Big Mike Taylor’s L89 Motion Corvette

[Crush]

I bet that Pinto gets after it!

[Tuna Joe]

Update on the Big Mike car…..
Managed to get in touch with Big Mike’s son ( who is named after his dad) today.
We spent maybe 30 minutes talking. Good guy.
I felt bad as he mentioned several times how he wished he had the funds to buy his dads car.
He asked me when it was finished, how much would I sell the car. I told him that the price would be different for him than if I sold to a non family member but that I rarely sell my cars.

He told me that the Steelers actually bought his dad the car for being a first round draft pick. Not sure why on the original sales contract it shows it being financed?
As soon as the car came in, he took the car to Motion to have “all the stuff put on”.

He promised to send me a copy of the only picture he has of his dad and the corvette.
He also gave me his uncle's phone number and said he “knows all about the car and can fill me in about it”.
He also said his uncle removed the original rear end and transmission. I was surprised by this as I guess there is a slim possibility I could reunite those parts to the car. I’m not counting on it though.
I’ve left a message for the uncle and am looking forward to speaking with him.

[GMC_Typhoon]

Originally Posted by Tuna Joe

Update on the Big Mike car…..
Managed to get in touch with Big Mike’s son ( who is named after his dad) today.
We spent maybe 30 minutes talking. Good guy.
I felt bad as he mentioned several times how he wished he had the funds to buy his dads car.
He asked me when it was finished, how much would I sell the car. I told him that the price would be different for him than if I sold to a non family member but that I rarely sell my cars.

He told me that the Steelers actually bought his dad the car for being a first round draft pick. Not sure why on the original sales contract it shows it being financed?
As soon as the car came in, he took the car to Motion to have “all the stuff put on”.

He promised to send me a copy of the only picture he has of his dad and the corvette.
He also gave me his uncle's phone number and said he “knows all about the car and can fill me in about it”.
He also said his uncle removed the original rear end and transmission. I was surprised by this as I guess there is a slim possibility I could reunite those parts to the car. I’m not counting on it though.
I’ve left a message for the uncle and am looking forward to speaking with him.

The average NFL salary in 1969 was $25k. Most of those guys had off season jobs. I doubt he got that car from the Steelers,but you already know that from the paperwork.

[Tuna Joe]

I’ve also been busy picking up parts for the car.
So far I’ve picked up:
Date correct horns (original were missing) and have sent them to HornWorks.
A set of chromed rear strut rods for cheap.
A casting date correct rear diff and cover.
A rebuilt set of HD BB diff spindles from Lonestar.
A rear end rebuild kit.
A Muncie rebuild kit from the The Gear Box.
A TI distributor.
A date correct jack.
A nice black fiberglass spare tire tub and cover.
A NOS shifter plate
NOS CORVETTE rear letters and Stingray for the sides.
NOS service replacement front and rear F41 shocks ( not date correct)
Super clean date correct exhaust manifolds
Made a list of parts to rebuild the original 884 alternator and bought them on EBay
Bought a water pump and a rebuild kit for it
Ordered a trailing arm rebuild kit.

[Tuna Joe]

Small update…
Was able to connect with Big Mike’s brother after much effort, who is still Alive and lives in SF, CA.
Great guy, you could tell he was an avid car guy from back in the day.
He said he learned everything he knew about cars from his brother, Big Mike.
Had a great memory, and I just let him talk.
Big Mike gave him the car around 1972-3. He said the original motor was replaced early on by GM.

He also said the car came with an M22 trans. (Interestingly enough, on the POP, there is no letter suffix denoting what transmission was in the car ie A,B,C)

The brother blew up the replacement motor (and the trans and rear end!) and bought an L88 engine from Harry Mann Chevrolet.

He ran the car with the L88 in it till he “got an offer for the engine he couldn’t refuse”.
He then put the small block 350 in it that is in the car currently.

He said when he received it from his brother, it had “the best looking hood on it”. “A very unique scoop and every person that saw it wanted to buy it”.

When he received the car, the LeMans gas cap, the bullet mirrors and the flares were on the car along with the stripe down the middle.

The teammate on the Steelers who saw big Mike’s car and wanted one for himself was Ray May according to the brother. Ray played with Big Mike at USC and with the Steelers.
I’m trying to get in touch with Ray, if anyone has any leads, that would be great.
Ray’s car was initially orange (per the brother) and I thought Ray bought Joel’s personal corvette and I thought Joel did have an orange corvette.

It was interesting that the brother said he would help in any way he could and to text, call or email him with any questions. So as soon as I hung up, I sent him some pics of a Baldwin Motion hood and he never replied back!
Oh well, he did say he had some pics of the car and that when he got the car it had the ear tail lights changed out to “bubble lens” and he may have this in a box somewhere.

[GMC_Typhoon]

Google is totally useless now with all their BS algorithms. Back in the day I could get Ray May's phone address SSN#. Today I think he might live in Carson CA and he is 77 yrs old.

[GMC_Typhoon]

Ray May is Reginald Raymond May

[Tuna Joe]

thank you for the info GMCTyphoon!
Below is a thread from 20 years ago on my car(big Mike’s) and the teammates car (Ray May)

https://www.yenko.net/forum/showthre...ht=Mike+Taylor

[JoeC]

I remember trying to help Larry with his Motion cars. The one that was originally orange was thought to be Joel's car and first Phase III (but did not have the headlight modification ) The funny thing was that this car was TH400. I asked Martyn and Joel if his car was 4 speed or TH400 and they both could not recall what trans it had.

Larry said the car could be the Football player Ray's car. The one he had painted black.

unfortunately Larry's 2 cars were stolen after he died.

[GMC_Typhoon]

Originally Posted by Tuna Joe

thank you for the info GMCTyphoon!
Below is a thread from 20 years ago on my car(big Mike’s) and the teammates car (Ray May)

https://www.yenko.net/forum/showthre...ht=Mike+Taylor

No prob.I actually posted in that thread.
How did your car go from fully restored to basket case with a 350 in it? I am not getting this story at all. Your car has stock headlights and taillights.Was the other car fake?