4/27 - Post 427's

"WilliamsSW" (williamssw) 04/27/2017 at 10:55 • Filed to: None

2

36

CB > WilliamsSW 04/27/2017 at 11:02

1

Discerning > WilliamsSW 04/27/2017 at 11:03

2

Likely the quickest of the 427 GM cars due to its light weight in comparison to the C2, C3, and Camaro:

WilliamsSW > Discerning 04/27/2017 at 11:05

0

Love the Yenko’s - and those Novas were really light cars. The ZL1 Camaro might give it a run for its money, maybe?

Discerning > WilliamsSW 04/27/2017 at 11:07

1

Maybe. The ZL1 engine is more powerful and lighter than the modified L-72 that Yenko used.

You’re probably right.

WilliamsSW > Discerning 04/27/2017 at 11:08

0

I’d love to get behind the wheel of both to find out, that’s for sure! Both awesome.

Shift24 > WilliamsSW 04/27/2017 at 11:11

2

Newer 427s

WilliamsSW > CB 04/27/2017 at 11:12

0

This looks familiar- - I’ve flown into YYZ many times...

WilliamsSW > Shift24 04/27/2017 at 11:13

1

All 427's are awesome - new, old, Chevy, Ford, whatever-

fintail > WilliamsSW 04/27/2017 at 11:20

2

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > WilliamsSW 04/27/2017 at 11:23

1

WilliamsSW > fintail 04/27/2017 at 11:25

1

That’s gorgeous - and for the record, I LOVE dog dishes on these cars.

WilliamsSW > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 04/27/2017 at 11:26

1

So beautiful, and so fast...

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > WilliamsSW 04/27/2017 at 11:28

1

I actually know a guy that has an all-original one. His dad bought it when it was less than 6 months old. Absurdly low mileage.

WilliamsSW > fintail 04/27/2017 at 11:28

1

I missed the ‘66 the first time, somehow - as a kid, this was one of my favorites.

fintail > WilliamsSW 04/27/2017 at 11:32

1

It was an edit :)

My first car was a 66 Galaxie, not a 427 of course. The dog dishes definitely give them a mean look. I’ve always wondered how many actually wore them when new. It’d be interesting if many/any 427 cars were full option load cars on dressier full wheel covers. Fords of this era are generally underappreciated.

WilliamsSW > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 04/27/2017 at 11:56

0

Wow! That’s amazing. I think I would have a hard time sitting on that car, knowing what it’s worth. I would love even a ride in one, but I’d be thinking about what I could do with that $$...

WilliamsSW > fintail 04/27/2017 at 11:57

0

!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > WilliamsSW 04/27/2017 at 12:01

1

He’s not exactly wanting for money.

http://oppositelock.kinja.com/this-guys-cars-are-cooler-than-your-cars-1718018282

WilliamsSW > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 04/27/2017 at 12:06

1

*speechless* That’s amazing - thanks!

WilliamsSW > fintail 04/27/2017 at 12:12

1

My *perception* is that, back then, the very top engines (basically the ones without hydraulic lifters) were mostly built for racing, and didn’t have many options other than performance options. I like the dog dishes because that’s a sign that you’re looking at a purpose built drag car, generally. But, the advent of the GTO, 7 Liter Galaxy, and the Chrysler 300's (which pre-dated this), moved people into higher optioned cars with the big motors. But, once in a while, you’ll see a ‘62 Impala SS convertible with a 409, or a big Ford convertible with a 406 or 427, but they’re pretty rare.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > WilliamsSW 04/27/2017 at 13:10

1

What’s bizarre with Ford and the 7L ‘63 Galaxie is that I think most or all were (in theory) 500XL cars because of how the optioning worked for them to be “stock”, or something. So they have completely unnecessary aluminum trim down the sides, etc. etc. They probably had to be *technically* de-optioned to get the dog dishes instead of the full covers. Even my 500 with no *additional* options whatsoever beyond smallblock/auto has the full covers.

