Z car weight
- Thread starter El Rat
- Start date
After moving around a pair of 63 Bel Air doors last weekend, I would think the basic Impala body would be lighter than a Belair or Biscayne body(if you don't have carpet in or undercoating on either one). 
Heck Jim, I was moving a pair of '62 convertible doors around and got winded 
.
Must be that extra weight of the power windows?
Cheers! TomK
.Must be that extra weight of the power windows?
Cheers! TomK
Biscayne Stocker
Active Member
NHRA classification guide has the Z11 listed at 3341 lbs. Its usually spot on.
NHRA has the std Impala spt cp 409/425 at 3560 lbs.
Here is the link to the classification guide. Scroll down to Chevrolet and select the year.
http://www.nhraracer.com/content/general.asp?articleid=46635&zoneid=132
Pat, what’s the title weight on one of these cars.
George Klass
Well Known Member
There is no question that if all the Z-11 goodies were transferred to a Biscayne 2-door sedan, it would be lighter, and several racers did exactly that. And yes, it would still be NHRA legal. Not for S/S of course, but for F/X...
George Klass
Well Known Member
You may wonder why anyone would do that to a Z-11 Impala, transfer the aluminum front end, etc., to a lighter weight 2-door sedan. The reason is simple. NHRA ran only two (or three, I can't remember) National Events in 1963. The only time that a Z-11 Impala had to run as an A/FX car was at one of those events. The majority of tracks around the nation typically permitted F/X cars to run as Super Stockers, even including NHRA sanctioned tracks, PROVIDING that they were full size sedans. This was true for cars of other brands too, such as the Swiss Cheese Panchos, the Dodge/Plymouth non-altered wheelbase cars, and Fords, full size sedans that had been set up as legal FX cars at NHRA National Events. Drag strips around the country did not have to obey or abide by all the NHRA S/S or FX rules in the early 60's, they could (and usually were) more flexible, such as allowing those small hood scoops, and other non-S/S or FX legal modifications. In fact, the majority of drag strips around the country in '63 did not even have a "Factory Experimental" class...
George Klass
Well Known Member
The surprising thing to me was that GM (or Chevrolet) selected the Impala hard-top to be used as a "drag race car" in the first place. You have to remember, the Z-11 427 Impala was originally intended to be a Super Stock car. The only reason it wasn't was that Chevy canceled production after only 50 or so vehicles were built (forcing them to be used in the FX class). What the hell were they thinking? It would be like Pontiac using the Swiss Cheese 421 combo on a Bonneville instead of the Catalina. The logic of using a heavier car as your all-out factory S/S car in the first place seemed to me to be an absurd decision...
I don’t know if i read this some where, had a dream about it or maybe it’s just common sense, but at this great time in drag racing it was all about Race on Sunday, Sell on Monday. Most Chevy dealers weren’t going to have a white Biscayne or Belair on the showroom floor but there would be an Impala there with a 409 hopefully. And George I Love what you are doing for Drag Racing History!!! 
And George I Love what you are doing for Drag Racing History!!! 
Barry, lots of truth in what you said.
Working at Chevy dealers back then was just that, Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday.
I use to take spare parts to the track on the weekends if anyone needed them so they would come in and buy more parts or cars.
It’s positive Chevy made more money selling well equipped cars and really did not want to built the cheap ones. Even look at the NASCAR guys. Even the 63 Mystery Motor cars, all Impalas, not Biscayne. Junior Johnson had a SS car. Today it’s still got the drivers bucket seat.
I too wondered about loaded vs cheap. Look at the first 61 SS cars, lots of trim, high HP engines, but Power Steering??
The only reason was for style, comfort and profit.
Working at Chevy dealers back then was just that, Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday.
I use to take spare parts to the track on the weekends if anyone needed them so they would come in and buy more parts or cars.
It’s positive Chevy made more money selling well equipped cars and really did not want to built the cheap ones. Even look at the NASCAR guys. Even the 63 Mystery Motor cars, all Impalas, not Biscayne. Junior Johnson had a SS car. Today it’s still got the drivers bucket seat.
I too wondered about loaded vs cheap. Look at the first 61 SS cars, lots of trim, high HP engines, but Power Steering??
The only reason was for style, comfort and profit.
Barry, lots of truth in what you said.
Working at Chevy dealers back then was just that, Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday.
I use to take spare parts to the track on the weekends if anyone needed them so they would come in and buy more parts or cars.
It’s positive Chevy made more money selling well equipped cars and really did not want to built the cheap ones. Even look at the NASCAR guys. Even the 63 Mystery Motor cars, all Impalas, not Biscayne. Junior Johnson had a SS car. Today it’s still got the drivers bucket seat.
I too wondered about loaded vs cheap. Look at the first 61 SS cars, lots of trim,
View attachment 79088
Working at Chevy dealers back then was just that, Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday.
I use to take spare parts to the track on the weekends if anyone needed them so they would come in and buy more parts or cars.
It’s positive Chevy made more money selling well equipped cars and really did not want to built the cheap ones. Even look at the NASCAR guys. Even the 63 Mystery Motor cars, all Impalas, not Biscayne. Junior Johnson had a SS car. Today it’s still got the drivers bucket seat.
I too wondered about loaded vs cheap. Look at the first 61 SS cars, lots of trim,
View attachment 79088
