69 Z/28 Day II Project (Air Force Brat)

[NorCam]

Just spent the last 4 hours writing a long but informed letter to the original owner of the Yellow Z/28. A Mr. Paul Gluck who's son I spoke with earlier tonight. He asked me to write his father who has some fond memories of the Z/28 and share with him the plans and known history of the car. I can imagine the surprise when his son told him I reached out to talk about the car. His son told me that it was thought the car was totaled by the guy who bought it from him back in 74. It was then said that as soon as the second owner got the car, he pulled the 302 and dropped a built 327 into the car and immediately blew it up badly. Knowing what I know of the car now, this is when the clutch exploded and the damage to the front tunnel and firewall happened?

I wrote a 4 page letter to Paul this evening, shared a few pictures and told him of my plans for the complete restoration of the car. I also shared a link to this forum and hope he will someday chime in to say hello and share an anecdote or two of his memories with the car. He was in fact a Jet Engine Mechanic with the USAF stationed out of Minot in 1969 and later returned to Texas where he has lived all of his life. I was told he loved to drag race the Yellow Z back in the day, and knowing the 302 was later pulled from the car, perhaps there is a chance I can back trace that motor and maybe reunite it with the car at some point? I'm sure he'll be surprised when he see's the length of what I wrote tonight, but wanted to bring him up to speed with what I have now learned about his old car. It's great that the original bill of sale accompanied the car back in the day, for if it wasn't for that being found with a former owner this past week, I may never have known who the original owner was, or managed to make a connection.

Respecting his privacy, I'll be sure to ask if he's OK with me posting a little of what I come to learn about his early days with the car. So cool to have connected the dots, and hoping he chimes in here to say hello and share a story or two of his own.

Feeling really stoked here tonight!

[NorCam]

In other news, I found a few more of the missing pieces needed for the restoration. This includes parts now known to be on the car when delivered, but missing when the car was purchased. Knowing it went through a number of people throughout the 80's and into the 90's, it's assumed some of the former owners swapped in some parts and took some unique pieces to further their other endeavors.

Thanks to other members of this fine venue, this weekend I managed to secure an original tilt column, Rosewood steering wheel, completed a full set of deluxe original seat belts and found a few more unique NOS parts for this 69 Z. I also stripped the 12 bolt diff today and it will now start being rebuilt this week. It still has 373 gears in it, but looks like someone changed them out for a set dated 5 of 70. The back cover also showed some signs of a ring gear bolt being chewed up and mulled between the ring gear and the cover at one point. I'll go through the carrier and the gears while it's being restored to ensure it was rebuilt after the fact. It all looks good at this point.

[Z28Project]

As if the car and the parts you're gathering isn't cool enough, all of this connection back to the original owner is really over the top!! Unbelievable! Congrats!

[Zedder]

That is awesome! That last name, Gluck, rings a bell with me for some reason?

[1967Z28]

Nice story and great research on the past history. Looking forward to your further progress.

[X66 714]

I see the pattern on the black/white seat cover is more like "B" from SMS where the yellow on your covers match "A". My yellow matches "B"....Joe

[NorCam]

The B sample from SMS is a straight vinyl product with a stamped or colored (if you will) pattern. It's really cheap feeling and I could not imaging someone using a stamped vinyl to portray a fabric finish. The SMS fabric (A) is almost 2x the thickness of the Al Knoch material and the color is actually spot on when compared with any virgin material color such as in the folds and in behind the buttons.

In direct sunlight it looks brighter when held up to the fabric, but one is old and dirty while the other is new so it's not a fair comparison. Once held up against the button hole (Pic 3 centered between my middle and index finger ) it really is an excellent color match. I'm going to order some material from SMS tomorrow and completely rebuild both sets of seats and the rear side panels in their yellow vinyl (C).

[NorCam]

Covid has created some delays in being able to get some parts picked up and shipped across the Can/US border, but I finally got these little gems into my possession thanks in large part to Bergy. The kit includes most of the parts required to plumb a complete LTC option back into the yellow Z and will become one of my focus attempts to complete it as per the factory instructions supplied. Being that I have now learned of (2) Cdn Copo's and at least (1) US Copo having had the LTC option, I would say this Daytona Yellow Z/28 was in pretty good company with regards to such a unique option being factory installed. I received the parts complete with a case of NOS refill cartridges. Simply outstanding I must say!!!

Thank you Bruce!!!

[NorCam]

I'll need to restore the canisters and create a couple new labels for them but that's easy enough with my son being the graphics designer. Most of the hoses and the clips are here c/w the dash mounted switch. Once the canisters are fully restored and installed, I will delve into the schematics to ensure it's all plumbed into the engine bay as per factory spec. The display case of cartridges will only be used to accompany the car for some shows when it's finished up.

[NorCam]

Went out to cut some grass and by the time I came back in, my son had recreated the artwork for the cannister decals. One is new style, and one he created to have a vintage or aged look. I like it.

old vs new