Merollis ZL1's

[William]

Journalism is "...writing characterized by a direct presentation of facts or description of events without an attempt at interpretation." Well I don't have any facts. Like everyone else I heard the legend of the Merollis ZL1s. And that is all it is, maybe true, maybe not.

When Super Chevy published the ZL1 Camaros VINs 33 years ago a number of people, myself included, began to search for the cars. Merollis was listed as one of the selling dealers so someone, probably Ed, called the dealership. That is most likely where the story came from and it was old news even then. The legend has grown over time; last I heard the cars still exist and are stored in a trailer in Detroit.

What I do know is I checked all the VINs through NCIC back when it was easy. None of them were titled to an insurance company so either they were not stolen or they were all recovered. #11 has been with the same owner in Ohio for many years. #24 was recorded as being junked in MA in 1973. None of the others had any registration history. If they were stolen from a dealership GMAC would have been the legal owner. If recovered they would have been disposed of at a salvage auction while still on MSO. They may have gone to a salvage yard and eventually been destroyed; maybe one became a race car. The three unknown cars may have never been titled or registered.

The Merollis ZL1 story is legend, not fact. Maybe someday.