I apologize ahead of time for the long winded post, but this tells the complete history of the car.
I own a 68 Z28, which was one of Bob Johnson's drag cars, who was the high performance manager of Scuncio Chevrolet of Rhode Island.
I had Bob, when in better health, come to see it, (and I took him for a ride in it), and he certified it as one of his drag cars, and that it was indeed a real Z28. Aside from being an 11,000 original mile car, it did have all the "Z28 only" hints...like the 6000 rpm tick toc tach which only came in solid lifter cars, and the tire sticker in the glove box calling for E70 15s. It still has all the original body panels, (except a cowl hood, and front and rear spoilers that I installed), and still has the original vinyl top and deluxe interior.
It was raced from 1972 through 1981, then I bought it. This was the only car Bob Johnson didn't buy new from Scuncio, (out of about 12 drag car he raced or sponsored), it was taken in trade in 1972 at the dealer, and because he loved the car's looks and low miles, Bob bought it from Scuncio. Bob sold it in 77 to another local racer who still ran the Bob Johnson Racing Enterprises lettering on the doors, until I bought it in 1981.
The original 302 was pulled out while Bob owned it and it actually went into the ramp truck that used to carry the car to the drags, when the 6 cylinder in it blew up . That truck was given back to Bob as well, and he sold it to someone in CT. The 12 bolt rear was removed and a Dana 60 was installed and is still in it today. Since I have had it, (42 years) it has taken on quite a few looks including leaving the 4 point roll bar in it and the wheelie bars on it for a while, having a fiberglass snorkel hood on it, then an SS hood, then a cowl induction hood. Cragar SS wheels, side pipes, to Super Lites and Hooker header and Flowmasters now....etc. The car is still basically set up for the drags with solid body mounts, solid motor and trans mounts, frame connectors, ladder bar rear suspension, narrowed rear leaf with a Vega 11 gallon fuel tank, Dana Rear, etc,....
The only part of the history of this car that was missing was who the original owner was. All Bob remembered was that he was in the service, stationed in CT, and came over the RI border to trade the Z in at Scuncio's for a 72 Chevelle.
Once I got a shipping data report through the General Motors Heritage Center, and the National Corvette Restorers Society, I found out my Z28 was originally sold out of Varnell Chevrolet Company in Tennessee. I then ran an ad in the local Craigslist in that area asking if anyone knew the original owner of a Z28 bought from that dealer, who was in the service at that time, stationed in CT.
Sure enough, a gentleman who knew the dealership, and knew a guy who prepped cars there contacted me, and they knew the car,..."and" knew who bought it. I eventually got in contact with the man, and we had some great emails and phone calls. He was definitely a motor head back in the day. He helped me fill in the blanks about some questions that were puzzling about the car. It didn't have any stripes on it when it was raced, and when I bought it, and it also had no paint code on the cowl tag, it just had an "=" sign instead which I found out meant "special paint". I thought perhaps that meant the car was ordered "stripe delete" which would have been quite rare, because the Lemans blue paint was not special for a late 68 Camaro that this is. Turns out, the original owner had the car painted in 1970 when he installed a 69 cowl hood on it and didn't have them put any stripes back on. The "special paint" option the tag referred to was the "black" stripes the car had. I put the white stripes it currently has on it because I liked how they look, and read that they were the most common color stripe used on a Lemans blue Z28 by far. Although Bob didn't have any paper work for the car when I spoke and met him, (because he said he never kept any of that stuff for his drag cars) he did verify that he took the car in trade, bought the car and sponsored it and..it definitely was a Z28. I have also talked to the two guys who campaigned and raced the car and they also verified it's authenticity, and they are the ones who put the 302 into the ramp truck. Now with the original owners story, "and" pictures of the car he sent me when he first bought it, the history of the car in now complete.
There's more fun facts, but I don't want to make this post so long, you guys might not want to continue reading,..lol. I know it was long winded already...lol.
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