1969 ZL1 Vette?
 

I just found this pic. I took this when I went to the Muscle Car Review Magazine show in Cypress Gardens Florida in the 80's. I remember Larry from Oklahoma (us old timer site members will remember him) said he distinctly remembered seeing a blue ZL1 Vette back in the day. Well, take a look. Should be fun.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...o/ZL1Vette.jpg

I believe there were 2 . One white one yellow

The yellow one belongs to Roger Judski. There is also an orange one that supposedly has been verified.

My understand was one white, one yellow.

George Heberling (Asst Staff Engineer - Production Engineering) drove one of those as his company assigned vehicle. (I went to GMI with his son Chris).

The orange car you are thinking of might be the mule vehicle used during the Long Lead Press show on the GM Milford Proving Ground's vehicle dynamics pad (aka "Black Lake"). The car has been reproduced, quite authentically, but is not the original.

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/17/a...=top-news&_r=0

http://www.motortrend.com/news/1969-...e-lt-2-review/

K

No Keith not that one. This one, the Gulf car:

http://www.corvetteblogger.com/2013/...omington-gold/

I'm not sure if this is the same car Darren posted above, possible though:

http://www.superchevy.com/features/v...-corvette-zl1/

I remember seeing the white one @ indy 1987. At the time they wanted 100k. Wife said dont you dare lol

I've seen that Orange Gulf Corvette a few times when I lived in Pittsburgh at a couple car shows. Guy said he bought it at Yenko Chevrolet from Don and that it was, indeed, an original ZL-1 car that was a testing mule or something. He had a 482(?) BB in it then, with the orig ZL-1 427 on a stand at his house. Older guy, seemed legit.

In Gulf livery -

"But there was one Corvette buyer then who had no problem with the ZL1-powered Corvette's $9,900-plus sticker price: John Maher, a western Pennsylvania drag racer who was a personal friend of Don Yenko. Says Kevin Mackay of Corvette Repair in Valley Stream, New York, who restored this ZL1, "He had an International Blue '68 L88 originally, and when he found out that they were making another car that was lighter, and with the aluminum block, he decided to order that, and he got it through Gulf Oil and he drag raced the car."

John raced the Monaco Orange ZL1 "Winning Automatically," with its heavy-duty Turbo 400 for a number of years, while adding different stripes, colors, and decals during the years he campaigned it.

Eventually, it was parked and stored where it avoided the ravages of time and weather. There it stayed until he sold it to Bruce Perrone, its current owner. "I bought the car in 2007," he says. " It was largely unrestored. It had just under 3,000 miles on it. Over the years, it had gone through a few paint schemes, but I bought it from the original owner who'd raced the car from day one." Bruce adds."

John held onto a copy of the original invoice and the original tank sticker that shows the ZL1 engine option and the M40 automatic transmission. With this original documentation, there is little doubt this Corvette is the real deal.

That is exactly how I remembered seeing it back in the 80's at some local Pgh car shows. Pretty cool to have been able to see it in it's as-raced condition. Thanks for the pics.

----Have seen this ZL1 several times at Carlisle over the years. Matter of fact we stayed at the same hotel more than one year and talked about his car at length. Absolutely the real deal!.......Bill S

Yup. I've seen that car at shows around Pittsburgh too... late 1990s maybe?

I think they built 7. There was a white one it was duntovs toy. They thrashed it at the proving grounds. Google duntovs toy for more. There was also another white one that sold new at Gus Paulos Chevrolet salt lake city Utah. They say it is in the north west now.

I wish I could fine the old thread where Larry Clain (I think that's how his last name was spelled) was talking about the blue one.

This is what Larry Clain had to say about the car he saw in Tulsa, OK in 1969 -

"I can remember so vividly seeing a Blue '69 cpe. with a window sticker showing the ZL-1 motor setting at a bodyshop here in Tulsa OK. back in the spring of '69. It had a blue interior too. I tried to find out who owned it but nobody knew for sure. Wish I had took pic of it so everybody would believe me. It didn't have any stripes on it but perhaps they were installed by the dealer when it got to the final destination.

I am sure about the color as I had a same color '68 400 hp turbo 400 cpe that I had picked up from the local salvage pool and it was still in the bodyshop at that time but almost finished. Because of the color of the coupe being the same as mine, it caught my eye and I stopped and looked it over.

It was still cold in the mornings and this was a Sat and the place where it was setting in their parking lot, was not open.

I drove back by two or three times and it was still there and then after 1 pm it was gone? Never saw it again or pursued it any farther. Wish I had. "

Very interesting.. Good candidate.

