VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION General Discussions a quick question on a '63 Biscayne

Today at a local car show there was a 19,000 mile Cordovan Brown 1963 Biscayne two door sedan. It had a 409/425 horse. Guy claimed it was all original which I did not doubt. It had chrome reverse wheels,no hubcaps. When I asked him if he had the original wheels he said these were a factory option???? So my question is were they? CorvairEd #47508 Dade City,Fla

No such option

I don't know for sure but I suspect it wasn't born that way. Maybe a dealer installed accessory?

When I asked some more about the wheels he avoided the subject and when I gave him a VCCA brochure he said he didn't need a club! CorvairEd Dade City,Fla

Yes, you have to be diplomatic when you challenge what is “original”. It is a skill I practice frequently at the major auctions.

Additional question on above '63 Biscayne, It had an alternator, is that correct for '63? I don't know the build date. CorvairEd VCCA# 47508

While I do not know the exact answer, I do know that Chevrolet did introduce an alternator on the Corvette in 1963. I’ll let the experts confirm if that was across all models and engines that year.

We have an alternator on our Canadian 1963 GMC 292 six as well, and it's been there since new.
The 1960 has a generator.
I sort of assumed the alternator was new for '63, but I could be wrong.
Could have been '62, but was definitely there by 1963.

1963 was the first year for all Chevrolets to have an alternator EXCEPT the Corvair. The Corvair was 1965.
A 1962 Chevrolet with factory air came with an alternator and an altrrnator was optionlal for some applications
in 1934 an altenator described as (AC generator) was an option for school buss'es

A long time ago a GM instructor in a Delco-Remy class I took refused to call them alternators. Instead he would call them diode rectified dc generators not sure why but I didn't argue with him.

Dave

There is some indication that Chrysler trademarked or somehow restricted the use of the name “alternator” when they introduced them. So Chevy and Ford referred to them by “alternate” names. (Great pun!)

Ford called them AC generators and GM used the term Delcotron Generator in a lot of their literature.