Big Mike Taylor’s L89 Motion Corvette

[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?

[Tuna Joe]

Originally Posted by GMC_Typhoon

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?

Post #38 talks about how the 350 got put in the car.

I don’t think the car was ever “fully restored”.
2 people prior to me were going to restore it but one fellow died, and the other guy never got around to it.
Those 2 people account for 23 years of ownership.
The guy that passed away tore the car apart, at least that’s my understanding.

This car is not a Phase III or GT car. So no Datsun headlights.
It is a Motion conversion.
Now, Ray May’s car may have been a Phase III Corvette. But that’s speculation on my part.

[Tuna Joe]

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...post1606617127

Interesting post on another forum regarding Motion Corvettes.
In particular, the link to the Hemings article.
They interview Marty S. And they showed an article from one of his magazines back in the day discussing what Motion /Joel would do specifically on corvettes.

[GMC_Typhoon]

Originally Posted by Tuna Joe

Post #38 talks about how the 350 got put in the car.

I don’t think the car was ever “fully restored”.
2 people prior to me were going to restore it but one fellow died, and the other guy never got around to it.
Those 2 people account for 23 years of ownership.
The guy that passed away tore the car apart, at least that’s my understanding.

This car is not a Phase III or GT car. So no Datsun headlights.
It is a Motion conversion.
Now, Ray May’s car may have been a Phase III Corvette. But that’s speculation on my part.

Ok so what does the Gold Phase III car you posted got to do with this? It's not your car and it's not Larry's car.

[Tuna Joe]

Originally Posted by GMC_Typhoon

Ok so what does the Gold Phase III car you posted got to do with this? It's not your car and it's not Larry's car.

The gold Phase III car I know nothing about it except in the thread from 20 years ago the second post someone asks if it used to belong to a pro football player.
I’m assuming not that many NFL players had Motion cars.
So possibly it was owned by Ray May at some point? Who knows?
Obviously some of the info in that 20 year old thread is incorrect.
Like Big Mike’s car being converted to a Phase III.

Larry’s dead, Jeff is dead, Big Mike is dead, and the guy in California who bought the car from Big Mike’s brother is possibly dead.
I’m doing my best to track down any history I can on this car but with so many people dead in the ownership chain it’s tough.
Larry stated in the 20 year old thread that he had a discussion with Jeff about these cars. But Larry is also dead.

Are you taking the time to read any of this stuff? Case in point-how the 350 ended up in the car was clearly outlined.
Go back to the link to the 20 year old thread. Look at posts #4,5,11,14

[Tuna Joe]

Short update…
I was finally able to get in touch with the second owner who purchased the car from the Taylor family.
This fellow was pretty adamant that the car had been brought to Motion for Joel to have work done on it.
He said once he paid for the car, he had a difficult time getting the car and had to send a recovery outfit to grab the car.

I was able to obtain Ray May’s contact info including his current address in LA and was able to go by his house on Sunday.
I was a bit intimidated to go knock on the door but finally got up enough courage and the son in law answered the door. He did confirm Mr. May had a corvette “back in the day” but after excusing himself to go ask Mr May if he wanted to speak with me he didn’t want to at this time.
I explained to the SIL I was trying to get some historical info on a car and was hoping he could help fill in some gaps.
I ended up leaving my name and number and my guess is I’ll never get a call back.

[Tuna Joe]

In the last few months I’ve been collecting the parts needed to bring the car back to original.
Fenders, quarters, complete date correct smog system ($$$), had my TI ignition rebuilt, my original alternator has been rebuilt and the case tumbled to look correct, washer pump restored, the original am fm radio restored, wiper door vacuum reservoir rebuilt and replated.
I picked up a Julian date correct master cylinder and cap off EBay and sent it to Mike at Brakeboosters.com to be rebuilt and replated.

I was also able to find the correct valve covers which was no easy feat as their were 4 iterations of corvette valve covers in 1969.

I have bought a date correct set of tri power carbs and those are currently being rebuilt by Jerry McNeish.

Picked up date correct water pump and starter from Chevycool.

Seatbelts are all restored with NOS webbing.

Found this assembly line wax pencil marking under the dreary deck lid with N14 denoting a side pipe car.

[Tuna Joe]

Big Mike’s son found a picture of his dad standing by the car.