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.
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