WilliamsSW > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 04/27/2017 at 13:22

0

That’s interesting - I didn’t realize that with the ‘63 Galaxie XL. The fastback and the 427 came out more or less together, right? I *think* that Chevy did something similar in 1961 with the 409, too - but by 1962, the 409 was available across the board, and was put in quite a few Biscaynes and Belairs. Data on the ‘61s is pretty sketchy, but I think the vast majority (all?) of the ‘61 409 cars were Impala SS’s.

fintail > WilliamsSW 04/27/2017 at 13:30

1

That makes sense, why option up a car that is destined to be raced, or stripped down for the drag strip. But as mentioned below, I think most 427 cars were XLs - not sure how the interiors were equipped, and I doubt any had AC or fancier stuff anyway. The 66-67 7 litre 428 cars were more luxurious.

I remember a local specialty dealer had a 63 convertible that was a factory 406/4 speed. I guess someone wanted a bruiser cruiser. I know somewhere I read about a 66-67 Country Squire that was a loaded 427 or 428, but it was a special order with executive approval.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > WilliamsSW 04/27/2017 at 13:39

1

Actually, it seems to get weirder. All the pictures of the XL I can seem to find - at least half-year ‘63s - seem to have a different hubcap altogether. I had thought that the 500XL had the same hubcap as the 500, but I think I was wrong and there’s a 500XL *distinct* hubcap

... which gets weirder, because there are two versions!

They both have a fake spinoff, but one is more of a pancake like the ‘64 and the other is like the 500... but with a fake spinoff, and very, very rare on XL trim. So, my guess is that the XL (and probably the XL only) went to a pancake with the mid-year upgrade.

As a side note, it is incredibly hard to find pics of a 500XL that some douchecanoe hasn’t immediately put Torqthrust knockoffs on or something far worse.

But wait, there’s more! In my search, I have seen exactly zero R-code cars with the normal 500 cap, early 500XL cap, or late 500XL cap. Nada. The poverty cap appears to be standard on the R-code, despite ostensibly being an XL spec car. I have a guess as to why - I bet it’s a 15" wheel and the normal cap just didn’t fit. Despite the fact that the normal cap isn’t as big as the 14" wheel anyway.

Thus making an automatic one-item trim delete. Because of course.

WilliamsSW > fintail 04/27/2017 at 13:40

1

I saw the same article recently about that Country Squire!! Looked awesome. Somewhere in the early 60's, you started to see more and more cars that had the monster engines, but weren’t for racing. They were always around (1955 Chrysler 300, for one), but they took off in the 1963-66 time frame, it seems.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > WilliamsSW 04/27/2017 at 13:45

1

As an update, my 500XL dealer promo has the “early type” 500XL hubcaps.

WilliamsSW > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 04/27/2017 at 13:48

0

I bet you’re right about the wheel diameter. It would be highly logical for them to put a 15" on the R-code cars, and they probably didn’t have a decent looking 15" wheel cover handy? As far as the different wheel covers go, don’t forget that the Big 3 did more silly running changes like that back then, and didn’t keep any decent records on anything. Finding anything concrete on 1961 Impala SS’s (long a favorite of mine), is nearly impossible. The 63 1/2 Galaxie is marginally better, but still. Also, that black R-code looks so bad ass...

WilliamsSW > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 04/27/2017 at 13:49

0

I did a double take at first, thinking “his 63 isn’t an XL...” Haha—

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > WilliamsSW 04/27/2017 at 14:04

1

Remember (in the sense of running changes and shenanigans) that my ‘63 has a trim code “Deviation”. It’s a 28 A. 28, well, that’s gold/fawnish vinyl and shit. A means, well, “first deviation, serviced”. As opposed to if it had been 28-1, which would be “first deviation, unserviced”. As in, don’t bring that shit around for trim repair, because there ain’t no warranty for that shit. WELL, what does an “A” deviation mean? Well, it’s the first. The first deviation from a trim code 28. Well, I don’t know, somebody wanted something off the wall so we called it A and the next one B. Don’t ask, we don’t know.

