Quote:
Originally Posted by Rory McNeil
Back in the early -mid 70s, I hung out with a racer that ran 65 Chevys, a Biscayne 2 door sedan, and then an Impala wagon, both with 396/325 combos in Super Stock, and both cars had Turbo 400s. Were the TH400s only used in the big cars in the beginning ? I have also seen early 396 Corvettes with Powerglides. Was a Turbo 400 optional in a SS396 Chevelle in 66, and if not, when?
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Way back in the day about 30 years ago,I found a wrecked 65 Impala SS 2 door hardtop with a mint black interior, a 396 with power steering, brakes,a/c, and a Powerglide. It had only about 44000 miles on it, and I got it for $200.00.After getting it home, throwing away the wrecked parts, the frame was destroyed from the firewall forward, so I parted it out completely. I put the complete interior, dash and gas tank and the console and shifter into a plain Impala non SS car, the 396 got dismantled, I still have the block and the accessories with the brackets, Cal Method helped us in innumerable ways at Pomona one year, so I gave him the Powerglide, I kept the 12 bolt, and carted the gutted shell and bent frame to a scrap yard and did quite well on this one. In '65, the 396 came out for release in February,first in the Caprice and soon everything else got it, the TH 400 was an optional trans later in th year, a lot of 396's had Powerglides, they were a good core because the big block and 409 power glides had heavy duty parts and clutch packs, and I remember 396 Powerglides in Chevelles and even a few early Camaro's. The Quadrajet carb came out for the 396 in '65, then the 327 got it part way through '66,and by '67 the only 4 barrel on a Chevy was the QJ with the exception of some Vettes that still could be had with a Holley. The evolution of Chevy power plants and drive trains is a fascinating study!