Let’s face it, Ford enthusiasts have it good. So do Mopar buffs. But Chevy guys and gals, well, not so much. Now, before the hair on your back bristles up and you fire off an angst-filled letter to the editor, let’s qualify the statement: We’re not referring to who had the best engines, the fastest cars, or the best designed bodylines. No, we’re simply referring to being able to readily document what engine was original to a given car. If you’re a Ford or Mopar fan, a quick glance at the VIN tells the tale — but no such luck with Chevys.
Numerous prior owners of this ’68 Biscayne could only wish for an easy VIN identity, because it took considerable time and energy to uncover the car’s full history and prove what it was purported to be. You see, the big Chevy had long ago lost its original engine and transmission, and that’s where the mystery of the “whats and whys” of the car came to be. A rumor that it was an original “L72 car,” factory produced with the 425-hp 427-cu.in. Mark IV engine, had accompanied the Biscayne through several owners, which would be significant in that just 568 full-size ’68 Chevys were so equipped. Considering the full-size lineup consisted of Biscaynes, Bel Airs, Caprices, Impalas, and Impala SSs, the number of L72 Biscaynes is obviously small.
Sam Battaglia owned this Biscayne from 2000 to 2016, but the prior owner didn’t know much about the history other than it had at one time been in Minnesota. Sam is no stranger to full-size 427 Chevys — he’s the original owner of a ’67, also owns another ’68 L72, and was drawn to this one for its low miles (19,000) and excellent condition. In fact, when Sam had Scott’s Performance and Restoration restore the car in 2012, the original interior was so good that only the carpet had to be replaced. According to shop owner Scott Chalk, “There were clues to it being an L72 throughout,” including an original 12-bolt rear axle housing stamped to indicate 4.10 Posi guts, and a fuel tank with an L72-only single-line sending unit. There were also tow tabs welded to the front of the frame, which, combined with the low miles and stripped-down content, lent credibility that the car had spent much of its life as a racer. Original 427 emblems were in place on the front corners, and if these were to be believed, it could’ve been either a 390-hp L36 or the 425-hp L72. Most L36s came with taller gearsets than the 4.10s, so it was certainly believable that the car was as the rumors said: this was an L72 427 Biscayne.
Scott set about finding a correctly dated L72 427 engine and innumerable other components needed for the car, which was no small task. He wound up finding the correct four-bolt block assembly in his own stash of parts, and Sam himself rebuilt it to original spec — he even used an original camshaft. The solid-lifter stick was one of the key power makers for the L72, what with a healthy 310 degrees advertised duration (242 degrees at .050) and .520-inch lift. It lifted a 2.19/1.72- inch factory valve combination to flow plenty of air through rectangular-port heads, all of which was topped by a factory aluminum high-rise intake and Holley 780-cfm four-barrel. It was a recipe that makes the factory rating of 425 horses believable, and in fact, the completed engine dynoed to the tune of 475 flywheel horsepower.
Throughout the restoration, Scott found the car to be a fantastic example of the breed. Besides the L72 engine and M22 four-speed transmission pieces he had to find, Scott says the rest of the restoration was accomplished largely by cleaning and refinishing or rebuilding the original components on the car. He reports that some of the tougher pieces to find included the original shifter and boot, as well as the smog pump and associated plumbing.
At Sam’s request, Scott did make two additions that weren’t on the Biscayne when it rolled out of the Janesville, Wisconsin assembly plant: power steering and an in-dash gauge cluster. Seattle resident Paul Raidna is the current owner of the Biscayne, and the one who really dug in to discover the ins and outs of its history that had been lost over 50 years. Paul bought the ’68 out of a local collection, which in and of itself is an interesting tale. Paul says, “I became aware of this car through an internet forum in 2016 and was negotiating to buy it from a dealer in the Midwest. It seemed a deal was imminent, but at the 11th hour I learned the dealer sold it to a guy near me as part of a two-car package.” Being an avid full-size Chevy fan, Paul was tremendously disappointed, yet took the news in stride. He’d be rewarded only a year later. “The same local collector was negotiating with the same dealer on another car, but the collector said he didn’t have the physical room to pull the trigger. The dealer remembered me and suggested that he find out if I was still interested in the Biscayne, thus clearing space in the collection. Needless to say, I was still interested, and we made a deal.”
After bringing the car home, Paul was motivated to see what he could learn about its history. “I didn’t doubt the fact that it was an L72, but I was curious about how the car lost its original drivetrain, where it was raced, who had owned it, and so on. I put a picture of the car on a B-body internet forum, explaining what little was known, and asking if anyone recognized it. One evening a few days later I was watching a movie with my family when I got a message from a guy named Larry Myers. Larry explained that he saw my post, and believed it was the L72 Biscayne he had owned and raced between 1969 and 1973,” Paul recalls. “I was ecstatic, but then we discovered that Larry’s car didn’t have gauges or power steering, and me not knowing they’d been added during restoration, I figured it was a false start.”
