I don't know if these pictures will be of interest or not. Here are two pictures that I recently found of my new 1965 Impala engine compartment. The only things that are not OEM are as follows:
1. The Sun tachometer sender on the driver fender panel.
2. The decorative chrome valve covers. (I had them chromed. BTW they had drippers inside even though the engine was a 325 horse.)
3. I don't see the spark plug shields. (I'm sure it came with them.)
The car was ordered in February 1965 and was built in early May 1965. (It came with the Holley in the picture.)
JIML82
I don't think the heat shields where offered back in 1965. They had to replace quite a few spark plugs before they learned their lesson on that one. Holley carb was standard on the 360 horse 396 back in 1965.
Warranty service only replaced the melted wire not the whole set which used to drive me nuts. You had to turn in a wire to get one back then, as they counted every wire that crossed the counter.
The Rochester QuadraJet was first introduced in 1965, just not on a big block. It was used in 1965 on 327 engines eqipped with manual transmissions to verify any design bugs at first. They replaced the Holley carb on the 325 horse 396 motors in 1966 and were standard equipment on almost all hydraulic camed Chevys from 1967 through 1990 when the last carburetor disapeared from production (the 350 horse and the 375 horse variants retained the Holley as their vendor though both used different carbs).
I know that the sales literature indicated that it could be the Rochester or the Holley carburator. I don't recall ever seeing a Rochester on a 325 horse 396 back in 1965 however.
It took several months (Feb to May) for me to eventually receive my Impala. My dealer here in Saginaw, Michigan submitted my order shortly after the release of the 396 engine in February 1965. After two months (around middle of April) the original Feb order was returned to my dealer for "reconsideration." The dealer told me that because of demand, the 396 engine was being restricted to the new Caprice line of Chevrolets and I would have to resubmit my order and go to the end of the line.
At the time I was a senior co-op student at Saginaw Steering Gear Division, General Motors Corp. I went to the Sales Dept at Saginaw and asked the Chevrolet sales person if he could help with my order. I also wrote a letter to Semon E. Knudson (Vice President - Chevrolet) indicating that they were ingaging in false advertising because the most recent adverisement for Chevrolet in that week's issue of Time Magazine listed the new 396 as being available in the Caprice, Impala SS and the Impala.
I asked the dealer to resubmit my order. Two weeks later my seafoam green Impala with 325 horse, 396 engine was sitting at the dealer. I never found out who or how my reorder got expedited.
I had it about 3 years. Sold it to my brother who lived in Phoenix. With the black vinyl interior, it cooked in Arizona. The dash pad even warped from the heat. I replaced it with a 1968 Buick Riviera GS and then a 1970 Torinado GT.
Jim
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