With the help of AI, I answered my own question. It appears that the 4 door Chevy II was the most popular body style, but since the 2 door was much more popular with hot rod guys, there are way more 2 door survivors that the 4 door and wagon.I haven't seen too many of the sedan version. My grandfather had a '64 Chevy II coupe, that I inherited when he died.
I remember back in the day, that while many guys tricked out the Chevy II, they found it wasn't the best car for it, as the unibody construction wasn't rigid enough to take a lot of power. Does that sound familiar to others of you that are old enough to remember?I would so drop a 327 AFR heads comp cam kooks headers paired with a T-5 and 3.73s
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Whatch you talkin bout, Willis? You forgot the laughing emoji.AI doesn't know what it's talking about as usual. Clearly a Subaru.
the chassis would need stiffening no doubtI remember back in the day, that while many guys tricked out the Chevy II, they found it wasn't the best car for it, as the unibody construction wasn't rigid enough to take a lot of power. Does that sound familiar to others of you that are old enough to remember?
Lots of people played with similar improvements on their Nova's back in the sixties and early seventies. I even saw some with 396's running on Woodward Ave and Telegraph Blvd (well know street racing meccas in the Detroit area) back in the day. Big block 427's eventually found their way into them for the strip. A fair amount of room under the hood, cheap base to start with, lightweight, but the short wheelbase made them a real handful with crazy power. Neighbor had a pretty little red on red 64 nova and he and his dad dropped in a chevy 265 cu. in. V8 into it. Ideal fit and a very easy (and cheap at the time) motor to improve performance on. I thought this was a perfect match for that car.I would so drop a 327 AFR heads comp cam kooks headers paired with a T-5 and 3.73s
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And Chevy stuck with that woeful (but reliable) transmission for a Looong time. It was especially bad in my part of Pennsylvania, Susquehanna County. Going uphill would have been a lot better with a third gear.Definitely a pre-1965 Chevy II. My mother had a '65 with the straight six and the woeful two-speed powerglide transmission.
Fun fact, while there is an early Chevy II convertible (all Novas) for 1962 and 1963, it wasn't available for 1964 (or after) when the 283 V8 became available. The reason seems pretty obvious.I remember back in the day, that while many guys tricked out the Chevy II, they found it wasn't the best car for it, as the unibody construction wasn't rigid enough to take a lot of power. Does that sound familiar to others of you that are old enough to remember?
those little Chevy V8's were screamers and can easily make 350-360hp with complementary torque figures.Lots of people played with similar improvements on their Nova's back in the sixties and early seventies. I even saw some with 396's running on Woodward Ave and Telegraph Blvd (well know street racing meccas in the Detroit area) back in the day. Big block 427's eventually found their way into them for the strip. A fair amount of room under the hood, cheap base to start with, lightweight, but the short wheelbase made them a real handful with crazy power. Neighbor had a pretty little red on red 64 nova and he and his dad dropped in a chevy 265 cu. in. V8 into it. Ideal fit and a very easy (and cheap at the time) motor to improve performance on. I thought this was a perfect match for that car.