| In 1914, the now famous "bowtie' logo appeared for the first time on Chevrolets. Legend maintains ... and Billy Durant (Chevrolet founder) confirmed it ... that the bowtie shape was inspired by a pattern of wallpaper he saw in a Paris hotel room in 1908. He supposedly detached a small piece, folded it and placed it into his wallet, waiting for the day he'd put it to use. The "bowtie" is still used today for the Chevrolet. |
| If you have paint code # 72 (hugger orange) or # 76 (daytona yellow) in 1969, or # 943 (goldwood yellow) in 1964 on your cowel tag , your car was a factory SS as these colors were exclusive for the SS models. |
| ZL3 is a code for the assembly line to adapt the car for the SS option, i.e. put the right equipment on the car like disk brakes, 12 bolt axle, punch holes, attach proper fuel & brake line. |
| HEAVY CHEVY: Base V8 Chevelle series with a bench seat and rubber floor mat; lacking extraneous chrome, they added: blacked-out grille; a domed hood with lock pin (read that as non-functional cowl induction); special side striping (black or white); 14x6 rally wheels without trim rings; heavy duty springs and shocks; engines ranged from 307ci to 402ci, as they did on all other Chevelles except the SS; functional cowl induction hood was offered with the 402 only on the Heavy Chevy. |
| CHEVELLE SS: based on the V8 Malibu sport coupe or convertible; bench seat; cloth and vinyl standard on coupe; all vinyl on convertible, was optional on coupe, power front disk/ rear drum brakes; blacked out grille; domed hood with lock pins; remote controlled outside mirror; special instrument cluster (with idiot light); black steering column and 2-spoke wheel; 15x7 wheels and F60x15 tires; a rear stabilizer in addition to the front and heavy duty shocks (F41 suspension); SS emblems in the grille, rear bumper, front fenders, and steering wheel; wheel opening moldings were shared with the Malibu, but rocker moldings were deleted; engines were 350ci 2-barrel through 454; no 3-speed manuals, just Turbo Hydra-matics and 4-speeds; cowl Induction was offered on the 402ci and 454ci; striping was standard with cowl induction SS's in '71, but not in '72; striping was offered optionally on all SS's during that time regardless of equipment. |
| Some other notes: The full instruments with real gauges was optional on SS's, Malibu coupes and convertibles with V8s; and Heavy Chevys. You weren't supposed to get them on anything else, but if you made a big fuss they would have, provided it was V8 equipped. F41 suspension was also offered on 402 non-SS's as an option. Power steering wasn't standard on anything in the Chevelle line at that time. Manual drums were the standard brakes in all but the SS cars. F78x14 tires were as good as it got on non-SS cars. |
