In this week’s installment of “holy cow that’s an oddly expensive muscle car part” we have this air cleaner which the seller claims is an exceptionally rare factory cowl induction style piece designed for use on 1966/67 Chevelles that were to be raced in NASCAR or SCCA competition. This was not something you just replaced the factory piece with by loosening the wing nut and screwing down the new one. For this thing to fit and work properly the firewall had to be modified and the heater removed. If you were screwing a race car together that was no big thing. This was really not a part designed for street use and that may be the most interesting part.
Remember, GM was still in their “we’re not racing” phase at this time in history and while they were certainly back dooring stuff and doing everything they could to be competitive but quiet about it, offering an actual racing part for sale was not all that common over the counter. How many were made? How many were sold? We have no idea. Is this the same thing as the Camaro air cleaner? The seller says no and we have no reason to doubt the guy.
The market for this part has to be tiny but then again, if you need it, where else are you going to get it? We’re sure that there are vintage NASCAR restorations going on right now that this part would be perfect for. The reverence in the ad for the air cleaner is pretty wild. The seller speaks of this as a sacred object and for the asking price, it should be.
Here’s the ad for this 1966/67 SS396 factory NASCAR cowl air cleaner
3:)
buick had it in 68 for the gs. more rarer than the chebbies and don’t even cost 10% of the chebbie
Buick didn’t have this. They had one that got air from the hood, not a hole cut into the cowl.
I’m sorry but he’s right though it’s pretty obscure. VERY Rare dealer installed Stage II package: http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?195964-68-Gs-Firewall-To-Aircleaner-Adapter&p=1759280#post1759280
I swear I’ve seen something like the Chevy setup as well but can’t find it anymore.
Here you have a bit of a myth. The myth is the ultra rare-ness. A few different GM cars could have that basic base with a special car year-body-trim specific 2nd piece.
This website that looks ready to be removed from the net is for someone that makes Re-production units for $1K ($995)
http://pureplenumperformance.webs.com/
Pure Plenum Performance,
Here is a Picture of a slightly different unit from ‘Bing.com’, I believe this one is the 1967 DZ302 Z/28 Camaro single carb add on.
https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=1967+chevy+cowl+induction+air+cleaner&view=detailv2&&id=E13B1C421339B4EB8D0922678F71894622552516&selectedIndex=0&ccid=ehxIbCHl&simid=607992286082698389&thid=OIP.M7a1c486c21e5a0775a940862ddfbaea2o0&ajaxhist=0
This is the DZ 302 Cross Ram late 67 Race car or 1968 dealer parts counter only (and you might have needed to know don yenko)
http://image.carcraft.com/f/25349399+w750+st0/ccrp_0909_13_z+1967_chevrolet_camaro_z28+cowl_induction.jpg