I found the thread where Larry (Pantera) discussed the car.

https://www.yenko.net/forum/showthrea...highlight=blue

http://corvettes-musclecars.com/gall...L-1+427-430HP/

The white one in the Northwest.

The white one was in a muscle car mag in March of 1986. At that time, the build sheet said the engine was L88 at a cost of 1032.14 with no mention of ZL1. The article also said the car was purchased "as a new car" from a broker with 900 miles on it by a gentlemen named Jack Chetaskey. The writer said that "anything" could have happened in that 900 miles and probably did and the ZL1 was probably installed at that time.

Thank you; I had never heard of this car until today.

K

The ZL1 Corvettes have L88 on the tank sticker because the L88 was the package - cooling, brakes, etc. - then the L88 engine was substituted with the ZL1 427. That's why L88 shows up on the white car's (and other ZL1s) sheet.

Chestaky is an IRS Officer and has sworn legally in writing - on US Treasury Letterhead(!) - that he ordered and purchased the car as a ZL1 with a $10,000+ purchase price - he was offered no money and received no money to do so, long after he had given up ownership of the car. Subsequent owners and racers of the car also have signed affidavits attesting to the car as a ZL1. No less than Zora Duntov sat in the car in the 80s at Otis Chandler's Museum and verbally verified it as a factory car. Yes, the white car is a factory ZL1.

Sweet!

The white car was in the Otis Chandler collection, and was featured in the Randy Leffingwell book "American Muscle". The story in the book says that Cheskaty was an engineer with the Atomic Energy commision, single and living at home. He bought the car for full sticker in Salt Lake City and drove it home to Denver.
Lucky for him, Sunoco 260 was around .35 cents a gallon. This car was what you'd call thirsty.

How did he buy the Gulf racing car from Don Yenko but have an invoice from another dealership??
Is Invoice fake??

No disrespect intended, but that does nothing for your argument... Lerner was the head of the IRS and lied to Congress as sworn testimony. If it were me, I'd just say the original owner swore is was a ZL1. Also, Chestaky broke the law when he wrote it on US Treasury letterhead. Just sayin'....

Rich.. If you are going to make a statement like that you need to give info to back it up. My understanding is you were involved in a attempt to purchase this car and have more info.

Read the numbers on the invoice in corvette fever and most people can spot the mistake made..
Love the car and Johns story!!

Was questioning buying from Don Yenko! With a invoice from another dealer. Why do I need to back it up!!

Because you're accusing someone of having fraudulent documents. And why are you yelling so much?

Really Dave!! Yelling..

Corvette Tank Sheets and window stickers can be verified by NCRS through the IDENT number or the ORDER NUMBER.

Both numbers are in the possession of the NCRS and they will validate your paper using them.

Rich, can you post the invoice for us all to judge ? As Charley stated, probably should not question a car like this w/o posting proof. And feel free to fill us in on your experience trying to purchase vehicle.

I knew larry and often went over to his business and talked corvettes with him. he told me the same story when I first met him around late 79. a few years later I ended up buying a ZL1 engine from a guy that lived outside of tulsa, he was into all kinds of racing. I originally went to buy a 421 HO Catalina that he drag raced and while doing some testing on the country road he lived on lost control and rolled it a few times. I bought it sitting upside down in his pasture where it landed. while I was there I spotted the ZL1 and was able to get it bought. he said it was out of his 69 vette he bought new to race and never titled it. he said he totaled the car a few years later and totally destroyed the body. I questioned him on whether it was a dealer installed deal and he insisted he special ordered it. he pointed out that the block did have a vin # on it. I hired a private detective to search for the history of the car but it never turned up as being registered. I kept the engine for a few years and a guy offered me some crazy money for it (back then money). I had 3 ZL1 engines so I sold it to him. never ever heard from him again and the guy who I bought it from passed away.

What was the vin ?

don't remember I do have it somewhere in my paperwork. but im not stupid enough to give it out to the public

I saw this on the Simeone Museum's page.

https://www.simeonemuseum.org/museum...ettes-demo-day

I was able to take some time this afternoon and dig up some pics. here is one of just the ZL1 block and casting number of the engine out of the vette.

just for grins, here are some pics of the Catalina 2+2 421HO 4 speed.
this would have been in the winter of late 1983 or early 1984 because my dually was new in this pic. dang I was a young guy back then. the day before I had cut all the emblems out of it and removed the 8 lug drums and rear end.

Wow. Did he also have a Volvo XC70? lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDT_ps-_8oE

Zl1
 

Gus Paulos was a personal friend of mine since passed so we cant ask him any questions but he always told me his dad was always ordering High Performance cars and told me they would store them in the basement at their old location before they moved the Dealership to West Valley.