But Larry persisted when Paul mentioned the tow tabs that were welded to the front frame, as Larry had done this back in his days of flat towing the ’68 to and from Minnesota Dragways near St. Paul. Larry also told Paul that he’d swapped the original M22 for a TH400, which had necessitated welding brackets to the frame to support the automatic crossmember. Paul looked under the car, and sure enough, the extra brackets for the crossmember were still there. Then Larry told Paul to look for evidence in the trunk where he’d mounted brackets for a pair of electric fuel pumps. Paul looked, and the holes — now welded closed — were there. Clearly this was Larry Myers’ old Biscayne, but what was with the gauges and power steering? Paul called prior owner Sam Battaglia to discuss the situation and learned that Sam had those options added during restoration. In the meantime, Larry shared the history that had been lost to time.
The Biscayne was purchased new at Polar Chevrolet in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, by an acquaintance of Larry’s, Bob Kohnke. Larry confirmed that the car was indeed an original L72 427 with an M22 four-speed, 4.10 gears, and power front disc brakes. Bob was just 18 when he bought the Biscayne in August of 1968, and he used it primarily for street racing, while also going to the drags a few times. He left the Chevy stock except for bolting on a set of headers. Larry was keen on the car and enjoyed talking to Bob during late nights of racing. When Bob got his draft notice in mid-1969, he offered to sell the ’68 to Larry, but Larry had also received his notice around the same time and had to decline. Bob sold the car back to Polar Chevrolet in July 1969 with just 7,000 miles on the odometer, where the car went to the used car lot. Soon after, a 19-year-old Larry failed his Army physical and would therefore be staying stateside. He quickly made his way down to Polar Chevrolet and purchased the Grecian Green sleeper, with his mother co-signing the loan since Larry wasn’t yet 21.
Larry picked up where Bob left off, turning the Biscayne’s use exclusively to racing, primarily at Minnesota Dragways and North Star Drag Strip. He kept the Biscayne in his parents’ garage and used a beater ’55 Chevy as his daily driver. When Larry damaged the synchros in the M22 during a race, he decided to swap in a TH400 for consistency and reliability. Larry told Paul that with the headers, automatic transmission, and slicks, the Biscayne regularly ran in the 12.70s. Regrettably, the M22 was traded soon after for a set of wheels and tires.
Larry explains that since pre-’69, solid-lifter Chevy engines were all mandatory stick-shifts, swapping to an automatic put him in the Modified classes: “I figured if I was running Modified, I might as well modify the engine, so during the off-season I rebuilt it using 12.5:1 pistons, a big Lunati solid-lifter cam, larger exhaust valves, and I had the assembly balanced.” Larry also installed a TCI 5,000-rpm convertor and swapped the 4.10s for 4.88s, and in this configuration the car ran as quick as 12.16 and set a C/Modified Production record at Minnesota Dragways in 1972. He has lots of great memories of those days, and specifically remembers battling another ’68 L72 Biscayne owned by Ned Hagstrom. That car was campaigned under the “Sour Grapes” name, and Larry admits the car was usually a few tenths quicker than his own. “Ned was into the 11s, and I was clawing to get there” Larry says. “We had a lot of fun!”
By 1973, Larry’s mph was beginning to slow, and he felt the engine was in need of freshening. It was also the midst of the OPEC oil embargo, and Larry was feeling the pain. Rather than go to the effort required to prep the car for more racing, he decided to sell it, and that’s where the separation of the original engine occurred. It was Larry’s assessment that the car would bring more money in pieces than all together. He sold the car, sans engine, to Larry Lunak with about 12,000 miles on it. Lunak was parting out a ’69 Z/28 at the time, and while Larry encouraged Lunak to buy the original L72 as well, Lunak was set on installing the Camaro’s high winding 302 — and did so. In light of his recommendation, Larry recalls that even with the 4.88s still in place, the 302 only propelled the Biscayne into the mid-14s. Myers then sold the L72 engine to a local by the name of DeRay or Dee Ray.
About a year later, Tom Moldenhauer would become the Biscayne’s fourth owner, and put a different big block and four-speed back in the car for racing. Larry Myers last remembers seeing the ’68 in the pits at Brainerd Raceway around 1990 with still a different owner, running a 454 and again with a TH400 — such is the life of a race car. Until Paul’s internet post in 2017, it had been nearly 30 years since Larry had seen or heard of his old ride.
Needless to say, Paul was ecstatic to hear a full accounting of his car’s history. Through diligent digging, he’s turned up an original newspaper classified ad when original owner Bob Kohnke was trying to sell the Biscayne in 1969, and another vintage newspaper clipping showing Larry Myers as First Group Eliminator champ at Minnesota Dragways with a 12.94 at 109 mph. Larry has also provided old timeslips, pictures, and video of him racing the car back in the day. “Finding Larry was absolutely fantastic” Paul says. “It puts the whole thing in perspective and gives me a deeper appreciation for a car I’d already fallen in love with.”
Paul is no stranger to nice Chevrolets; we included his ’69 L78 Nova SS in our January 2017 issue (HMM #161). However, he reports the Biscayne seems to get more than its share of attention and appreciation from people he encounters during outings and shows. “I think it’s just the fact that people aren’t used to seeing these cars done right. Novas and Camaros yes, but big Chevys not so much. Then combine that with a King Kong engine and 19,000 miles, and people really dig it.” Now that Paul has uncovered the early history of his Biscayne, we know our readers will dig it too.
