ZL-1 #1 Mecum May 15 - 17

[William]

Bill Porterfield IS the reason we know the ZL-1 Camaro VINs.

The story was recounted in John Hoopers 1969 Camaro book. Bill bought what he believed was the #3 ZL-1 Camaro March 1981. He had contacts at Chevrolet and was able to speak with Vince Piggins. The NHRA required Chevrolet to establish a production run of at least 50 cars and after some digging Vince was able to find the file with the VINs. A few months later Super Chevy magazine printed the list with a typo or two.

Vince Piggins passed away in 1985 and I'm sure all of the other documentation in his posession reverted to Chevrolet and was destroyed. Timing is everything.

Bill is the unofficial Gibb Chev historian and is the source for dealer paperwork for the 50 Gibb ZL-1s.

[olredalert]

----Always had fun at the track when Bill was there. I was lucky at Milan as he broke and I won, and then lucky again at Quaker City as he broke before we had a chance to run. As you can imagine NO.1 was a bit temperamental. He was contracted to run Ronnie Sox (RIP) in Dale Smiths (RIP) beautiful 68 Sox and Martin Cuda and broke in testing. The promoter came to me to stand in for Bill, but I was at least a second off Ronnies best time. We settled at him giving me 3/4 of a second but Ronnie got impatient and stood the Cuda on the bumper. When he came down he holed the oil pan. It didnt seem to matter as he tried to chase me down anyway pissing oil the whole way, but missed by a car and a half. Never thought Id ever race Ronnie much less beat him no matter the circumstance, so I was a happy camper that day! Bill P was fearless with NO.1 though and would stand that thing on the casters. Those old style wheelie bars scared me every time I watched him. The car looked like a pogo stick out of the hole. Sorry for running on, but the mention of Bills name brought back some very good memories......Bill S

[Xplantdad]

Cool stuff Bill!

[Kim_Howie]

William, maybe you need to ask the Gibb family as to where the ZL-1 records came from. Also ask them about the 68 COPO nova records. The winter of 1989 I stopped at Fred Gibbs house.
He and Helen invited me into there home, a complete stranger.
They talked with me over two hours about the cars. I tolded Fred I think I knew of a 68 Gibb nova. Fred told me he didn't have the records but he gave them to Bill Portfield. The next day I was called by Bill and he finally told me it was one of the cars & he wanted to know what my plans were. I bought the car in 1989 and that car is owned by Annie Hartweg. Bill had never found the records Fred had them all the time. Also when the Novas records were released. I think the article states they were from Helen Gibb. Please check me facts out with the gibb Family.
Kim Howie