Just Bought a 69 Z28 Project

[Too Many Projects]

Yeah, gonna need a left quarter panel for that mess. The rest looks good.

[markinnaples]

Congrats on the purchase. That hood ought to help you recoup a few bucks of the purchase price. Looks like a solid start to a beautiful Z.

[Too Many Projects]

Sent you a PM about the SS hood....

[firstgenaddict]

Hard to beat a Lemans over Blue deluxe 69 Z with factory 4.10's....

[Bad67300]

So things just got significantly more interesting about this car! There was a faint name on the passenger door, Ron Thorson, that was vaguely familiar. I googled it and a car I recognized from western South Dakota popped up. I spoke with a buddy of mine out there and he knows Ron's brother.

So we spoke today. Ron had a black with white stripe '68 442 called Mother Skunk that he raced in 68. He was a salesman at an Olds dealership, so was always buying, selling, and racing cars that came through the dealership. He raced all over the upper midwest - South Dakota, Nebraska, and Montana. Sadly Ron passed away a couple years ago, but his brother still owns the 442.

He thought his brother raced the Camaro in 73/74. He sold it rolling with no motor/tranny. He kept it to put in another Camaro race car. And, he came up with some pics of the car at the track!

The placement of Ron's name on the passenger door is spot on to what I see on the car. Kind of different to see Spyder wheels too, and his brother said he was sponsored by Motor Wheel. From the SS/LA class he had put an automatic in it. And, now I know it had rear bumper guards on it too.

[tom406]

Well, this gets a lot more interesting to me as well. I have an uncle who I used to make tell me all of his handful of street racing stories from back in "the day". He spent the summer of 1969 running back and forth between home in St. Paul MN and training at Ellsworth AFB in Rapid City SD. He had a 1968 Coronet R/T 440/auto that had enough torque to handle most comers and was geared tall enough to do top end runs (I'm guessing 3.23s) He only recalled getting soundly beaten a couple of times. Once was by a girl in a new big block Stingray on the highway, and the other was by a 442 with "Mother Skunk" written down the side. When he told the story, it sounded like he was beating the locals and then got "hustled" by a car that seemed to pull the wheels at launch. I just found a picture of Ron's black 68 W30 and sent it to him, thinking it had to be the same car. He just sent me a text and replied that the car he raced was white, not black:

"Wow that is weird. The “Mother Skunk” that I remember was owned by an airman from somewhere in the southern US-I believe Alabama, or Georgia. It was a white 442 with a Mother Skunk decal ( a mom and 2 baby skunks) behind the front wheels. I can’t remember the name of the guy who owned it, but he had it trailered up to Ellsworth Air Force Base, outside of Rapid City. He smoked my 68 Dodge Coronet R/T 440, on 8th street. I remember we called the owner Everclear Andy, because he only drank everclear stingers, which I think was everclear and creme de menthe. That’s funny, good memories. That would have been summer of 1969."

Gotta be a connection. Two ripping 442's in the state of SD in the summer of 69 both named "Mother Skunk".

[Bad67300]

Great story! That is definitely the Mother Skunk car I've seen at shows through the years, and his brother did tell me he used to prowl 8th Street in Rapid City. I also believe he had a couple different 442s he raced using the Mother Skunk name. Here's one I found on the interwebs, a 72 convertible - and it also has the Spyder wheels.

[Bad67300]

Bit of an update on the Z/28. The last time the car ran was around 2005. The gentleman who owned it for the last 20+ years told me his son had "blown up" the 327 that's in it. He couldn't give me anymore detail than that, so I thought I'd figure it out.

After draining about only 2 quarts of oil from it and not seeing any metallic in the oil or after cutting open the filter, I put in some Rotella. Checked all the valvetrain, used a remote button to bump the motor over a number of cycles to make sure there wasn't an issue with valves or rocker arms. All looked good. Pumped it twice, it fired right off on crappy gas, and settled into a decent idle with a couple lifters making a lot of noise.

So, I put some tune up in a can seafoam in the crankcase and dumped the rest in the tank. Lifter noise is gone! Tightened a few header bolts eliminating the exhaust leaks. The lights, turn signals, brakes, and tach all work. Heck, still have to even depress the clutch to start it!

Three of the 4 wheels only have 2 lug nuts....the other one has one. Thinking about putting some lug nuts on it, fresh go juice, and taking the ole beater out for a drive to the next cruise night! Car keeps getting better and better!

[Too Many Projects]

I love it when that happens. I've bought a couple of "basket cases" with, supposedly bad engines, and gotten them running and driving with a bit of work...

[Tracker1]

Originally Posted by Bad67300

Bit of an update on the Z/28. The last time the car ran was around 2005. The gentleman who owned it for the last 20+ years told me his son had "blown up" the 327 that's in it. He couldn't give me anymore detail than that, so I thought I'd figure it out.

After draining about only 2 quarts of oil from it and not seeing any metallic in the oil or after cutting open the filter, I put in some Rotella. Checked all the valvetrain, used a remote button to bump the motor over a number of cycles to make sure there wasn't an issue with valves or rocker arms. All looked good. Pumped it twice, it fired right off on crappy gas, and settled into a decent idle with a couple lifters making a lot of noise.

So, I put some tune up in a can seafoam in the crankcase and dumped the rest in the tank. Lifter noise is gone! Tightened a few header bolts eliminating the exhaust leaks. The lights, turn signals, brakes, and tach all work. Heck, still have to even depress the clutch to start it!

Three of the 4 wheels only have 2 lug nuts....the other one has one. Thinking about putting some lug nuts on it, fresh go juice, and taking the ole beater out for a drive to the next cruise night! Car keeps getting better and better!

Video or it didn't happen