In 1965, the Corvette got a mild update. A number of obvious things were changed, of course. For example, the interior was redesigned, the gas cap was redesigned again, the side louvers between the front wheel wells and the doors were redesigned, and the color choices were revised, with yellow being one of the new colors offered. There were a number of significant technical changes, however, that made 1965 Corvettes considerably more formidable opponents than 1964's. First of all, the wheels and tires, this meaning the standard ones and not any special option, were now 7.75 X 15", meaning that grip was far better. Disc brakes also became standard in 1965, on all four wheels! That didn't mean they were suddenly an option, but that in contrast to 1964, when they weren't even an option, they now became standard, with drum brakes optional. Naturally, they were available with power assist. To provide a slightly higher standard top speed, the standard differential became the 3.36, although the 3.7 remained an option. There were a number of new options, however, in addition to the improvements to the basic car. First of all, you could get factory side pipes for the first time. Secondly, you could order not only the Muncie M20 4-speed manual transmission or the Powerglide 2-speed automatic, but also the Muncie M22 heavy duty 4-speed manual, a.k.a. the "Rockcrusher." Engine options were wider than they had ever been, too. In addition to the 250-horsepower, Carter 4-bbl 327cid V-8, which had been standard since 1962, you could still order the L75 4-bbl, with 300 horsepower, the L76 4-bbl with 365 horsepower, or the L84 Fuel-injected 327 with 375 horsepower, you could also order the L79 which had 350 horsepower and hydraulic lifters like on the L75 (the L76 had mechanical lifters). The big engine option for 1965, though, was the L78 396cid 4bbl V-8, the first "big block" engine offered as an R.P.O. on the Corvette. It was so big that a special bulge had to be designed into the L78's hood, which is the easiest spotting feature for an L78 as opposed to any other 1965 Vette. Big block engines had been available on larger Chevys for years, and many salvaged and crate big blocks had found their way into Corvette hot rods already, but now it was possible to order a 396 directly from the factory, and 2,157 people did, which is considerably when you consider it was more than 10% of Corvette production for the year. It also was significant because it killed sales for the L84, as it cost far more than the L78, yet wasn't as powerful. Consequently, 1965 would be the last year that Corvettes were offered with both disc brakes and fuel injection until 1982, and the last year until 1984 when it was possible to buy a Corvette with disc brakes, fuel injection, and a manual transmission. In the meantime, though, nobody was thinking about these technical details, with all of the new power and control that a well-equipped L78 offered, especially if it also had the special F40 handling package. For Redline, I've built you an L78 with an M22 transmission, 3.7 POSI differential, spoked alloy wheels, back-up lights, side pipes, and of course the (non-operable) AM/FM radio. That's okay, you can use iTunes instead. :-)