L72-M22;1966 Corvette on E-Bay!

[Wayne M.]

Re: L72-M22;1966 Corvette on E-Bay!

FWIW, back in mid-Feb, off eBay, I bought an Eaton 3-series posi (3.08 ratio ring gear, pinion gear, case w/complete internals) off this seller. Transaction went smoothly.

[Duke W.]

Re: L72-M22;1966 Corvette on E-Bay!

The Penske Sunoco 1966 coupe race car had a lot of documentation as an M22 L88 prototype. Did it have a regular IP code or something else?

Contrary to popular belief there is no unequivocal documentation of what engine was installed at St. Louis, but it did have M-22, J-56, F-41, and heater delete, which were released RPOs at the time it was built, and these options were available with the L-72 engine option. I've been through the three-inch thick ring binder of documentation, page by page, and there was no build sheet or production order or any other documentation that listed the complete RPO configuration.

Consider the following. In January 1966 the L-88 option was still a year from release, so there is no way a L-88 could have been installed at St. Louis. The L-88 engine option just didn't exist at the time the car was built, which jibes with what John H. said above. There may have been an assigned '66 L-88 engine code, but since the option was not released until after the the conclusion of the 1966 model year, none were installed at St. Louis.

Guldstrand picked up the car at St. Louis and drove it to Penske's race shop in Pennsylvania. According to a contemporaneous article in Corvette News, there it was prepared for the Daytona race including installation of a prototype hood cold air induction system that was supplied by Chevrolet Engineering. A companion article in this same issue of Corvette News announced the release and availability of M-22, J-56, and F-41 that could be ordered in concert with L-72.

This is how any development effort goes. Engineering orders a car with appropriate released options and then installs the prototype parts in the engineering garage, or in this case, in Penske's race shop. Plants don't install prototype parts. It's too disruptive of production, which is the revenue center of the corporation. I know this from my brief time as a Pontiac production engineer and John H. will likely say the same thing from his many years as a production engineer. Once an option is released then there will be a pilot built of one or more cars with the new option, but that's with released production parts, not prototype parts.

The Corvette News article goes on to say that the car practiced with the "stock" engine, then a special Traco-built engine was installed for qualifying and the race. So before qualifying, the St. Louis installed engine was replaced with something else! The original St. Louis installed engine probably didn't log more than 100 miles!

The only logical conclusion from available evidence is that the car was built with the released L-72 engine, which was used for practice, and the Traco-built engine that replaced the St. Louis installed engine was equipped with prototype L-88 parts that were supplied by Chevrolet.

The whole point of this effort was to prove the configuration. It was a racing engine and, the only way to prove it prior to release was to race it, but corporate policy prevented Chevrolet personnel from being directly involved, and that's where Penske came in handy. He was a Chevrolet dealer and a proven racer, so contracting with him to prove the L-88 engine in competition was a no-brainer.

Given available information, it appears that the original St. Louis installed engine - the one that was replaced prior to qualifying is long gone, but the fact that this car was used to prove the L-88 components makes it no less noteworthy. In fact, it makes this car absolutely unique rather than merely being one of the 200+ St. Louis assembled L-88s over the next three years once the option was released in early CY 1967.

What's unfortunate is the revisionist historians' claim that his car was the first St. Louis assembled L-88. If you understand the GM engineering release and production process that claim is just not possible.

Duke

[Ronald L.]

Re: L72-M22;1966 Corvette on E-Bay!

So you guys jumped over the trans stamp from early in the thread. Weird angles avoiding all key casting numbers and no reply from seller, a one number at a time stamp for the trans was not TFP so...?

[William C.]

Re: L72-M22;1966 Corvette on E-Bay!

So Buyer Beware! In this case, RUN don't walk...

[Kenneth B.]

Re: L72-M22;1966 Corvette on E-Bay!

THANKS DUKE I believe your post will put this urban myth to bed but maybe not some people will believe what they want & don't let facts get in the way of there thinking.

[Michael H.]

Re: L72-M22;1966 Corvette on E-Bay!

I think post #14 automatically eliminates the possibility of the engine being an L88. The cost shown on the paperwork is $312. An L88 would have been a lot more than that.

That was probably supposed to be the cost of an L72.

The different stamp code was probably intended to be the unique 425 HP/L72 that was used with M22, which supposedly used a smaller diameter clutch/flywheel.

Either way, the ECL codes are wrong for anything other than a regular 425 HP L72.

Not a possible combination with that engine stamp.

[Larry E.]

Re: L72-M22;1966 Corvette on E-Bay!

I think post #14 automatically eliminates the possibility of the engine being an L88. The cost shown on the paperwork is $312. An L88 would have been a lot more than that.

That was probably supposed to be the cost of an L72.

The different stamp code was probably intended to be the unique 425 HP/L72 that was used with M22, which supposedly used a smaller diameter clutch/flywheel.

Either way, the ECL codes are wrong for anything other than a regular 425 HP L72.

Not a possible combination with that engine stamp.

FWIW: Dug out my notes and handout from Al's M22 Seminars (Attended 3 of them) and it showed that Tonawanda made 2 L72-M22 engines with
assembly number 3890485. It also indicates they made 20 "Experimental" engines with assembly number 0-XXXXXX that where shipped to CEC (Chevrolet
Engineering Center in Michigan. Probably will never know what exactly happened. Larry