Steve / Rick,
Here is what can be said of the car and the decision to purchase it. I have been after this car for a while as have others here in the Calgary area. When I sold my car a couple weeks ago, I then made a very decent offer to the owner of this car who said he think about it. On the 7th of December, the owner called me to say he'd sell for what I had offered and gave me first right of refusal. I then went to inspect the car this past Saturday (my earliest convenience) and found the car to be gorgeous throughout. So much so, that I couldn't fault much of it at all. It was however quite apparent that it was not a correct car nor numbers matching. It did look to be very well built and it was obvious that it was an original RS car with GM metal throughout. The owner did not have a build sheet for the car nor a protect-o-plate, and bought it the way it was.
I then looked the car over again and knew that I just had to have this car as my driver as the quality of the work performed was outstanding. At that point it really didn't matter what the search would prove, as it already appeared to be cloned in some regard. With other parties interested in the car and pursuing it as much as I had, I was not about to walk away and let someone else own it perhaps the very next day. Obviously at this point, the decision was made to buy the car regardless of paper, and I knew I wanted it more than anyone else. I then wrote a substantial deposit to complete the offer and made arrangments for final payment. I did plan to run the VIN through GM in case I had missed something in the build and as it turned out, I was correct in my review as it was an original RS with the Z/28 options added.
With a secured deposit in place and no other surprises pending, my decision to follow through with the purchase was solidified. I have since been in contact with the seller to arrange the rest of the funds and thats pretty much a wrap. There's not much more I can tell you so see it as you may. I suppose I was a bit premature in saying anything about this car before looking at it, and I suppose thats my human nature and over enthusiasm getting the best of me. Fault me as that is, the fact remains that the car is gorgeous throughout and I'm cool with the result.
Jeff,
The car has only been out of the current owners hands once since 1988 as he did sell it to an NHL player who owned the car for 2 years and then sold it back to him. I don't think it was offered or available for sale during that time and know that this person only put 600 miles on it. Chance are there is a sibling to this out there, but I doubt it has the same options loaded.
Cheers!
Graeme