69 Z/28 history from the Phoenix area?
 

I have a 69 RS Z/28 that has been hidden from view for more than 30 years. My known history of the car pretty much stops at that point.

I'd like to know if there are any Phoenix car natives that have lived in the area this long or longer, that may remember the car running around the Glendale area and possibly help trace some history or previous owner.

I have pictures of the car how it appeared before it was parked in the late 80's. It was a running driving and registered car at that point and sold in this condition before it began it's long hibernation. My pics are too large unfortunately.

Worth a try or too much of a long shot?

Thanks,
Larry

Send me your pictures Larry. I'll adjust them for you

[email protected]

Joe

Hey Joe, great to hear from you bud. As you already know my searches have all dead ended. I currently have a friend (retired police officer) trying to search the vin through his contacts as a last ditch effort. Hopefully you've had more luck than I have.

I'll shoot a couple pics to you as it was and maybe then I can give some back story on it to joggle someone's memory.

Thanks :biggthumpup:

Larry

Here's you pictures Larry...Joe

Thanks again Joe.

It's a Norwood built X33 with white deluxe houndstooth. Original exterior color is Frost Green. I believe the car has spent it's life in the desert Southwest simply due to the fact that the car is exceptionally clean underneath, factory overspray and paint dabs still present throughout the car, and has zero rot anywhere. Even still sporting it's born with exhaust system with only the muffler being changed.

In the mid 1980's the previous owner bought it from someone working at an auto parts store in the Glendale area. The car was just sitting in the parking lot and the owner was using it as daily transportation. Once purchased he drove it a bit around the Glendale area. He decided to park it permanently in his back yard where he lived around 43rd and Greenway area. Registration expired in 1989.

One day coming home from work someone was scaling his brick wall. Went out to investigate and found the shift linkage disconnected and laying on the ground. Apparently someone was trying to steal the shifter or transmission. This is when he also found a puncture hole in the bottom of the gas tank, someone stole the gas out of it.

It was at this point he decided to store the car inside, and moved it to his property in Yarnell where the car was parked inside a rickety garage and here starts it's long hibernation, and where I came into the picture. I bought the car and left it stored in Yarnell.

Fast forward to the spring of 2013, the Yarnell property was sold so I had to move the car. Brought it back to my place in Prescott and stored it in my trailer. That was pure luck, as that following summer just 2 months later in June, we had the Yarnell hill fire that killed 19 firefighters. The shack the Z was stored in burned to the ground.

I decided at that point I was tired of the car sitting and it belonged on the road. I had planned a rotisserie restoration as classic restoration is what I do for a living. I have collected many NOS and new parts for it over the years. My wife at this time also wanted a classic daily driver so for the time being it was decided to just clean the car up and put her in it. She's now been daily driving the car close to 3 years and I don't see an end to it, lol. So for now restoration plans are on hold.

As for the car itself, it's largely unrestored. It's originally a flat hood and no spoiler car. At some point before the mid 1980's (before the previous owner bought it) someone stuck a GM ZL2 hood on it from a Garnet Red Z/28, spoilers, and very quickly sprayed a thin coat of grey primer on the outside of the car only. All the jambs and trunk still retain the original Frost Green paint. This is how the previous owner found the car, and how it's sat for more than 30 years, and is just how you see it in the pictures above that Joe graciously helped me with, complete with nearly 30 years of Yarnell dust.

I removed the grey primer only to find that the original Frost Green underneath had been sanded and scuffed to the point it couldn't be saved. My wife didn't want the car painted since she's driving it so it was decided to reapply some grey primer sealer, clean it up, and enjoy the car. I left the jambs in their original paint and was careful not to disturb some unique features found on the car so they could be duplicated during the restoration, when that day comes.

The DMV was no help in tracing any history. When a car has not been registered in more than 10 years, the state of Arizona purges the vehicle from the system. So when I registered the car a few years back, it no longer existed. I currently have a friend of mine, retired police officer, checking his contacts to see if anything turns up.

The Z, also being built the last week of Dec 68, means it's among the lost vins with the NCRS so that is also a dead end. I've only recently gotten interested in trying to trace some history. Thought it would be cool to possibly meet a previous owner and share stories. A friend of mine suggested this site full of great people and a wealth of information and contacts.

I'm not much of a social media person. I don't face book or tweet or any of those things. Shucks I just got a smart phone last week (wife made me :rolleyes2:) I visit a couple of websites, now this one thanks to Bill, and that's about it. So I'll do my best to update if anything new occurs.

