Bill, I may have missed that year. BG always overlapped the boys Championship swim meet that was held at the University of Texas Swim Center. I was meet director for two years and I couldn't make BG in 1996 and 1997.

Now that judging is over, I wanted to post a picture of the pad on this 1360 mile LT1. This was a stumbling block when I purchased the car as this code does not exist for any car in 1971. Many 1971 LT1's have individually stamped assembly codes and that is not at all unusual, but CBZ does not exist. The build code should have been ground off and restamped correctly as CGZ, but it was not. The pad sailed through judging as a factory anomaly. The engine has all of its original warranty gaskets and is clearly the original engine with a unique stamping.

So, Tim, will be seeing this fine C3 in three weeks??

Not this year. I’ve got too much on the agenda to get it up there.

Primer LT1
 

For what it is worth, Belmont Chev in Toronto ordered a customer 1971 LT1 with an Exception Order in primer, the owner then painting it black. No idea where it is now.

Congrats on your awards Tim, I saw your name and mention of your car in either the last NCRS mag or the last copy of Vette Views.

The last character on my Brandshatch Green LT1 is offset which caused one person to question it when it listed for sale prior to my purchasing the car - the fact that it still had the original steel shim head gaskets, intake gaskets, the original freeze plugs, and the engine had never been repainted was all I needed to see to be confident there was no monkey business.


As far as Black 71's... there are currently 2 71's which can be proven to have been painted Black in St Louis. A LS5 2 top auto AC leather roadster and LT1 coupe ordered without radio...

The one thing they have in common is they BOTH specified BLACK when ordering WITH an alternate color listed- Brandshatch Green on the LS5 and Silver on the LT1.
On the LT1, GM overseas distribution also required a non refundable $1000 deposit, before accepting the order or even providing the charge($83) to paint the car black.

The majority of 1971 LT1 pads I have in my files are individually stamped, that explains why mine is stamped incorrectly. The black 1971 LT1 was in the Mecum auction at Pheasant Run a number of years ago, it was a beautiful car. I believe the owner of Reliable transport either was selling the car or bought the car.

The 71 LT1 which is documented as having been painted black at the factory- is owned by my brother and me, prior to our purchase in 2020 it was owned by another Yenko.net board member who purchased it in the late 1980's from the original owner. It has been off the road and not registered since 1982.
I presented the paperwork to the lead C3 judge Chuck Berge and he stated there are no issues & no need to fear a full paint deduction when showing the car painted Black. (AFAIK another documented factory painted Black LT1 of any year has yet to be discovered)

There are TWO 1972's documented as being painted black by St Louis as well... a roadster and coupe... both base engine cars.

Tim, awesome! Congrats on the TF too - saw your name in the Driveline

Thank you, Dan. I’m on a low mile car kick with the purchase of the 8,900 mile 67 435.

I’d love to see the paperwork in the black LT1.