Does anyone know the WHY part of why the L72 (425hp) motor was never offered in our cars? They made it into the US full size Chev cars, so like light monitoring and every other weird Chevy option we got, why didn't get get the L72 as an engine option here? I'm speaking primarily of 69, but from searching the board before posting I don't see ANY Canadian L72 cars.
My best guess, by the way, is that it was so that it did not eclipse the US Pontiac's top 428HO engine option of 390. But that's just a little cynical supposition on my part...
I don't know of any 69 Canadian L72's but we had them in 66 Chev here for sure, my friend has a documented one. And there's been guys here who saw a 66 L72 Canadian Pontiac back in the day. I think they said it was in Ontario.
__________________
1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
I've heard the occasional rumor of an L72 Pontiac, but no one has documented one that I know of, so until then... it's Sasquatch!
Did the Oshawa plant build any L72 Chevrolet's? Or did the L72 Chevs that seem to exist in Canada, as Carl mentioned, come from US plants? If they were building the Chevs in Canada it's all the more mysterious.
My best guess, by the way, is that it was so that it did not eclipse the US Pontiac's top 428HO engine option of 390. But that's just a little cynical supposition on my part...
I really don't think that was the case.....sales of US Pontiacs in Canada.....with 428's in them....were prolly LESS than 1%......I figure they just decided on a one size fits ALL 427........that would satisfy the 3% of Canadian buyers that wanted MORE than 400 inches in their fullsize Pontiac..AND...stocking Tonawanda imports on the Oshawa line...was prolly a headache....anyways...
I don't mean that Canadian Pontiacs would be poaching business from US cars sold in Canada, as that didn't happen. But I don't think the rumor of "Did you know in Canada the Pontiacs have more horsepower" would be a good thing.
Did the Oshawa plant build any L72 Chevrolet's? Or did the L72 Chevs that seem to exist in Canada, as Carl mentioned, come from US plants? If they were building the Chevs in Canada it's all the more mysterious.
I can ask my friend where his was built but I am sure he will tell me it's fro Oshawa. Seems to me I've seen a picture of his cowl tag and it was a normal Canadian tag.
__________________
1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
I've never seen a GM document showing L72 in a Canadian Pontiac. Unless and until then, they're Bigfoot, no matter how many people claim to have seen them.
There was a 1967 SS427 L72 car that bounced around for decades and people swore up and down that it was factory equipped, arguments were made, friendships ended, lives ruined. In the end it turned out the car was modified very early (like by the dealer maybe), so when people were swearing up and down the car had always been that way, they were -almost- right.
Not trying to be argumentative. I can't prove it's not an L72 car, nor is it my mission to do so. But if anyone wants to convince me, it'd take some proof.
That's quite a rare item then I imagine, to say the least. I've certainly never seen another documented one! Is 1966 (whoops, I typed 1066 like the Norman invasion) the last year they did it in Canada?
BTW, by 1969 the F41 option required the top engine (then the 390hp), and could be had with "just" any 427. They hint at that in the docs but make it sound like F41 could come with any 427... I have my suspicions it might actually require a high perf 427. But it clearly says 396 or 427, so maybe any big block would do for it in 1966. Weird rules like that would change year to year.
Cheers, Dave
-- Edited by davepl on Wednesday 28th of December 2016 12:08:21 PM
I'm pretty sure Vintage Vehicles Services would actually have that info if we could figure out a way to get them to do the search. In 1966, the only year they were offered according to brochures anyway, they were the most expensive option by a few bucks, even more than AC. There were a few AC installations (Carl S and I personally know of 4 and I have been given the number 23 by VVS's,(for model #76657 only) so I would have to assume there would have been a very few of the L72 either by knowledgeable drag racers or GM executives who didn't care how much anything cost. Also, I think that most Canadian customers back them were certainly more conservative (cheaper) than americans when it came to options on a car especially one that really would have been difficult to drive in winter.
To agree with your point they are the Sasquatch of Pontiac's as no one on this forum knows where there is one. As well, given the tendency to devalue the large cars after about 10 years or so from production, the chance of finding an original car with its engine is incredibly remote.
Still maybe someday, eh?
-- Edited by 66 Grande guy on Tuesday 27th of December 2016 02:22:28 PM
One thing I don't really get is why people want the 1969 390hp 427 engines for COPO Camaro clones. They're the right -block- casting (512) but the wrong engine code. Or are they re-stamping the engine code because that's easy whereas the casting code is hard?
I just don't get what the value of our motors are to Camaro clones. At least not without restamping.
Fortunately there are no doubt a lot of L36 (and some L72) full size cars out there in the US before they start molesting our Canadian cars...
One thing I don't really get is why people want the 1969 390hp 427 engines for COPO Camaro clones. They're the right -block- casting (512) but the wrong engine code. Or are they re-stamping the engine code because that's easy whereas the casting code is hard?
I just don't get what the value of our motors are to Camaro clones. At least not without restamping.
Fortunately there are no doubt a lot of L36 (and some L72) full size cars out there in the US before they start molesting our Canadian cars...
