72 truck with a 454 from the factory?

[Mudder]

Wouldn't surprise me a bit finding a 72 with a 454. Back then car/trucks were built a lot different than they are now. They didn't have all this ISO/audits crap we do today. If they had a few 454's laying around in the factory it would have been nothing to put some in and get them out there to see how they do.

[BLACK AND BLUE 67-72]

Here ya go looks optional for El Camino and it's a Turbo-Jet 454, Book gives all engine options for 72 Chevy and GMC trucks, even cooling specs. Nowhere does it mention an invader 454 being available for them.

[BLACK AND BLUE 67-72]

Here's some info on the 427

[special-K]

427 in CE,ME,and TE50.But not CE1,CE2,orCE3.Medium Duty only,CE5 etc.

[mbgmike]

Originally Posted by Mudder67

Wouldn't surprise me a bit finding a 72 with a 454. Back then car/trucks were built a lot different than they are now. They didn't have all this ISO/audits crap we do today. If they had a few 454's laying around in the factory it would have been nothing to put some in and get them out there to see how they do.

I agree. The mustangs when they first came out had 13" wheels cause they had alot of left over falcon parts. The GTO was kind of a spur of the moment thing. No market research or anything like now. They just threw a 389 in a lemans. A friend of mine graduated from the gm institute in michigan and he said they did all kinds of wierd stuff.

[Mudder]

I think at one time if you had the money you could get pretty much anything you wanted. Back "then" you ordered what you wanted. My brother had a 71 Monte Carlo with a bench seat and a Hurst 4 speed.

[mbgmike]

Yeah and if you were a company buying fleet vehicles they made what you wanted. They made plymouth valiant sedan deliveries. I've only seen one at a car show. Thwy were built at Chrysler and were not converted by an outside company I bought a new car back in 72 and it did not come in black. 3 or 4 months later A guy in a town close by had a black one. I thought he just had it painted He said be bugged the factory so much that they finally gave in and painted one for him. His was the only one I ever saw that was black. Who knows maybe they ran out of motors and threw in a few 454's on my 95 chev truck the trans went bad at 400 miles. two attempts to fix it failed and they put in a brand new one. Later research I found out GM had a shortage of cases and they were buying used cases from scrappers and cleaning them up and installing all brand new parts in them and installing them in brand new trucks. They told me apparently my did not get clean enough. They gave me an additional150,000 mile unconditional warranty on the new trans plus a years worth of free oil changes for my trouble.

[special-K]

When I ordered my`92 GMC,I wanted the fleet color Woodland Green.It was a fully loaded SRW K3500 Turbo Diesel/5spd with bucket seats.They said you had to have a fleet account to get those colors.Fleet orders are ten or more.I asked what if a fleet account holder had one truck totalled,couldn`t they replace just that truck?My salesman said he`d check into it with the factory.They told him they`d build it,but I had to wait for 5 or more that color to be ordered.I asked,"In the nation?",sure.Well,it took 6 weeks to get started and nearly 6 months total for delivery,but I bet I have the only`92 GMC exactly like mine.How many fleets order loaded bucket seat manual 1ton trucks of any color?

[mbgmike]

Yeah maybe a tow truck company is all I can thing of. If riden in a few that where really nice.

[Gray Ghost]

I have a friend that was a service manager at Chevy back in 66-70. You could get most any BB in anything that had a BB option....you just had to pay for it. They sold many an LS-7 crate for those who wanted to race....who's to say none of the LS's ever made it into a truck?

Documentation isn't going to be readily available for stuff like that as it tended not to exist, most of the swaps were done at the dealer.

[mbgmike]

Documentation isn't going to be readily available for stuff like that as it tended not to exist, most of the swaps were done at the dealer.[/QUOTE]

Yes and even now its amazing the info the factory gets rid of. My son is a dealer tech and he says stuff doesn't stay on the computer forever. They can't store everything. service bulletins you would thing they would keep along time.

[68shortstep]

Some strange sh*t happened in the late 60's & early 70's muscle-car days.

I personally (several times) drove a buddy's "stock" SS396 Chevelle that had a dealer-installed (no-charge) Vette 454-horse tri-power 427 in it. Scary-fast, and probably the best power-to-weight ratio car I've ever driven. He paid for that car several-times over doing heads-up drags against Vette's, GTO's, hemi-cuda's etc for a couple years, in a "factory production" car.

That engine was installed at the small-town Missouri Chevy-dealer when they couldn't get a warranty replacement motor fast enough for the original 396, after it dropped a valve head (early-production-flaw weak valve-stem, I heard) down into the piston on a full-bore launch.

Dealer said: "We can't get another 396 for a few weeks, but we've got this Vette motor over here in the corner - would you like to have it instead ????" And so an "original factory production" fire-breathing monster was born.

I think I doubt a 454 was ever a factory-installed option in our trucks, but it sure could have happened at a dealer easily enough. We all know how that a glovebox stickers can be phonied-up.

[Roachgod]

My 70 came with a 350 vortech when I got it , but she'll have the rare 454 option as soon as I get the time and some motor towers.I gueuss i'll change the option sheet with a yella sticky note.

[special-K]

I just know that in the dealer RPO book listing every possible option,combination,trim level package,and what came with what or couldn`t be had with what,doesn`t show the 454 as an option for 10-30 series trucks...no RPO/not factory.

[WTB3]

I just found this on a different thread im not sure how reliable the info is since it says its a '70 cheyenne but http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1970-...QQcmdZViewItem

[Longhorn Man]

Originally Posted by 68shortstep

Some strange sh*t happened in the late 60's & early 70's muscle-car days.

I personally (several times) drove a buddy's "stock" SS396 Chevelle that had a dealer-installed (no-charge) Vette 454-horse tri-power 427 in it. Scary-fast, and probably the best power-to-weight ratio car I've ever driven. He paid for that car several-times over doing heads-up drags against Vette's, GTO's, hemi-cuda's etc for a couple years, in a "factory production" car.

That engine was installed at the small-town Missouri Chevy-dealer when they couldn't get a warranty replacement motor fast enough for the original 396, after it dropped a valve head (early-production-flaw weak valve-stem, I heard) down into the piston on a full-bore launch.

Dealer said: "We can't get another 396 for a few weeks, but we've got this Vette motor over here in the corner - would you like to have it instead ????" And so an "original factory production" fire-breathing monster was born.

I think I doubt a 454 was ever a factory-installed option in our trucks, but it sure could have happened at a dealer easily enough. We all know how that a glovebox stickers can be phonied-up.

Just becouse the dealer does it, does not make it factory... a dealer add on, a dealer modification, a dealer anything, makes it a modified car... just, the dealer did it.