One of the fastest 409s on...
One of the fastest 409s on the East Coast from 1962 to date is campaigned by the popular and affable Ronnie Evans. The car was recently upscaled to match-race trim. Evans lives 30 miles from nationally known 409 and Z-11 racer of note and SUPER CHEVY Hall of Famer Bill Jenkins.
Around the time Hayden Proffitt won SS/S Eliminator at the '62 U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis Raceway Park, a guy named Gary Usher was flogging his 348 and helping write songs for his buddy Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys in Hawthorne, California. Usher was a top songwriter who really wanted to own a 409. Lore has it that he and Wilson went out one evening and Usher began stringing together phrases such as, "I'm gonna save my pennies and save my dimes, giddy-up, giddy-up 409!" Wilson then added his two cents' worth (pun intended), and in two months (around Halloween time when the '63 Chevys were out) the song "409" came out as a flip-side to the Beach Boys' hit tune "Surfin' Safari." The rush of revs you hear on the single was actually Usher's 348 Chevy, which was supposedly recorded in front of Wilson's house.
1963-Hang On!
As sensational as 1962 was, 1963 was Chevrolet's best bang and then biggest bust year-ever. Almost 100,000 more big car V-8 two-door Chevys were sold (471,114). Some nine Mark I 427 Mystery Motor Chevys hit the super speedways early on. Something like 38 engines were built. The 50 Z-11 427 Impala drag cars hit the dragstrips. Five Grand Sport lightweight Corvettes outran the Cobras. A 427 Mystery Motor Corvette saw action with two legends sharing driving duties: Mickey Thompson and Junior Johnson. Lastly, a brand-new Sting Ray was introduced in both fastback and convertible forms.
I don't have my "Chevy Charger"...
I don't have my "Chevy Charger" '62 409 SS drag car anymore, but I still have my shirt. When running stiff competition at Midwest UDRA and NADS regional events, you had to wear your game face and look the part.
But then GM followed the '57 AMA antiracing edict and pulled the plug. Cars were mostly sold off, and many racers and race teams who made their living in motorsports signed on with other brands-many forever.
A record 21,267 409s sold, including 10,586 Turbo Jet torque monsters-the 340-horsepower L33. The 10,681 '63 solid lifter 409s outsold '62 409s by 17 percent. How many '63 Chevys had a four-speed manual gearbox? About 44,000. That's 916 per each lower 48 state. No other big car could compare.
The Z-11 was Chevrolet's first and last big-block, full-size "race car." Although it was referred to for its official build code, "Z11," no one other than a dealership could order one. Replacement parts could only be had with the vehicle's identification number and proof of ownership. Research by noted authorities Rusty Symmes and Rag Redy indicates 50 engines and 20 short-blocks were built at Tonawanda.
John Mounts began collecting...
John Mounts began collecting '63 Z-11 and Mystery Motor parts back in the 1970s. He also owns three untouched Chevy originals: a '59 335hp 348, four-speed El Camino, an L72 '68 Impala SS, and a '70 LS6 454. Seen here is a complete '63 427 Mystery Motor. The short-block came from Michigan, where it had evidently been a factory dyno-test engine, and the heads came from one of Ray Fox's crew.
The bench seat Impala body featured an aluminum front end, bumpers and brackets, fan shroud, and more. The bored and stroked 409 block had 12.5:1 compression pistons, and the heads had big-block-type rectangle ports. The dual-quad high-rise manifold was two-piece. The Impala's base price was $2,774. The Z-11 option cost $1,237.40. That totals around $4,000 plus tax. This was a hefty sum in 1963. For what the factory accomplished in such a short period of time, the Z-11 427-cubic-inch 409 ranks right at the top.
The '63 "Mystery Motor" 427 set the performance world on fire. Early on, it won a number of NASCAR pole positions, including Daytona, where Junior Johnson and others ran as much as 10 mph faster than the competition during qualifying. It was said to have put out about 650 horsepower. When GM pulled the plug, racers continued on as long as they had parts. Some returned to a 409 powerplant.
1964-A Styling Year, Plus The New Chevelle
When you talk about the '58-64 X-frame Chevys, the '64 Impala SS was voted decades ago as the classiest/sexiest of the group. Chevrolet stylists created a super upscale interior, and the SS body was laden with polished aluminum trim. A Super Sport convertible with simulated wire wheel covers was indeed the cat's meow. The '64 big car was the biggest of its era and visually the squarest, too. Not particularly aerodynamic, its two-door V-8s nonetheless outsold the previous year by 52,103.