On Mustangs, even with Marti reports and the like, even then, there aren’t fixed meanings to the deviations that are easily made sense of. If you have a ‘66 with a black interior, dev. A, it means that the insets in the seats are non-rosette vinyl. Some other code with A, it means that the back trim panels behind the doors don’t have inlays installed (!). Some kind of special edition got an “A” for some kind of pleated seat inlay in white, and another got an “A” for having leftover seat covers from the previous year(!).

In short, Ford bookkeeping in the 60s was UTTERLY DERANGED. I bet some chucklefuck in Atlanta wrote down my trim deviation (which seems to be green stripe plush/chenille seat inlays) (!!?!) in a book somewhere and nobody since then other than the original owner had the slightest clue what a 28A was. I mean.. are there other 28As? Maybe a handful. Who can tell? Apparently it was okay to get serviced under warranty -well, that’s great but that was 54 years ago, so fuck me. I can’t even seem to find that cloth under Mercury or anything - though my suspicion is that it might be something idiotic like a leftover special order ‘62 Mercury seat cover or something.

In comparison with that, the “ha ha your Ranchero has beige interior and no paint code” and the “ha ha the Lincoln has no trim code because fuck the cloth seat plebs” seem almost sane. Yes, I have moronity on all three trim plates.

WilliamsSW > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 04/27/2017 at 14:22

0

Oof. 3/3. I wonder what the odds are of a random Ford (or Chevy/Dodge, whatever) having goofy crap on the trim plates? I would have thought pretty low - because most cars were probably ordered for dealer stock, I presume. And you’d think even special order cars wouldn’t be that wild. On the other hand, some of that crap may have been driven by overstock/shortages of various trim pieces. Hell, I worked for GM in 1990, and we had no qualms about kludging crap together then - I’m sure it was 10x worse in 1963.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > WilliamsSW 04/27/2017 at 14:32

1

I kind of suspect that the circumstances of my three vehicles, all leaning toward “customer order”, kind of skewed things. The Ranchero was a special order forest service truck, which makes its plate being fucky no surprise, the Galaxie is a two-tone 500 with *zero* whizz-bang upgrades (what dealer would order such a thing?), and the Lincoln is pretty much a Premiere... with cloth seats, in a year in which Lincoln were trying to push everybody out of the base model and into the Premiere because overall sales were crap and they were ditching the base model. Nope, Jarod Rose’s granddad apparently wanted his cloth-seat trim-badgeless Lincoln Landau Sedan, so he got it - or they had one at the dealer through a fit of madness.

Mustangs were mostly to-order, and as a result, have endlessly fucky things on their build sheets.

fintail > WilliamsSW 04/27/2017 at 14:49

1

I am more attracted to unusually optioned or loaded up cars than stripped racers, I suppose. It definitely took off in the mid 60s.

My dad was into old Fords, and we had a few when I was a kid, I also seem to lean towards those more than some period American cars.

WilliamsSW > fintail 04/27/2017 at 15:45

1

I like ALL of them, basically - - but I grew up in a GM household, and lean toward them a bit.

fintail > WilliamsSW 04/27/2017 at 16:14

1

I like a lot of them too, a high time for design.

We had a 60 Country Sedan, 66 Galaxie, and 68 Fairlane. This was in the 90s, so they were old cars.

WilliamsSW > fintail 04/27/2017 at 16:19

1

Wow - yeah, they were pretty old at that time. I had a ‘64 Olds, but that was in the early ‘90s.

fintail > WilliamsSW 04/27/2017 at 18:12

0

I’m also in an area with a gentle climate, which helps old cars survive. Lots of that stuff was still around in the 90s, a lot scarcer now.