65 409 Impala on overhaulin'

[agtw31]

i saw this episode last night,and about flipped when i saw the Impala was an original 409 car.

i thought this was the last year for the 409,and werent these cars extremely rare??

[370454s]

You could still get a 409 in 65, left over 64 Motors I think. I think they were all 340 HP motors. Almost bought one 30 years ago.
Mike

[Verne_Frantz]

The '64 motors were a 422 casting. The '65s used the 656 casting. They were available in the 340hp and 400hp versions until Jan.
2,086 340hp & 742 400hp were built.
The 396 entered production in Feb. There was about a month when you could not order any big block.

Verne

[Stefano]

Verne,
Do you have production figures for 409/425s?

[Verne_Frantz]

425hp for '63: there were 4,383 domestic and 11 export. For '64: there were 1,986 domestic and 11 export. Odd that the export numbers are the same for both years.
Unfortunately, Chevrolet did not collate option information by RPO# in '62, so there is no record of 380hp vs 409hp production that year. Only the total of 8,909 409s is known. There has been another '62 production number floating around in various publications of 15,019. That number is the total Tonawanda production for the year.

Verne

[PeteLeathersac]

Verne....where/how does Canadian production and delivered vehicles fit into those production figures? .

~ Pete

[Bill Pritchard]

I seldom watch that show as I think it's mostly a crock of BS. I sure wouldn't want to have one of the cars they whip out in (*allegedly*) one week

Yes, 65 was indeed the last year for the 409. The 396 was introduced mid-year and replaced the 409 as top engine option in the full size cars.