1966 L72 "Bonanza" Biscayne

[mssl72]

While back East for the holidays I made a point to stop by a friends place to see how he's coming on his latest project. It's a very well documented 1966 L72 Biscayne that was doing some serious racing back in the day. It raced under a few paint schemes, the most notable was "Bonanza". The original owner and second owner have been supplying John with information, documentation and pictures. John finally got part of his website going, so I thought I'd post a link to it here. Not all the links on the site are working, but hopefully soon.

Bonanza Race Car

There were some interesting things that were done to the car to get it to run the way it did. One thing that came to light is the front spring tags. If you take a look at the documentation link on the website, there is a picture of the invoice and the spring tags. Anybody ever see a GM spring tag like this?? Anyway, there will be updates to the website as time goes on. If anybody knows anything about the car, please speak-up.

[budnate]

cool car, is that the original motor making the pulls??

[mockingbird812]

Nice website. NICE car!

[mssl72]

I didn't see the block in person, so I can't say if it was the original or a CE replacement. I would have looked for stampings. I saw a lot of the pieces that go on the block, valve covers, pulleys, heads, etc. All nice original pieces. It is the engine that John got with the car.

[Paul_S]

Yes, that's the original CE block with documentation. The original engine was replaced under warranty early on.

If anyone has photos of Niagara or Maple Grove raceway within this timeframe (1966-69), please take a look for this car in either paint scheme. For the first year it had the 427 balloons on the doors, then it was redone with the Bonanza scheme. I believe it held records at both tracks. This is a real-deal L-72, 4-spd, 4.56 & Heater Delete ordered Biscayne that was a Rocket... as it broke into the 11.60s! So, any pics you find even if it's just a glimpse of the fender or door would be great.

[Z-11GUY]

I would believe this car might of been assisted by Don Kimball out of Salinas Chevrolet out of Syracuse NY. Don raced a '62 409 Chevrolet new and named it after the television show Bonanza. In 1963 he raced a 1963 Z-11 Impala as well naming it Bonanza II. I know he raced a Chevelle in 1965 as well. Anyhow this might be helpful or not, regards.

[Salvatore]

Reminds me of John Jame's car from Bryner Chevrolet in Jenkintown, Pa. The car was latter ran as the Pied Piper when the Valerio Bros. had it. That car was a white 4 speed car also.

[Dog427435]

Here is an old shot that was posted previously here.
Sorry I don't remember by whom.

Very similar or the same?
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[Verne_Frantz]

Dog, that is the John James/Vallerio Bros car.

Verne