Jon Mello's Z/28 #1

[1967Z28]

Here's the car that replaced my gold one and got my original drivetrain. Sure would like to track it down someday. Jim Murphy was the primary driver for this car. Sadly, he passed away a few years ago and I never got to talk with him.

-Jon

[1967Z28]

Car owner and driver with THE MAN, Vince Piggins.

-Jon

[olredalert]

Jon,

------I have been following this thread and have to tell you how cool your car is! What a piece of history. I couldnt help but notice that the 68 doesnt appear to be a Z28. I guess they didnt actually need a Z in thier minds because they had the 67 Z drivetrain????..........Bill S

[CopoCrunkus]

Jon,
Did they swap the rims to the 68 also?

[1967Z28]

Thanks, Bill. Yes, that's exactly right. The feeling was they already had the racing parts and pieces and didn't really need to buy a Z28 all over again, so they saved a few bucks. The primary purpose was to get a '68 body just to avoid any potential rule restrictions with the SCCA. It turns out after they bought the car, the SCCA went ahead and said you could run the '68 race parts on the '67 bodies. That let them go ahead and run my car one last time at Daytona in 1968. The '68 they bought was a 327 4-barrel with a Saginaw 4-speed and 3.07 posi 12-bolt. That's what's in the car now. Runs pretty well actually. I have driven it a couple of times this year, just around town.

Regarding the wheels, yes they swapped those over too. I'm sure they had spares of everything. Most teams did. They got my roll bar, brakes, gauges and several other things. I am having to acquire things based on what I see in pictures plus asking the original owner and driver what they used. I have made progress in a number of areas. Still lots to do though.

Once again, I appreciate everyone's compliments. I want to get the car done so that it can get out and be seen. I did get it registered and accepted with the Historic Trans Am Registry so it is eligible to race with those old '66-'72 era cars.

-Jon

[1967Z28]

Here is a picture of some of the holes where the rollbar mounted. Looks a little rusty there but it is basically surface rust, not rot. Fortunately the car did not spend a lot of time on the East Coast so it is in good shape rust-wise.

-Jon

[1967Z28]

A Harrison oil cooler was mounted to the driver's side of the radiator so it necessitated moving stuff like the voltage regulator over to the fenderwell. That where they put the remote oil filter mount also.

-Jon

[1967Z28]

This one has been damaged a bit on one side but here's the Harrison oil cooler, which was the type my car used.

-Jon