I'm not sure if this site is the best place to search for past history of this particular car but it is worth a shot. My car is a 1968 Z/28 sold new through Dana Chevrolet in South Gate, CA. I don't have paperwork for it but the NCRS Muscle Docs report shows Dana as the original dealer. The cowl tag shows the car was built 07B (July 15, 1968, per NCRS) so it may have been the last '68 Z they sold. It was originally LeMans Blue with 714 black deluxe interior, no spoiler, Z21 style trim, console/gauges, 3.73 posi, radio, and all tinted glass.
In 1984 it was purchased by Frank Brown from Walnut Acres/Woodland Hills (San Fernando Valley area) as a roller with no engine and trans. It did then and still does have its original 3.73 posi 12-bolt axle and 4-leaf rear springs. Four random wheels and tires were put on it to make it a roller so I have no idea what wheels and tires were on it previously. The car was painted black by this time with white stripes and that was its fourth paint job. I believe the black paint job was on it as far back as 1978 and maybe earlier. After the original LeMans Blue paint job it was repainted a teal blue and then a light blue. I can't tell if there were stripes on the car during those middle two paint jobs.
Frank sold the car rather quickly to Gerry Collins of La Crescenta, CA, north of Glendale. Gerry took pics of the car when he bought it. When I blew up the license plate, blue plate 388UEG, the registration sticker was a white one from 1979 so this car was evidently not driven since 1979 and spent the five years prior to 1984 sitting in somebody's driveway or backyard.
Gerry put an engine and transmission in it and some Centerlines on it and his son drove it until 1989. It was then sold without engine, trans and wheels to Merle DuPrey who parked it for the next 28 years until his passing in 2017. I bought it after that.
Basically this car has had 5 years of activity since 1979 as far as I can tell and most of the activity was abusive in nature so the long periods of rest probably helped it survive. Interestingly the seats in the car are the same recovered ones from the late '70s and they are not the original ones that came in the car back in '68. The stock upholstery under the covers is gold, not black. The rear upholstered panels are recovered with white material that was spray canned black so I'm not sure if it had white upholstery in it during the '70s or not. The door panels are missing and somebody had switched the inside door release handles from deluxe to standard. No idea why other than I guess it would be easier to recover standard door panels than deluxe molded ones. Speaking of white, it is evident that the rear drums were painted white at one time. Maybe that will be a helpful detail to jog someone's memory. The trunk lid was changed and there are four screw holes in some odd places on the lower valance so somebody might have had spoilers on it at one time but the two trunk torsion rods are the same size so it didn't get spoilers from the factory. One of the screws left in the lower valance had a chunk of fiberglass left under its washer so it may have had some kind of aftermarket front spoiler of some type.
Ordinarily I would have passed on a car like this but when I found out it was an original Dana Chevrolet car, I bit the bullet. I have wanted a real Dana car for years and they are not exactly growing on trees. I've got a lot of nice stuff for it now and am bringing it back from near death. It just would really be cool to see how far back I can trace its history and hopefully someone here may know something. Thanks for any help.
Pics as purchased circa June 1984 by Gerry Collins...
Blue California license plate 388UEG showing white registration sticker in upper RH corner. This is a 1979 sticker so car must've sat idle from '79 to '84.
This plate was probably put on the car circa 1977. I don't currently have any information on what the original CA black license plate numbers were.
Pics as driven in the late '80s...
Recovered seats that date back probably to the 1970s...
White brake drum...
Now under my ownership prior to revival...
Paint progression shots...
