There is no question Bill Porterfield was the catalyst for the Camaro ZL-1 body of knowledge. He was recognized as such in the COPO Camaro story that has been on the CRG site for over 20 years.
http://www.camaros.org/copo.shtml
He never sought personal recognition; the cars were the stars and he did a fine job of promoting them over the years. Beginning with the March 1983 Hot Rod Magazine feature on the discovery of ZL-1 #3, over 15 feature articles were written on #1 and #3. The story continues to this day; Hemmings Muscle Machines recently published a 2-part feature on ZL-1 #11.
As we were poring over the many boxes of documentation he assembled over the years, it occurred to us that none of the original material likely exists anywhere within Chevrolet.
Persistence may be annoying, but the end often justifies the means.