66 AO Smith

[Karl K.]

Hello Everyone,
I looked at a 66 427 convertable today and it had an
AO smith body, I thought all big blocks had bodies from
St Louis?
Thanks,
Karl

[Douglas L.]

Re: 66 AO Smith

Karl,

I believe that is true only for 67 because of the difficulty of getting the 67 big block hoods painted correctly.

[Larry M.]

Re: 66 AO Smith

Karl,

I believe that is true only for 67 because of the difficulty of getting the 67 big block hoods painted correctly.

Correct. 1965 and 1966 big blocks could be either AOS or STL bodies. MAYBE even a few of the first 1967's.

Larry

[Mark G.]

Re: 66 AO Smith

Karl -

Good information; be careful with AOS cars ('65-67) that include RPO N14.

Mark

[Karl K.]

Re: 66 AO Smith

This car had side exhaust at one time, was switched to
under car exhaust for judging now has the side exhaust
back on it. Is there a way to tell how it started out?
Why couldn't they get the hoods painted correctly?
Thanks.

[Larry M.]

Re: 66 AO Smith

This car had side exhaust at one time, was switched to
under car exhaust for judging now has the side exhaust
back on it. Is there a way to tell how it started out?
Why couldn't they get the hoods painted correctly?
Thanks.

Karl:

If it is an AOS body, it started life as an UNDERCAR exhaust. AOS built bodies did not originally have sidepipes. Additional info and reasons etc. are in the archives.

Larry

[John H.]

Re: 66 AO Smith

Why couldn't they get the hoods painted correctly?
Thanks.

Karl -

The in-line paint repair prep booth in the A.O. Smith paint shop in Ionia prior to the final bake oven wasn't long enough to accommodate the labor-intensive and time-consuming big-block hood masking operation, which involved three separate stencils plus hand-taping. After the initial 1967 launch, all big-block orders were allocated to St. Louis, which had adequate space for the operation.

[John M.]

Re: 66 AO Smith

Karl, Just curious, but where did you look at this 1966 AO Smith Car??

[Karl K.]

Re: 66 AO Smith

Hi John,
I really don't remember, we had looked at alot of cars
before getting one.
Karl