Original paint Z-16 at Chevelle show

[kwhizz]

If I were left alone with that car I would be intimate with it.


Les...............You live a little too close to the Blue "Genie".................LOL

Ken

[92646]

Les you are a better man than I am for admitting this. Colin if I was with your car collection by myself I do not know if I could get as far as Les would.
Mark Sheppard

[Mr70]

Les I'd like to meet you someday,but you'll forgive me if I don't shake your hand..

[Les Quam]

Oh yeah I have rode some of Colins incredible cars in his collection in a few private moments pretty hard and then put them away wet. That 68 Yenko Camaro may be having my love child any day now? It wasn't a pretty sight I can tell you that.

[leach]

I know where there is a survivor one with matching drive train paint all original and car looks like it came out of factory guy has owned it since 1968 from original owner

[jeffschevelle]

Sorry to revive a stale post, but I just learned that my car was on here! I am the lucky owner of this unrestored Z16

First, thanks for all the kind comments. Before I got the car out for the first time this past spring to let the 'world' see it, I wondered how it would be received (with all its nicks dings, and rusty quarter lips). But the response has been almost unanimously positive. It is very rewarding given the countless hours we spent cleaning the car up and getting it roadworthy again!

Several people asked for the car's Story, so here it is as best I know it:

I am the 2nd titled owner (3rd actual owner). Much of the info below was received by me directly from the original owner, Tom (I'll leave off the last name for sake of his privacy, since it is not a common name and I'm happy to report he's still around!). Some of the info was received from the 2nd owner who I bought the car from.

In the spring of 1965, young Tom lived in Erie, Pa. He read a Z16 road test article in a magazine, and knew he had to have one. He called his buddy who was in sales at Don Allen Chevrolet in Buffalo NY, and told him to order him a Z16. His friend told him, 'no way', since the cars were so rare and most were destined for the exec's, or to be high profile loaners or demo's.

But one night in April Tom got a call from that friend saying a Z16 was arriving in the morning, and Tom had better be there before the dealership general manager arrived or it would end up being the GM's personal demo car. Tom's mom drove him to Buffalo at the crack of dawn the next day, and he arrived before the car was even off the trailer. (I was told by the 2nd owner that there are pics of the car still on the trailer at the dealership, but I have not had any luck getting my hands on them. ) The paperwork was all done and Tom was the proud new owner of the Z16.

Tom drove the car back to Erie, but was disappointed with its performance. He told me it just 'didn't have any balls.' So he stopped at a service station and checked all the plug wires, to find that it had a broken spark plug! A new AC 43N was installed, and he said 'the car came to life!'

Almost immediately after buying it he took it in for mags and wider rubber. Luckily the original mag hubcaps were put away for safe keeping. The ones on the car in the pics in this post are reported to me to be the originals. They were wrapped up in the trunk when I got the car, and are nicer than the NOS set I have in my attic! Unfortunately the original rims and tires were not retained (but the spare wheel is the real McCoy, at least).

Tom also almost immediately took it in for a set of headers (probably one of the earliest sets of Chevelle big block headers in existence today). Again, luckily he stashed the original exhaust manifolds, heat riser, bolts, french locks, and spark plug heat shields and bolts in a box and kept them all ! They were all in the trunk when I got the car, and the manifolds still had a healthy coat of the original orange paint on several areas where the car had not been driven long enough yet to burn all the paint off when they were removed (I'll tell you about putting all that back on the car below.)

Tom was in the military (not sure if he was enlisted or a civilian employee). There is an Air Force / Niagara Falls airport parking sticker still on the front bumper! Each time Tom got stationed somewhere else, the car went along, and it was his daily driver until about 1982. In around 1980 Tom moved to California, and the Z16 went along. Some time around 1982, it was parked on the curb in front of the house and wrapped up in a tarp (most of the dings and scratches on the sides are from bungee cords slapping against it every time the wind blew ).

Fast forward to about 1986 - A Chevelle enthusiast in Vancouver Canada heard about the car and made contact with Tom. A deal was struck (I'm not sure, but from the CA DMV paperwork that was in the ashtray it looks like he paid about $4500 for the car ). He drove the car from California back to Vancouver, and parked it (inside, thank goodness) until he had time to start restoring the car. That was the last time the car was cranked until March 2008!!!!

Fast forward to August 2001 - 15 years later the car is still tucked away in the 2nd owner's garage. (I'm not being critical - I have a garage full of projects that I can't seem to get around to starting!!) So he decided to sell the car. My lucky day! He sent me pics and info, including the fact that the engine had never been out of the car and the drivetrain was 100% #-matching, and that he had the window sticker, broadcast sheet, and P-O-P . I flew to Vancouver to check everything in person, and it was as described - an untouched original car. So the deal was done.

