springs, front 11" brakes and spindles, and special riveted wheels (including the original spare which still has its CORRECT square-edged Firestone Super Sports 7.74x14 gold line tire, not the earlier pie crust version that is sold by Coker). The car also had the mag caps in those old pictures.

Mark had pics of the window sticker too. Although it is different in some respects from a KC regular production w/s (as it was probably printed or typed in the Central Office along with the work orders for the various components of the car), it is real too. The COPO number is on it, and those pics were taken years before Mr. Mattison unearthed any of the documentation bearing that COPO number. So unless someone was psychic, the w/s is real.

As to the HP, it was definitely a 425. The Tonawanda work order (or whatever they called it) calls out to build a 65 full size L78/K66 (396/425 with transistor ignition) engine with 3 modifications - (1) substitute LH L37 (which is the Z16 engine RPO) exhaust manifold in place of LH L78 exhaust manifold, (2) substitute RH L37 exhaust manifold in place of RH L78 exhaust manifold, and (3) substitute an L37 oil pan in place of L78 passenger car oil pan. (All those items are identified by part numbers, and the part numbers tie back to the descriptions above.)

That also confirms that the car would have come with orange valve covers, not chrome Z16 covers. If they had been chrome, that would have been listed as an additional substitution.

Given the big front brakes, the original rear axle would have been built in a Z16 housing with big brakes too. I don't know how to verify what the original gear ratio was, unless the current owner was told what it was by his cousin who ordered the car new. But either way, in light of the other purpose-built specs of the car, no doubt it was a posi, and it was probably the lowest gearset that was available at the axle plant for a Chevy 12-bolt at that time. The original axle was replaced as part of the Olds drivetrain swap back when the car was still fairly new, but an accurate appearing clone axle is in it now.

Another extremely interesting tidbit, that has nothing to do with the performance aspects of the car but shows just how specific the original owner was about what he wanted on his new car -- This car never had the bright rocker panel moldings that were standard on all regular production 65 300 sedans. Again, the car still had original paint before the resto, and there were never any holes drilled for any molding attaching clips. Makes you wonder why he wanted the mag caps rather than dog-dishes, but to each his own!

[Fast67VelleN2O]

Here is a screenshot from a Facebook discussion on the car. Straight from the horses mouth. Still not sure why all these original parts are not reunited with a rare car like this? If Alan Colvin knows where the original rear axle for this car is, we should know what ratio it is.

[Astock]

The original owner knew what he was doing, or knew people that did.

[Mr70]

I remember talking to Mark @ the NCOA Showdown about this car.He showed me pictures he took and said how much he wanted to own it,but it couldn't be bought.I didn't want town it,but asked where the original engine was,and he said he's not going to say.
I assume he either didn't know @ that time,or did know and was trying to acquire it.
Glad to see this all come to light now.

[Too Many Projects]

"The original axle was replaced as part of the Olds drivetrain swap back when the car was still fairly new, but an accurate appearing clone axle is in it now."
This is also a very interesting mystery to me. WHY would the original owner swap in an Olds driveline early on ???? Is the 396 engine blown up and not usable ?? I really can't picture any stock Olds drivetrain from that time period coming close to even matching what this car was built with...

[jeffschevelle]

Originally Posted by Too Many Projects

"The original axle was replaced as part of the Olds drivetrain swap back when the car was still fairly new, but an accurate appearing clone axle is in it now."
This is also a very interesting mystery to me. WHY would the original owner swap in an Olds driveline early on ???? Is the 396 engine blown up and not usable ?? I really can't picture any stock Olds drivetrain from that time period coming close to even matching what this car was built with...

I would normally let the owner speak to that question if he was on the site, but I don't think he's much online, so I will give it a shot.

My understanding from him was that Fast Eddie (who spec'd it and bought it new) had moved on to another car by then and had no further interest in racing the COPO Chevelle anymore. A racing friend had the Olds and wanted to continue racing his same Olds, but wanted the COPO drivetrain. Fast Eddie liked the fancier red and white Olds interior, so the drivetrains and interiors were swapped. (I would hope there was some cash boot in there as well, but who knows.)

On another note, the COPO still had the red and white Olds interior in it up until the restoration. I found a fairly nice 300 post car about 10 years ago with a mint set of red 300 door panels, the rubber mat, and nice seats, and hooked the COPO owner up with that car so he would have that interior for the COPO restoration. The seats had a tiny bit of wear so they actually got NOS seat cloth from SMS and used that to recover the donor seats so they would be nicer. The rubber mat unfortunately was not used, as the car has carpet in it now. They said it had a couple minor cracks around the seat feet so they went with carpet instead.

[Too Many Projects]

Thanks Jeff.
Yeah, the crazy things people did with these cars when they were done playing with them years ago is rather mind boggling to us now.
So you, and others, have known about this car for quite some time, it just wasn't well known in public until recently ?
Still brings up the question of who has the original rear axle and trans and why they haven't been pursued to reunited with the car.

[Bill Pritchard]

Originally Posted by jeffschevelle

The rubber mat unfortunately was not used, as the car has carpet in it now. They said it had a couple minor cracks around the seat feet so they went with carpet instead.

To each their own, but there's no way I would have put repro carpeting in that car if I had a near-mint OEM rubber mat

[Pro Stock John]

Mitch, I would guess the car owner and the other guy know each other but maybe can't agree on price?