1969 ZL1 Vette?

[DarrenX33]

I just found this pic. I took this when I went to the Muscle Car Review Magazine show in Cypress Gardens Florida in the 80's. I remember Larry from Oklahoma (us old timer site members will remember him) said he distinctly remembered seeing a blue ZL1 Vette back in the day. Well, take a look. Should be fun.

[the427king]

I believe there were 2 . One white one yellow

[Starship]

The yellow one belongs to Roger Judski. There is also an orange one that supposedly has been verified.

[Keith Seymore]

My understand was one white, one yellow.

George Heberling (Asst Staff Engineer - Production Engineering) drove one of those as his company assigned vehicle. (I went to GMI with his son Chris).

The orange car you are thinking of might be the mule vehicle used during the Long Lead Press show on the GM Milford Proving Ground's vehicle dynamics pad (aka "Black Lake"). The car has been reproduced, quite authentically, but is not the original.

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/17/a...=top-news&_r=0

http://www.motortrend.com/news/1969-...e-lt-2-review/

K

[Tracker1]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

My understand was one white, one yellow.

George Heberling (Asst Staff Engineer - Production Engineering) drove one of those as his company assigned vehicle. (I went to GMI with his son Chris).

The orange car you are thinking of might be the mule vehicle used during the Long Lead Press show on the GM Milford Proving Ground's vehicle dynamics pad (aka "Black Lake"). The car has been reproduced, quite authentically, but is not the original.

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/17/a...=top-news&_r=0

http://www.motortrend.com/news/1969-...e-lt-2-review/

K

No Keith not that one. This one, the Gulf car:

http://www.corvetteblogger.com/2013/...omington-gold/

[Tracker1]

I'm not sure if this is the same car Darren posted above, possible though:

http://www.superchevy.com/features/v...-corvette-zl1/

[mr 707]

I remember seeing the white one @ indy 1987. At the time they wanted 100k. Wife said dont you dare lol

[markinnaples]

I've seen that Orange Gulf Corvette a few times when I lived in Pittsburgh at a couple car shows. Guy said he bought it at Yenko Chevrolet from Don and that it was, indeed, an original ZL-1 car that was a testing mule or something. He had a 482(?) BB in it then, with the orig ZL-1 427 on a stand at his house. Older guy, seemed legit.

[Tracker1]

In Gulf livery -

"But there was one Corvette buyer then who had no problem with the ZL1-powered Corvette's $9,900-plus sticker price: John Maher, a western Pennsylvania drag racer who was a personal friend of Don Yenko. Says Kevin Mackay of Corvette Repair in Valley Stream, New York, who restored this ZL1, "He had an International Blue '68 L88 originally, and when he found out that they were making another car that was lighter, and with the aluminum block, he decided to order that, and he got it through Gulf Oil and he drag raced the car."

John raced the Monaco Orange ZL1 "Winning Automatically," with its heavy-duty Turbo 400 for a number of years, while adding different stripes, colors, and decals during the years he campaigned it.

Eventually, it was parked and stored where it avoided the ravages of time and weather. There it stayed until he sold it to Bruce Perrone, its current owner. "I bought the car in 2007," he says. " It was largely unrestored. It had just under 3,000 miles on it. Over the years, it had gone through a few paint schemes, but I bought it from the original owner who'd raced the car from day one." Bruce adds."

John held onto a copy of the original invoice and the original tank sticker that shows the ZL1 engine option and the M40 automatic transmission. With this original documentation, there is little doubt this Corvette is the real deal.

[markinnaples]

That is exactly how I remembered seeing it back in the 80's at some local Pgh car shows. Pretty cool to have been able to see it in it's as-raced condition. Thanks for the pics.