68 Z convertible question.
 

Just some food for thought..

It is well known that ‘all’ x-rams were non-factory installed, but would this car be considered a factory installed X-ram car ??

Was that car totally built and ‘finished’ inside GM ??

i believe pete estes requested it be installed

----Pete used to have a summer house 2 down from our old house here on the St. Claire River. A bit bigger than ours then (about 3 times) but the view was the same. 2000 feet from Canada!....Bill S

The Pete Estes convertible Z did not have a cross-ram on it. It was a stock high rise and single 4-barrel with a cross-ram air cleaner. Look closely at the original picture. Three wing nuts.

I remember the first time I visited the Edsel Ford Estate, on Lakeshore Dr in St Claire Shores.

As I was approaching I was like "wow - this is really modest for a family of their stature".

Then I realized I was seeing the gate house. The actual mansion was another few hundred yards further in.

K

Apologies; one more quick Pete story:

He was a very popular leader during his time at the helm of GM.

When I was at GMI I was invited into a young lady's dorm room.

I saw a photo on her book shelf and commented: "your dad looks a lot like Pete Estes".

"That IS Pete" she said.

Upon further inquiry she shared he wasn't a relative or anything; she just had a lot of respect and admiration and so had the photo in her room.

K

Just a used car by Dec 1968. Looks to have regular tags.

Yes - "AH" is a just regular plate out of Wayne County, MI.

K

By the time this video was made, they had the cross ram set up installed on it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leilxEyW6SI&t=3s

Yes, cross-ram and 4 wheel discs added years later but was not built that way by GM back in the day. Regular BU axle as shown on William's attachment.

From everything I've read about that car, Estes didn't know it was being built to request anything on it. Vince Piggins was the force behind that car to convince Estes to continue the Z28 program since there were so few '67's sold. Estes was a convertible guy, hence the only convertible Z28 ever built as a surprise to Pete.

----Loved seeing Al. He was an amazing guy and a good friend!....Bill S

Circa 1998 I think at the ICC show in the Poconos. New owner says “My friend says this is a good investment, so I bought it”. Note the triple groove pulley and other cool things.

it resided here in tulsa for a short while. i couldve bought it for 150k back then everyone was still on the "its a fake" campaign.

Did they ever recover the stolen paperwork?

What's amazing to me is that Vince Piggins was an Assistant Staff Engineer at the time all this was going on.

That would be the equivalent of my boss during my time in engineering.

I am astounded at how much pull those guys had back then.

K

----The paperwork in the purse wasn't the thing the thieves wanted. Probably the credit cards and cash. Knowing Al there was probably a bunch of cash in there.
Al figured they probably thru the paperwork away. As may have been stated he had copies of everything, but still sad!....Bill S

I had heard from multiple sources that there never was any paperwork stolen,and that Mr. Maynard made that claim,coincidentally just before it went to auction,so as to not have to provide any documents that were never real anyway.
Is this true,and has anyone actually seen these documents either before or after the theft and proven their authenticity if so?

Fast forward to 1:40 mark of this video. This interviewer tells what Mr. Maynard told him,...kinda paints Dana Mecum in a bad light.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leilxEyW6SI&t=3s

----I was at that auction and was around Al shortly after the purse was stolen. His GF or wife (can't remember if he had married her by that time) was apoplectic, as was Al. I just can't imagine that this scenario is correct. No, I never saw the documents, but as far as i am concerned, Al was an ethical guy, no bullsh**ter, so I choose to not believe this!....Bill S

There’s parts from 1998 that didn’t make it to the 2006 auction. The hood underside doesn’t represent the photos I posted, along with the alternator and carb setup.