There is one thing I am not 100% in agreement on. We have never seen any hard evidence to suggest that the 396 was available in Pontiacs in 1965 as mentioned in the story.
In fact we know of a few March 1965 build cars with 409's which is well past the general changeover to 396 in Chevrolets. It is generally believed that 396 engines were not used in Pontiacs until 1966 thereby make Canadian Pontiacs the last production cars to use the fabled 409.
There is also a good book on Canadian Auto History by R. Perry Zavitz "Canadian Cars 1946-1984" published in1985 by Bookman Dan. I have a copy if anyone wants info from it.