ZL1 #51 at Barrett-Jackson

[quick-bowtie]

This car is going to be at Barrett anyone here own it? It says original engine. Whats the story and what are the guesses to what it will bring? Id still love to own one of these cars.

[quick-bowtie]

http://www.barrett-jackson.com/carli...LotNumber=1314

link to page

[rich p]

Reggie Jackson car !! Listen very closely, you can hear a pin drop ...

the restorer replaced all the body panels from the firewall back to restore it to original condition and keep the integrity of the car.

Frontend was mint and ONLY had to replace from firewall back??

[nuch_ss396]

2/3 of the original sheet metal doesn't survive, but the
fragile aluminum 427 engine does.......

Here I go again with this question - again.

I had often heard that structurally, the original ZL-1
blocks were not nearly all that they were cracked-up to be
( excuse the pun ). So how did so many ZL-1's retain their
original engines? They were all-out race cars and built
for pedal to the medal stuff !

Some day, we may learn how many ZL-1's actually retained
their original engines. That goes for COPO's, Yenko's, etc..

I can't be the only one that finds it odd that so many race cars
would retain the one component prone to failure - the engine.

Steve

[Charley Lillard]

Actually I hooked Reggie up with another member here that had the orig block for 51. It was damaged and Reggie spent a bunch of dough repairing it but it does have the orig block now.

[quick-bowtie]

I know all that steel metal replacement kinda scares me off but if it was raced you never know what happened.. Does anyone know who restoration on it or more importantly if the hidden vins are there and not messed with? with all that metal replacement it might sell for alot less.. I gotta givem him credit for disclosing all the metal replacement. Wasnt this car at the spring Mecum auction I seem to remember a White ZL1 there? could be thinking of some other car though.

[Stefano]

Lamar Walden who raced the car also initially restored it himself. The car was at the Mecum Rockford Spring Classic and at B/J a few years ago.

[nuch_ss396]

Charley,

This is interesting! Can you answer a few questios for me?

Roughly, how badly was the block damaged? Any missing pieces?

Who saves, or for that matter, buys a blown ZL-1 block?
Was it retained for sentimental value, or possible future $$ value?

I'm asking because I read somewhere that GM cast maybe 50
or so additional ZL-1 blocks back in the day. Almost
every one I have seen from that period had been badly damaged. Is that the norm for these engines?

Steve

[Charley Lillard]

Nuch...I never saw it but COPO had it so he might chime in. I think it is very common for these blocks to still be around because who wants to throw away a aluminum big block ? You can weld up just about anything on a aluminum block and these days it is worth it. I used to have the orig block for # 26 that had been cracked from freezing and it was repaired to where it was almost impossible to tell.

Bob is better known as the real Bob Johnson.

[Steve Drueck]

"I had often heard that structurally, the original ZL-1
blocks were not nearly all that they were cracked-up to be
( excuse the pun ). So how did so many ZL-1's retain their
original engines? They were all-out race cars and built
for pedal to the medal stuff !

Some day, we may learn how many ZL-1's actually retained
their original engines. That goes for COPO's, Yenko's, etc..

I can't be the only one that finds it odd that so many race cars
would retain the one component prone to failure - the engine.

Steve"




Steve you are totally correct. Most ZL-1 engines were not assembled to last. I was very fortunate to buy #64 in the late 80's from the original owner, Bill Turner. It is an orig engine car, (with 911 well documented miles) mainly because Bill had the foresight to have Bob Tucker blueprint the engine about a month after he bought it. (Have the receipt for the rebuild) Also he pulled it in favor of an iron motor after that. The motor was never seperated from the car, but most ZL-1 engines were blown up and were apart from the cars. Because of the aluminum block, I doubt anyone actually threw one out, and 37 years later, many are now "re-united" with the original car and restored with total abandon to the cost of repair, welding, machining, etc to bring it back. When I bought my ZL-1 only a couple were original motor cars, but now a lot more are thanks to internet and communication throughout the collector circles. As to ZL-1's being "race cars" this car had a set of Hooker Headers added and an MSD and some slicks, literally the day after it was driven (yes, driven) home from indian River Chevy to Ft. Myers . Thus it was a "race car". Not all of them were ripped to shreds like you might think. A lot of cars raced in the 60's had little more than bolt ons, and slicks. Steve Drueck