'62 Chevy S/S questions and answers

[davezinn]

while i'm down at the beach on vacation i have been reading up on old Super Stockers and having some fun. the '62 though seems to be tied up in alot of conflicting information or stuff that seems just wrong! the idea here is that we can discuss these questions and hopefully come up with some accurate facts.

one of the first things i came across that's conflicting is the Z-11 front end package for late '62. i knew that it was supposed to be just a hood and fenders in aluminum, but now i'm seeing information that it was also the inner fenders. i did see some saying that it was also the core support and bumpers, but i believe that they are confusing the '62 with the '63 package that did include those items.

the intake included with the AMT Super Stock kit is the Z-11 intake. i'm not sure if the kit includes the regular 2-4 intake, but that should be "correct" for the majority of the builds of this kit, unless you are trying to build one that has been "updated" later in the season. i'll have to read more too, but i think any car with the Z-11 parts was now classed in the F/X classes for '62.

i read too that the Z-11 package was available on the Bel Air and the 2-door sedan Biscaynes, but i'm not sure that information is correct. i do believe that the 409 was available in the Biscayne, but i'm not sure that any cars were factory built with the Z-11 parts later.

anyone who has some information please post it here or any questions of thier own. hopefully between us we can come up with some solid facts!
Dave

[Administrator]

I'm going to sticky this thread as well Dave so it can be used for easy reference for everyone in the future.
I was under the impression that the 62's only had the lightweight fenders and hood as well and not the aluminum bumpers like the 63's had. I used to have an awesome book that covered the Super Stocks of this era and I am almost positive the 62's did not come with aluminum bumpers and inner fenders.
I know the 63's came with the lightweight fenders, bumpers, hoods and inner fenders and I also believe the rear bumpers on the 63's were also aluminum.
The more research I am doing on these bel Airs though, the more I am finding that the differences in the way these cars were run from week to week in some cases varied quite a bit. As i stated in another thread, the decals in the AMT Old Reliable kit are actually a midnight blue color and not black as i originally thought and I am finding more images of this car being run with the darker lettering, so I'm no longer convinced AMT's version of their release was incorrect with the decals they included. I'm finding that the darker lettering began appearing more often during the later stages of the 62 Season and mostly on the West Coast.
Again, anyone with additional information, pics, and other reference, please feel free to post it here.

[davezinn]

the decals i have in my kit are black. the only ones that are blue are in the Dyno Don kit that i have. i wish that i hadn't decalled the Hayden Proffitt car that i have. those decals are horrible! i don't have alot of these kits to build, so i hope i can get those decals off.

[Snake45]

I remember when that kit came out there was a lot of to-do in the model press about the grille wasn't right. I seem to recall that AMT corrected whatever was wrong in later issues.

One thing I DO remember about it is that the forward tips of the front fenders were rounded off a bit, they weren't nice and pointy and sharp like they should have been. I noticed that first thing when I opened the one I bought. Dunno if that's what was fixed/corrected or not. It would be easy to fix that on the body, maybe not quite so easy to fix it on the grille. Next time I run across the thing in the stash, I'll take a look at it.

[davezinn]

i do remember the grille thing too, but i couldn't tell you if it was ever corrected. the Impala convertible has a different grille.

[a2race]

Jul 29, 2008 9:06:13 GMT -6 Administrator said:

I'm going to sticky this thread as well Dave so it can be used for easy reference for everyone in the future.
I was under the impression that the 62's only had the lightweight fenders and hood as well and not the aluminum bumpers like the 63's had. I used to have an awesome book that covered the Super Stocks of this era and I am almost positive the 62's did not come with aluminum bumpers and inner fenders.
I know the 63's came with the lightweight fenders, bumpers, hoods and inner fenders and I also believe the rear bumpers on the 63's were also aluminum.
The more research I am doing on these bel Airs though, the more I am finding that the differences in the way these cars were run from week to week in some cases varied quite a bit. As i stated in another thread, the decals in the AMT Old Reliable kit are actually a midnight blue color and not black as i originally thought and I am finding more images of this car being run with the darker lettering, so I'm no longer convinced AMT's version of their release was incorrect with the decals they included. I'm finding that the darker lettering began appearing more often during the later stages of the 62 Season and mostly on the West Coast.
Again, anyone with additional information, pics, and other reference, please feel free to post it here.

i would like to see those pics in question.....as much as i know about this car, i have NEVER known it to have the lettering change colors.....albeit, some of the lettering was changed esp after the indy win and header manufacturer change..but not the color..speaking of correct colors..i found out AFTER i built the car that the engine should have been black.....it was the first car grump started to paint his motors this way, and it is wrong in the restored car as well (thats where i got my reference) also i used the regular 2x4 intake and NOT the 2-piece Z-11, that would be wrong unless you are building a B/FX car (late 62).....adam

[a2race]

Jul 29, 2008 11:55:58 GMT -6 @davezinn said:

the decals i have in my kit are black. the only ones that are blue are in the Dyno Don kit that i have. i wish that i hadn't decalled the Hayden Proffitt car that i have. those decals are horrible! i don't have alot of these kits to build, so i hope i can get those decals off.

i have seen them in dark blue AND in black.......the 56 jr. stocker i posted, those were black.....i have seen more than a few kits have the same decals, but in 2 different colors, so it's not all that uncommon.....adam

[davezinn]

the only two currently available sources of decals for these cars is
Slixx
MCW
i'm guessing here as i havent found any others that are current. i know Fred Cady did some as well, but he no longer does decals.

[charliek]

This is a subject that I have been studying for a while. The Z-11 package was produced in late 62 and most drivers (Strickler and Nicholson) in particular did use them on the Bel Air to see how they would run. They found that the parts worked better on the heavier Impala in competition. They were in the finals at the Labor day NAtionals at Indy in 62 both with BFX Impalas with the Z-11 parts. Later the Parts were put back on the Bel Airs and used for Match racing. As for the decals for the Old Reliable the only source as far as I know is MCW. The others are incorrect, I know some say they look darker or black but remember most of the pictures are from 62 or 63 and the light wasn't all that great with the cameras that were used at the time. In the following pic you can make out the Bluegreen of the Armon Smith on the door as for the light its kinda dark

And this is a pic that was posted here a while ago look how dark outside it is so the lettering is apearing dark but if you look at it for a while you see the bluegreen

I hope this helps out a bit.

[voyager]

Does anyone have any pictures or links for the interior of these cars (as in the AMT kit)? All the pics I can find are either bucket seats or very different fabric to the ones in the kit.

[Thumb]

When I built my version of this car I had to buy some interior decal and paint just to make the interior look right. Here's one pic of my interior....



Here's a link to all the pics I took when doing the WIP on it...

s452.photobucket.com/albums/qq242/thumbmodel/Strickler%2062%20Bel%20Air/#!cpZZ1QQtppZZ16

[voyager]

Thanks for that - that is a great model, those engine shots will be a great help too!

[Thumb]

You're welcome, just glad to help out.

[voyager]

Sorry, me again! While doing more research, the instructions for the kit say the engine should be Chevy red and the picture of the restored car on here www.348-409.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12423&highlight=strickler also shows the engine red rather than the black on your (Thumb) model. I'm amazed at how little real information is available for this car! There is a better copy of the photo posted here by charliek of the car on axle stands at a gas station which to me makes the lettering less 'blue' and could just be an old photo/scanning giving a colour cast as to me (again) the interior also looks like it could be black! I'm so confused (as usual!)

[Thumb]

I sent you a PM, check it out.