Thanks,
Larry

You are at the right place cool story

Welcome to the site and cool car. I think you might try to cruise ins in the area where it spent its life. I would take the car there. At some point someone will walk up,and know the car.

Charley has a great idea.....take it to either that cruise on the west side of town (63rd or 67th Ave????) or even The Pavillions a number of times and you may find someone who remembers it.

Second that, with the old pictures displayed and a "Do you remember this car?" sign. Welcome.

I love white houndstooth.... GREAT CAR... Frost Green with white HT would be a cool looking combo!

We have driven the car to the Pavilions, Goodguys, and 67th on a number of occasions the last couple years. Other than reapplying the Z stripes and putting the trim back on, the car still appears the same. I don't think the car has changed enough to the point that someone familiar with it couldn't recognize it. Camaro crazy people like Larry Christensen took a big interest in it, and a few others that wanted to buy it.

I never thought of the idea of a sign "do you recognize this car". I've only in the last few months thought about tracing the history of it so some missed opportunities there I think. Great ideas, thanks :biggthumpup:

Good thing you moved it, otherwise it would have been toast. Nice color combo and looks like a great base for a restoration

Yeah, no clue really, just dumb luck.

I'm not sure when the restoration day will come. My wife drives the wheels off it. I'm always so busy with customer cars anyway that I rarely have time for my own stuff.

I was talking to Joe about the DMV deal a couple months back as he's going through the same deal I am. I'm not so sure I buy into their explanation of the car being purged and no record of it even though that is technically how the system works, because when I reregistered the car I had to pay a small fee and wait a few days for them to recreate the car in the system, check for leans, theft, etc... Before it was cleared and okay.
Now if they can check for things like that, then how can the car no longer exist in the database? My thinking is that they just didn't want to bother with someone like me trying to trace history on a car, even if I'm willing to pay for it. I tried 2 DMV's with the same result. Just thought I'd toss that out there in case someone in AZ is going through the same thing.

I lived in Glendale area during that time frame and almost all the decent z cars from AZ were being bought up and shipped back east so its nice to see one that stayed close to home. I frequented a lot of shows and cruises back then including metro center before they closed it to cruising and do not recall this car. I would recommend taking it and some pics of what it would of looked like to the Glendale car swap meet which has been happening at glendale community college grounds since early 80's. someone browsing might recognize it there.. Good luck!

Thanks Bilede,
I think this one flew under the radar since it was so mundane in appearance. The pics Joe posted for me are exactly how the car was, unchanged since the mid 80's, however before that point I'm not sure how long it was done that way.

I've been a regular on and off at the Glendale College swap meet for several years so I'll take your advice. Of course the one time I don't bring a truck will be the time I buy something big, lol. Isn't that how it works?

Does Arizona have a property tax on autos? I was able to track down my VIN from Connecticut property tax records.

Check with Fred Koenig. This is his turf and he knows/bought/restored/sold/drove/etc. a bunch of '69 Camaros among others. He frequents the Pavillions/McDonalds Sat. cruise. p.m. me for contact info.

No.....we have a Vehicle License Tax (VLT) but it is all administered and collected by the DMV. The older the car, the cheaper the VLT is.

All great ideas, thanks guys.

Mockingbird, I'll send you a pm.

Larry

I gotta say working with a Arizona DMV is a picnic compared to California. Just titled and registered a car in Az. Took 10 minutes and walked out with title, 5 year registration and solid copper plates for less than 160.00

Yes Arizona is easy, especially up here in Prescott, it's just not as busy as Phoenix. They just don't seem to want to do vin searches, or tell you if it's been over 10 years it's been purged. I figured I'd have better luck up here (not as busy) but that wasn't the case.

I've been through the California DMV's (family in Sac) What a mess that is, lol.

So my email for Fred K. appears outdated. Bruce, you got something current?

It's been a few years but basement of ax dept of transportation on Jefferson in Phoenix had records back further. I told them I was looking to do a bonded title which title search is required by bonding agency. I got history back to 1970.

I don't but will get one :)

Sam,


Sent the current email to you

Thanks Bruce. I forwarded the email address on to X33RS!

Great!:beers:

Thanks to Sam, and Xplantdad, I got in contact with Fred. Unfortunately Fred has never seen the car and has no recollection of it.

It was worth a shot! I can ask a fireman friend of mine who's lived here for a long time, too....

