1970 LS6 Chevelle "Pilot Car"

[mockingbird812]

[mockingbird812]

Thank you Sam

[camarojoe]

Who wrote pilot job on the sheets? What does it say after "It'll need....?"

I would assume someone at the plant wrote "pilot job". It says "It'll need wings too!" This was written on the one buildsheet which was found under the drivers side carpet in 1995. The darker area of the sheet (where the writing is) was on the trans tunnel and the sound deadener and heat darkened this area of the sheet. Also found was a builsheet for an El Camino that was a few units away from mine. I would assume a factory worker wrote the comment and also circled the RPO "LS6" and "Pilot Job"

[Verne_Frantz]

Greg,
Forgive my ignorance, but I'm trying to get educated............. I think I noticed a date of 12-09 on the build sheet. Didn't they build any production LS6s before December?


Thanks
Verne

Verne,

The LS6 was slated for a mid year introduction, and the generally accepted date was 1-70. However production actually was underway in Dec of '69 with cars being sold. The L78 was being phased out and LS6 production has been generally accepted to have begun after that. All of the data I have so far, along with what is accepted by the majority of Chevelle "gurus" says LS6 production didn't begin unitl Dec '69. I have seen late L78's (which all seem to be built at Baltimore from 11c-12B)as late as 12-8. There were certainly cars built with the LS6 engine in Nov. ,but as of yet they were pre-production or prototypes. These cars (the Oct/Nov. prototypes or pre-production cars) have yet to surface. This car is certainly a "production pilot," as it was delivered and eventually sold through retail channels. Jim Mattison emailed a nice letter discussing the LS6 "pilot" program. I'll be happy to post if anyone wants to read. Quite an education. This car is the earliest known car where the paperwork has been publiclly known.

[Verne_Frantz]

Greg,
Thanks for the education. I figured that must have been the case. I've only been lucky enough to document one pilot car, a '64 Impala SS. It did not have any features which were introduced mid-year - it was strictly a pre-production "test assembly", as most pilot cars are. It's body build date is 6D, way ahead of standard production which began around 8D. It actually has some '63 model year parts on it, such as carb, wiper motor, steering box and tach harness. It also has a couple prototype pieces of trim under the taillights that never made it into production. Neat stuff! Unfortunately, we haven't dug deep enough in it yet to find a build sheet.

Your Chevelle is one rare puppy.

Verne

Verne,

Unfortunatly unlike the Mopar guys, who have long studied "pilot cars" (there is even an article in one of the current mags) Chevrolet "pilots" are un-studied. It would be neat to see if any other "pilot" cars (regardless of carline) can be found. Were you able to uncover any paperwork (engineering especially) pertaining to your Impala? I often wonder if engineering or other paperwork can be found on this LS6. I am sure since it was known by the plant to be a "pilot," that additional engineering data existed..would be a neat find and certainly would help with LS6 knowledge.

GSC

[Verne_Frantz]

Greg,
The Impala in question is owned by one of our local club members here in NJ. I agree that the subject of Chevy pilot cars is incredibly interesting, and important, but it is also hardly understood or documented at all, unfortunately. I've already demonstrated my lack of knowledge in the era of your Chevelle. For the last 23 years I've been poking into '58-'64 fullsized Chevys, and this '64 is the first and only true pilot car I've heard of. There are some people on the Corvette side of the Chevy hobby who are fairly well versed in pilot cars. I've learned a little more from one of the most knowledgable of them. For instance, the pre-production pilot cars would include at least one of each body style, to check the body panel fit and proper set-up of the jig used to hold it all together for welding - and of course to establish assembly procedures. They were also typically highly optioned, since the installation procedure of all available options had to be established as well. Those cars were not pre-assigned with VIN numbers. Of the group of them, the ones that met "spec" after completion and inspection, and could be sold, were assigned the first few VINs (off line, after they were done). This '64 is body #2 of that style (I guess #1 didn't turn out so well??), and it was assigned VIN 100006. (the first car was 100001).
I agree with you that there certainly must have been more engineering notes, directives, memos, etc regarding these cars. In the case of your car, with it's mid year introduction of special equipment, there certainly had to be some engineering documents to specifically direct the building of that car, with special instructions, notes or reports generated that eventually ended up in a revised assembly manual covering that RPO. I just don't know how we're going to get lucky enough to dig them out of the black hole that exists within Chevrolet now.

Didn't mean to wander off the topic of your car. It's one of my all-time favorite color combinations too. If I owned that car, I'd never, ever sell it......

Verne