1961 Chevy 409 info wanted:

[Greg Reimer 7376]

Many,many moons ago,I met somebody(about 1974 or 1975) that had bought a robin's egg blue '65 impala SS,409 400 horse engine,white interior,4 speed and all. He had it about a year, went cruising New Year's Eve on Colorado Blvd,burning up three full tanks of gas in the process, and e traded it in in early 1968 for a new 327 powered '68 impala. In the early summer of 1975,i worked in a gas station,and a blue 65 impala SS came in with a guy and his family on his way to Disneyland.He asked me to put in a quart of Pennzoil for him,which I did, and here was a 400 horse 409,high rise,AFB,chrome air cleaner and all. This car was very original,(stock as a rock),and had the original 4 speed with the curved chrome handle and knob with the T handle for reverse,and it was pretty much just a driver to him. Years later,long after I lost touch with all these persons,i found out that total '65 chevy 409 production was 2826-only 742 400 horse 409's were built. What were the odds that this was the same car?Probably pretty good.How many robin's egg blue with white interior 4 speed impala SS cars were built?Probably almost none.I'll never know. I wish when I worked at gas stations then that I could have rescued a LOT of cars back then We even had an occasional gas customer with a white with blue accents '69 Trans Am Firebird. Those were some happy hunting grounds back then,the first gas crisis of '73-74 put a lot of that stuff for sale CHEAP. More 409 stuff later.