After about 6 weeks of waiting on an "unDependable" auto transporter to get the car home to me (it apparently sat in a warehouse in St. Louis for over a month), I (like the 2nd owner) just tucked it away in my garage until I could start a frame off restoration. At that point I had not even considered leaving it as is, because of the rusty wheel lip and because it was very, very dirty all over (particularly under the hood). So for the next 5-6 years it sat waiting, while I acquired every conceivable NOS part to restore the car.

Fast forward to late 2006 / early 2007, and enter Dave Miner (may he rest in peace). Dave and I met while jousting for a part on eBay, and started talking about our cars and trading some parts. I had been toying with the idea of trying to resurrect the car without restoring her. I sent Dave pics of my car, and he visited me in April 2007 to see the car. He convinced me then that I had to take a shot at preserving the car, assuming I could get it to run without having to rebuild the engine.

I was not about to try to turn it over without making sure everything was well lubed, so I pulled the plugs (it still had a set of 4-ring AC's in it!!), drained the pan, removed the filter and put the canister back on her empty, and removed the carburetor (the dated original!!) I also removed the headers (that was very fun!). A fiber-optic inspection of the cylinders through the plug holes showed hardly any wear, especially for a 116K mile car. In fact, 7 out of 8 looked like the engine had just been built . Then I filled each cylinder up with Marvel Mystery Oil using a syringe through the plug holes and put the plugs back in, then filled the entire crank case (up to the fill hole in the valve cover) with MMO, and also filled the intake up to the rim with MMO! Then I let it sit for about 2 months while the work below was being done.

While the engine soaked I installed an NOS gas tank (I plan to have the original hot tanked and reinstall it eventually), and flushed out the fuel and brake lines. The master cylinder was dry, so a correctly dated NOS piece was installed. But the remainder of the brake system is untouched, and I think the shoes are even the originals!! (They are bonded, not riveted, and have that pale green coating on the metal part. So if they are not original they certainly are GM replacements.) A battery was hooked up and all the electrical system (except the starter) was checked out. The cooling system was flushed. The original water pump was rebuilt. (Unfortunately the guy who did it for me did not follow my instructions and repainted it, which is why it is bright orange in the pics. He was supposed to just rebuild it and leave the finish as it was. Oh well.) The original alternator was not 'restored', but I did put in new bearings.

Then I started the unpleasant task of the clean-up. To make an already long story short, with a lot of help from the boss-lady and a good friend, we spent untold hours cleaning every inch of the car, including removing about 50 pounds of crud under the hood, using about 500 rolls of paper towels and every kind of cleaner known to man, and plenty of brillo pads for all that chrome. The end result was (and is) nothing short of astonishing if you put the before and after pics beside each other.

Once all that was all done, I drained the engine, pulled the plugs, and you could spin her over easily with a ratchet and one hand!! So I installed an NOS AC oil filter, a set of plugs, dated wires, points and condenser, and the rebuilt carb, and reinstalled the factory exhaust manifolds (with NOS exhaust pipes and mufflers). The only other things replaced under the hood were the heater hoses and radiator hose clamps (the hoses are originals!!). Then in March of 2008, I crossed my fingers and turned the key, and she cranked right up the moment gas got to the carb!!!

I drove it down the road, and everything actually worked. After a complete tune up, with 100% honesty this is the best running engine in any car I own, and this is the tightest driving old car I have ever had, bar none!! It is as if it has 16K miles, not 116K !!! I have a 39K mile Camaro SS350, and it is not nearly as tight as this Z16.

The Vinyl top was toast, so I had that replaced along with the old headliner (which laid on your head while you drove). Repop tires were installed on a set of correct size and offset rims, and voila, there she is. I debuted it at the Spring Autofair in Charlotte this year. I have put about 600 miles on the car since then just around Concord, and (like csx289 said) you can drive the wheels off of it and not worry about throwing a rock up on the quarter! I think I've burnt about 15% of the tread off the back tires already, and believe it or not, if you do it right, the 3.31 open rear end with the sway bar actually does burn both tires!! I just have to keep a close watch on the rear view mirror so I don't get rear-ended with those 4 pieces of chrome back there!

Well, thanks for listening. But before I sign off I want to give credit again to Dave Miner for pushing me over the hump to preserve the car and not restore it. He was a great guy, and I count myself privileged to have known him. I also bought the "triple red" Z16 from Dave that he had on his website, and restoration of it started last week (using all the NOS parts I had hoarded up for the red/white/black car). So in a year or so I hope to show the two cars together as a 'before and after' display.

Jeff

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[300deluxeL79]

just WOW!

[SD 396]

Absolutely incredible car Jeff. There is nothing wrong with reviving a post on this car. They never get stale.
Nice to see that it was left unrestored. They are only that way once.

[JChlupsa]

rats!!!! i read through the whole write up you did and then i get the dreaded little red X's where the pictures wont open for me. Guess Ill have to wait until i get home to check out the pictures. Congrats on the Z16. You know theres a Labor Day show ever year in the Midwest called The Supercar Reunion would love to see it there

[John]

...did you "right click" on the red "x" ...and "left click " on "show photo"...try it...it may show the photos...

....
...Great story and great car