[L78racer]

I got a pm from a former Funston employee with some more info and pics of the Mod Topper. Here are his messages followed by some pics.

"...the mod topper was a 1967 z-28 camaro delivered to Funston Chevrolet in time for us to get it ready for Autorama in Jan '68....we stripped the car and painted it with Apricot metalflake and mother of pearl 'z' stripes and a George Barris Paisley vinyl roof cover installed by Bob Galetti at Reasonable Trim Shop. interior was stock 'plain jane' vinyl...the name on the door 'Jim Shorts' was a spoof and referred to no one in particular...a buddy of mine and i took it to the New Baltimore drag strip (MHRA) a few times and ran it, it never took any trophies because we ran it bone stock with street tires...it was mostly a 'gotcha' car and it was loaned to AMT for creation of an plastic model which they actually marketed....while AMT had the car it was stolen and when recovered all that was returned to Funston was the body shell completely stripped of everything that could be unbolted...funston scrapped the shell....we also created a pair of black '68 camaros with Houndstooth black and white vinyl roof covers.....these were salesmen's demos and were driven by Joe Clark and Vince(i don't remember his last name).....Funston was a fun place to work and when it closed in '72 i moved on to Stan Yee's Collision in East Detroit another shop known for it's specialized auto work.......rich"

"....i believe it was the first 'Z' delivered in the Detroit.....AMT actually made the 'Mod Topper' model to include the decals and Mod Top but as i recall it was molded in a bronze plastic color....the body shop scrapped the 'hulk' and i suppose if somebody was slick enough they could have done some phoney baloney but i think with the car never having been legally titled and only a Statement of Origin from the factory, in Michigan it would have been near impossible."