More cars that don't exist.....

Had a few people write in and say they owned other cars that I said didn't exist in past posts. And as usual, they were wrong. Here's the list. # 1. 1970 LS6 Corvette. The LS6 was originally slated to be optional in the Camaro SS and the Nova SS as well as the Chevelle. This is why the LS6 has an intake manifold that is so low that the fuel flows UPHILL to the carb. This was done to clear the low hoodline of the new for 1970 Camaro. This flat manifold loses 15-20 hp over the 1969 and earlier L78 / L88 396 / 427 aluminum manifold. The only 454 offered in a 1970 Corvette was the "Station Wagon" LS5 which was rated at 360 hp. The LS6 wasn't offered in the Corvette because Zora-Arkus Duntov-Chief Corvette engineer-fully expected the more radical LS7 to make production. For whatever reason the Chevrolet brass decided to cut down on model proliferation-so the LS6 was only offered in the Chevelle line-instead of Camaros and Novas as well. And at the last minute-the LS7 option was nixed. This left the LT-1 small-block rated at 370 hp-as the most powerful Corvette engine that year. 1100 or so LS6 Corvettes were sold in 1971-with 9:1 compression and a rating of 425 hp. Both the LS6 and LS7 were sold through Chevrolet dealers as a crate engine until 1990. A lot of 'Vette guys swapped these badass Rats into their cars in the '70's and '80's-so yes you could feasibly own a 1970 Corvette with a "Real" LS6 engine-but there was NEVER a factory built version. # 2. 1969-70 Ram Air V GTO. In 1968-69 Herb Adams and other engineers began working on some "Tunnel Port" heads for the Pontiac V8. They were aware that Ford was developing a Tunnel-Port engine for Trans-Am racing-we all know about the Boss 302. Adams and company developed these heads that breathed better than a big-block Chevy. Their goal was to make maximum power between 5,000 and 8,000 rpm. Where the 5.0 liter T/A cars typically ran on the road courses. They even de-stroked a 400 to 303 inches to stay with in the 305 cu. in. limit. However- they discovered that the big heads were just too much for a 303 inch engine, and they actually made more power with the smaller production RAIV heads- about 485 hp-which was consistent with what the high-winding 302 Chevys and 302 Fords were doing. So they thought they could be competitive in SCCA Trans-Am racing. Just for giggles they tried the big heads on the "Regular" 428 inch Pontiac motors and were astounded-the big motors made more power and torque than they'd ever dreamed of-blowing away even the nasty RAIV. They were pumped-they were making as much power as a Chrysler 426 Race Hemi or a 427 Chevy Nascar engine. The only problem was-the big, heavy Pontiac bottom ends didn't hold up well over 6,500 rpm-so why do you need heads that breathe until 8 grnd?. Taking advice from Smokey Yunick who had owned NASCAR in the early '60's with Fireball Roberts and his Fire-Breathing Pontiacs-Yunick would cut down a 3.25 inch 421 crank to 3.00 inch 389 bearing size to make them live at high rpm. Adams and company decided to use a 400 with the smaller journal crank, and used forged pistons, forged rods, and hot General Kinetics solid-lifter cam, a special intake manifold built by Doug Nash, and custom headers. The 400 RA V prototype made just as much power as the 428, just at higher rpm. Adams laughed when another engineer said the power dropped off-at about 8 grand. Stoked-because they thought they had a motor that would make the GTO "King Kong" again- and smite 426 Hemi and 440 Mopars and 427 Vettes in biblical fashion- and maybe be competitive in Nascar-they pitched it to the brass. Pontiac had a policy at that time that they would not under any circumstances warranty a solid-lifter engine. Adams and co argued that Chevrolet did, but De Lorean who was President of Pontiac at the time-said "Were in the business of building street cars, not race cars." and refused to warranty the RA V. GM Wouldn't allow you sell a new car without a warranty-so that killed it. The engineers had enough parts to build about 500 engines-which you had to do to race them. Not wanting to totally lose their ass-Adams suggested they sell them over the counter to racers. DeLorean agreed to that. Arnie "The Farmer" Beswick, Doug Nash and other racers campaigned RAV racers. Royal Pontiac employee Milt Schornak had great success campainging an RAV Judge in drag racing. Royal Pontiac even swapped in a few into GTOs and Firebirds for customers who could afford it. But there was never a factory built RAV car ever sold. # 3. 