For one year only, you could get a Corvette Stingray with four wheel disc brakes and fuel injection. Because 1965 was the first year of the disc brakes, and the last for fuel injection.
What other car in the world offered a futuristic fibreglass body, all independent suspension, four wheel disc brakes, and fuel injection? None. Zip.
If you wanted all of the above, you had to go to your Chevy dealer.
Not many did mind you - not when the ‘fuelie’ option cost around a thousand bucks. That was a lot of dough in 1965. Cheaper was the new big block option - the 396 porcupine head ‘rat’ motor.
A well sorted 396 was probably quicker in a straight line than the 327 fuelie, but it didn’t handle or stop as well. And it could suffer fuel starvation during hard cornering, and at high altitude it suffered the same fuel-mix issues as carburetors as used on Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini and Jaguar. Not so the fuelie.
Best value-for-money sports car in the world in the mid sixties - in the US at least…
The 1950s developed Chevy fuel injection system used WW2 aircraft technology. In order for USAF bombers to be able to fly at ultra high altitude to stay out of the range of flak - they required fuel injection. A fully mechanical throttle body design, Chevy’s solution is basic by today’s standards, but was very advanced for it’s time. And it was reliable. It gave a massive performance boost, so was only used on the hottest small blocks. Those with the famous Duntov ‘fuelie heads’ that were also made available on other, non-fuelie small blocks.
With a walloping 375 horsepower and the ability to rev past 6500rpm, the ‘65 327 fuelie was a force to be reckoned with. It blew the doors off every other sports car in the world including the legendary Jaguar XKE. Ferrari and Aston Martin? Forget it - at least in a straight line, the Corvette was king.
The writing was on the wall when the Chevy boys looked at the performance stats going back to the first fuelie Corvette from 1957. Though more powerful - the ‘63 to ‘65 fuelies weren’t any quicker than earlier ones due to yearly weight increases. And at $1000 - it didn’t make much sense to buyers when they could get as much performance out of the 396.
Chevy’s potent new big block 396 for 1965 signaled the end for the famed ‘fuelie’
Later big block C2 and C3 Stingray’s were quicker again, but they didn’t have the poise or the handling crispness of the small block. And the ultimate small block Stingray of all time has to be a ‘65 fuelie...or maybe an LT1 equipped C3 - hmmm...
About the author
Raph Tripp is a passionate classic car enthusiast and writer, and founder of TunnelRam.net. If you wish to publish this article in part or in whole, please credit Raph Tripp and tunnelram.net . This is an original Tunnel Ram production ©2020 Tunnel Ram. All images remain the property of the original copyright holders.