Yes sir you're right, worth a shot and I'll give anything a try. I appreciate the help.

Taking it on the Rt 66 Cruise this weekend. Anyone here going?

Rt 66 cruise
 

Where is Rt 66 Cruise? I live in Chino Valley and also own a 69 Camaro SS but still apart. Has been off the road in Ca since 82

They meet in Seligman tomorrow. Have a cruise through town in the evening, live band etc..spend the night. Then leave in the morning about 10am and head East towards Kingman with stops along the way. Show in Kingman, spend the night. Sunday through Oatman and out to Topock.

You can do any segment you like and turn around when you feel like it. It's not a timed event.

http://www.gokingman.com/event-66FunRun

Scroll down and you can click on each day for the events and times.

Edit: We usually hit the Chino McDonalds cruise on Fridays (tomorrow actually) but will probably miss that tomorrow due to the Rt 66 deal.

I lived at 43 and Bell in the 80s and was all over Glendale, never seen that car.

Thanks for the reply,

To date I've had no luck finding any history on the car. I'll give a few more details.
I do know someone enjoyed the heck out of it before it was permanently parked in the 80's because it had just over 100k miles on it and both driver side door hinges were replaced with new GM hinges that still had the GM stickers on them when I found the car. Hinges were never painted and just put on as bought. So someone was getting in and out of it a lot, not to mention the driver seat bolster has seen better days, and the driver side door panel is worn on the top from someone resting their arm up there all the time. Someone drove this car a lot. Probably short trips getting in and out a lot.
I don't believe it spent much time in a garage before it's long hibernation either, since as you can see from the pics even the primer applied was burnt off, leading me to also believe that was done years before the 1980's when the car was permanently parked inside, and it spent a lot of time in the sunshine. All the weather strip on the car was also original and crystalized, hard as a rock, as well as the dash pad cracked, original carpet faded, original tail lights faded, all indications to me the car spent a lot of time in the sun somewhere here in the desert Southwest. The undercarriage is just as clean with original Frost Green paint overspray on the floors and around the rear wheel well areas, grey primer left around the gas tank area after blackout on the floors were applied etc....just as the factory did it. All the front suspension is original and loaded with factory paint markings.
With the miles on it, I tend to believe all of, or at least the vast majority of the mileage was accumulated in a nice dry climate out here. Even though the car was built in Norwood I find it hard to believe it spent much, if any time at all back East.
There are some other oddity things I was told by the previous owner and I came to realize later as I tore into the car to likely be true. Things that might joggle someone's memory of the car. Maybe I'll talk about that stuff later if this gets any more interest.

Is the VIN high enough to get an NCRS report on the car to find out where it was delivered new?

Unfortunately no. It's in the "lost vin" category at NCRS so no records on it.

I even tried the Canada route hoping that there was a very small chance it was sold there. Unfortunately no dice up there either. I found a torn piece of paper under the carpet that is Canadian related from what I could find, so that's what led me to check for Canadian records.

It's a mystery.

I think the car has been out of public eye around here for so long it's just another forgotten car that likely wasn't a very popular color anymore by the time the late 70's and 80's rolled around, so it wasn't paid much attention to and just slid under the radar. I tend to think someone spray bombed it grey because of that, lol.

One of the reasons I reapplied grey primer on the car was two fold. One is that my wife wanted to daily drive it and I didn't want to worry about scratching the car everywhere it went, and two, I kind of wanted to keep the identity it had before it was parked in hopes that someone might recognize it. It's also a big reason I left the interior as it was. So far we've logged over 30k miles with it and most of the major car events around here. Hasn't rung a bell.

Oops, I didn't see the VIN info in your previous post. Wish we lived somewhere I could drive old cars all year round,, that would be a dream come true. Spent the week in Prescott last winter looking for possible retirement destinations and its beautiful up there. Best of luck finding the owner history of your Z28.

Thanks,

We love Prescott. We're actually in Prescott Valley, a bit lower elevation than Prescott but not far down the road. We had a very mild winter this year. Actually all 4 seasons are mild in this area of Arizona. Not super hot and not all that cold. So we drive these cars year round with not much inclement weather to speak of. Coming from Ohio originally the weather here is paradise. Did you decide on a retirement spot yet?

Not yet, we're trying to hit different spots every winter in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas to see what we like best. Prescott was our first pick but the week we were there(right after Christmas) it was pretty cold, we even saw snow on our last day on the way to Payson. Planning to go to Taylor, TX next winter to check out that area.