’65 CHEVELLE SS396 BIG-BLOCK Z16!

Posted on December 13, 2024 by MartynL

Chevrolet’s entry in the Supercar Sweepstakes - ’65 CHEVELLE SS396 BIG-BLOCK Z16! – is a rare, fast collectible. Chevrolet had been slow to bring a high-performance midsize car to market. Toward the end of the 1965 model year, they revealed the potent Z16 Chevelle Malibu SS396, powered by an all-new Mark IV 396 big-block. While somewhat boxy, it was the most powerful car in the Supercar Sweepstakes. But there was a problem. Chevrolet General Manager Bunkie Knudsen’s foray into the marke...

CHEVY 427 MARK II MYSTERY MOTOR

Posted on October 20, 2024October 20, 2024 by MartynL

Unlike the Z11, the CHEVY 427 MARK II MYSTERY MOTOR was not available in a car, or to the public. You had to have serious NASCAR cred to get one of the 20 built. In the 1960s, Semon “Bunkie” Knudsen always seemed to be one step ahead of GM Chairman Fred Donner’s anti-racing missives. While running Pontiac, he had supported the Super-Duty Group that later, after he left, managed to get 421 Catalina Lightweights to drag racers before the axe fell. Then he moved on to Chevrolet in 1961 and...

ZORA DUNTOV & MID-ENGINE CORVETTE MYSTIQUE!

Posted on June 25, 2019June 25, 2019 by MartynL

Ken Kayser’s latest tome - Corvette Legend Or Myth & Zora’s Marque of Excellence, Volume II, Zora’s Fabulous Mid-Ship Corvette History - is actually a 750-page, portable Corvette research library. If you consider yourself a Corvette aficionado and/or a student of American automotive history, your bookshelf should have Corvette-centric published works penned by Kenneth W. Kayser. A retired GM engineer, Kayser spent years at the Tonawanda Engine Plant (think big-blocks, L88, ZL1, etc) and la...

MARK II – CHEVY’S MYSTERIOUS 427!

Posted on January 4, 2019 by MartynL

The real 427 Mystery Motor, unlike the Z11, was not available in a car or to the public. You had to have serious NASCAR cred to get one of the 20 built. In the 1960s, Semon “Bunkie” Knudsen always seemed to be one step ahead of GM Chairman Fred Donner’s missives disallowing factory involvement in racing. While running Pontiac, Knudsen had supported the Super-Duty Group that, after he left, managed to get 421 Catalina Lightweights to drag racers before the axe fell. In 1961 he moved on to Chevro...

’65 CHEVY Z16: ONE-YEAR WONDER!

Posted on April 23, 2018April 23, 2018 by MartynL

One of the highlights of Chevy’s 1965 performance portfolio was the limited-production big-block 396/375 Malibu. Chevrolet had been slow to bring a high-performance midsize car to market in 1965. Toward the end of the 1965 model year, they revealed the potent Z16 Chevelle Malibu SS396, powered by an all-new Mark IV 396 big-block. While somewhat boxy, it was the most powerful car in the Supercar Sweepstakes. But there was a problem. Chevrolet General Manager Bunkie Knudsen’s foray into the marke...

’63 PONTIAC SD-421: SWISS CHEESE LITE!

Posted on June 27, 2017 by MartynL

Production of lightweight ’63 Super-Duty Pontiacs was extremely limited, but high-profile racer Mickey Thompson got the first two. One of those featured here is in the Factory Lightweight Collection. Roger Huntington writing in Hi-Performance CARS is often credited with first using “Swiss Cheese” to describe lightened Super-Duty Pontiacs. It came to him after he counted 120 holes drilled in the perimeter frame of Royal Pontiac’s Catalina, driven by Jim Wangers. A total of 18 aluminum body parts...