1967 Tri-Power Pontiac GTO. For some reason-in 1967 the GM brass decided that cars didn't need multiple carbs any more. Apparantly Zora-Arkus Duntov had juice upstairs-because Chevrolet continued to build tri-power 427 'Vettes until 1969. But Pontiac and Olds-who had tri-power setups on the GTO and 442 in 1966-complied. Tri-power-3 2bbl carbs- had been a Pontiac Performance staple since 1959. In reality-the new for 1967 400 V8-( Which was a bored-out 389 ) featured new cylinder heads that had big 2.11 / 1.77 intake / exhaust valves-and re-designed combustion chambers breathed a ton better than the 1.96 / 1.66 "bathtub" heads. With the 4bbl Quadrajet and 301 / 313 duration cam-it was faster in testing than the revered, "068" cammed Tri-Power 389. However-customers and the buff magazines lost their mind and howled to the heavens. You could buy all the parts from dealership parts departments and the '65-66 manifold would bolt up to the newer engine. Royal Pontiac installed a bunch of them for customers who'd pay extra for it-as did a lot of dealers who didn't mind making the extra profit. So-there may be a few people who aren't lying when they say their dad or older brother bought a brand-new '67 GTO with Tri-Power on it from a dealer. But these were cars that the dealers modified. There was NEVER a factory produced version. # 4. 1972 Boss 351 Mustang. The '71 Boss 351 Mustang is arguably the best balanced Mustang ever built. The 428 and 429 models were faster in a drag race, but were so nose-heavy they handled like a UPS truck. The Boss 302 was a rocket-but had very little torque below 4,000 rpm. There's a reason they were only available with a 4-speed and 3.90 or 4.30 gears!! But the 351 had way more torque and was much more tractable than the Boss 302 and still handled good. With 11.3:1 compression, a hot solid-lifter cam and aluminum intake-it was very under-rated at 330 hp. However- only 1,806 were built. In 1972 most Mach 1s got the 351CJ-for "Cobra-Jet" which had 7.9:1 compression, a hydraulic cam and was rated at 266 net hp. This same engine was in Panteras. With a stick or automatic-they moved the Mustangs along very briskly-but they weren't rockets. Ford didn't advertise it, and you had to find a Performance-Oriented dealer-to order it for you-but there was a package called "351HO" which had the Boss 351 Solid-lifter cam, and 8.8:1 compression and was only available with a 4-speed and 3.91:1 gears. It was under-rated at 285 hp. Very few were built. I was at Serramonte Ford in San Francisco when my dad PDI'd ( pre-delivery inspection ) one. It was green with a blacked-out hood and black stripes and Ram Air ducted to the hood. It sounded nasty and would spin the wheels as long as you wanted to stay on the throttle. Anyone who says Blue-Oval performance died after '71-never heard or rode in one of these.  Ford guys will argue that it was a Boss 351 with lower compression-but the bottom line is this-Ford Officially named the package "351 HO"-not "Boss" which leaves the 1971 model as the only "Real" Boss 351. # 5. 1972 Monte Carlo SS. Except for the "Egg Crate" grille-and net hp ratings the '72 models were basically the same as the '71s. And if you used the order sheet judiciously-you could get a 402 or 454 big block, bucket seats, console, guages,Rally Wheels, etc-and basically build an SS model without the badging. But the fact remains-the "SS" option was dropped at the end of 1971. # 6. 1972 Pontiac T-37. In 1970 and 71 the T-37 was a performance package on the Tempest. Standard powertain was a 350 V8 and a 3-speed, but you could get a 400 or even a 455HO with a 4-speed or Th400 if you wanted. Buff magazines called them the "Poor Man's GTO". The same basic package was available in 1972-350 V8 standard-with the 400s and 455s optional-but the package was re-named "LeMans GT". It sounds like semantics-but there was no '72 T-37. If you want to play that card-in 1974 you could buy a LeMans GT or a Grand Am with a 400 and a 4-speed-or a 455 and a TH400-both of which are certainly more "GTO" than the 7.6:1 compression 350 engined ( Nova based ) Ventura that wore the GTO name plate. But it's not a GTO. In the late '70's you could buy a base-model Camaro with a 350 and a 4-speed. That doesn't make it a Z/28.  Hope this clears some things up. Mastermind