Engine from 12-mile L88

[G B.]

Could someone please tell me what became of the factory 427 block from the red 12-mile L88 from Washington state?

I know the body/chassis has been photographed, displayed, and discussed thoroughly since the mid-seventies. It now resides in Florida at Roger's Corvettes. However, I've never been clear on what became of the original engine. It's not in the car now, so what happened to it?

[G B.]

Clarification

I'm talking about the 1967 red/black coupe that was originally owned by Duke's friend in college.

I saw it displayed at Bloomington in 1997(?) with a replacement L88 engine. There was a storyboard with it at that show, but there was no mention of the missing original block. Rumors at the time said the factory engine was not acquired by Lincoln's Corvettes when they bought the body/chassis from the original owner and removed it from his storage building.

[Michael H.]

Re: Clarification

Jerry,

I'll email you with info.

[Duke W.]

Re: Clarification

Why don't you just post the information.

Duke

[Brian Monticello]

Inquiring minds want to know!

[Chris H.]

Urban Legend...........

I thought I read somewhere that it wound up in a speeed boat?

[Michael H.]

Re: Clarification

Duke,

I'm trying to contact the current owner now and make sure I'm not stepping on any toes with this. I don't see that there would be any problem but I'd like to make sure first. Should be able to post shortly.

Michael

[Michael H.]

Re: Clarification

Here's the story, as much of it as I can remember. The car was originally purchased by xxxxx xxxxx in Washington state and taken directly home to be disassembled and transformed into a drag race car. The engine, transmission and complete rear diff and suspension was removed, to be replaced with a non IRS Dana unit. The short block was disassembled completely and was to be sent out for balancing etc. (I don't remember if it ever actually was sent out)

Not long into the project, work stopped and the car sat for several years before it was eventually put up for sale. Lincoln's Corvettes in Washington state bought the car, including most of the original parts. It still had the window sticker in the window. Lincoln's Corvettes sold the car almost immediately to a man in Minnesota who decided to reassemble the car and sell it. For reasons unknown, he decided to purchase and install a new over the counter L88 short block instead of reassembling the original. This makes absolutely no sense today but if you consider the time that this occured, it begins to sound more logical. It was mid 70's and the Corvette restoration hobby was still brand new. Original engine blocks meant absolutely nothing at that time and 67's, especially big block 67's, were NOT the most popular car on the used Corvette market so I suppose it was just easier to buy and install a new short block.

The car was sold to Jerome Shinkay in Wisconsin in the mid 70's, completely reassembled with the new short block. The car was then sold to Krughoff and Burroughs and I think the rest of it's history is pretty well known so I won't go into that.

The second owner, the man that replaced the original short block in the 70's, was contacted years later and he confirmed the fact that it was just easier and cheaper to replace the short block instead of trying to rebuild it. He said that he eventually sold the original block to a major engine rebuilder in Minnesota. The engine builder was contacted several years ago and he said that it's highly unlikely the block was still there and even if it was, it's been decked because "we deck every block that comes in here".

When Burroughs/Krughoff bought the car in the 80's, David Burroughs had a clone 351 block built for the car. David and I discussed the engine stamp pad numbers and agreed that no numbers were far better than fake numbers so as far as I know, the engine is unstamped to this day.

I was fortunate enough to first see the car in the mid 70's and it had 12 miles on it then. It's as real as they get and one of my all time favorite cars. The unique and unbelievable 12 L88!

[Brian Monticello]

Pic #1 from M. Hanson

"This is the car/engine in about 1975 or 76. It was reassembled using several incorrect pieces as you will see. The hood should be some proof that it's an L88. The window sticker was still in the window at that time.

That's me in the pic. That should be some proof of the era as I'm only about 30 years old in the pic and everyone knows I'm a lot older now. More pic's coming."

[Brian Monticello]

Pic #2 from M.Hanson

"Another pic of the engine from the mid 70's. Shows several incorrect items, fan shroud, chrome valve covers and the obvious lack of the road draft tube etc etc. These items were changed or added/deleted by the 2nd owner. The aluminum heads were bare instead of the correct orange, probably removed by the original owner when preparing for comp."

[Brian Monticello]

Pic #3 from M.Hanson

" A terrible pic of the L88 only console sticker. These weren't even available in reproduction at this time so it's obvious this one is real"

[Mike E.]

Re: Urban Legend...........

Chris--
Wasn't that the 69 ZL-1 motor?

[Duke W.]

My DNA is on that car

As several of you know, I helped the original owner disassemble this car beginning in the spring of '67, and I've received a couple of e-mails asking about the engine block. I can't offer anything specific about the block, but here is some other information that I believe I've posted before.

I bought the TI system and installed it on my SWC, but sold it to David Burroughs in 1987, and I assume it's back on the L-88. The distributor cap should should about 50K miles of use, but it was still the original cao when I sold it to Burroughs as was the vacuum can with the cut off nipple. I installed a "236" vacuum can along with my 64-65 SHP/FI spec weights and springs, but kept all the original parts, which I installed back on the TI dist. in 1976 when I removed it from my SWC after it failed a second time. Both failures were easy fixes, but I decided to go back to the single point system as I had figured out how to make it work reliably at high revs. The TI system lived in a box for the next dozen years.

I left Seattle in June, 1968 after I graduated from the U of Wash. I went to work for Pontiac and then on to get a MS at the U of Wisconsin Engine Research Center. During those years I made two or three trips to back to Seattle and may have seen the original owner or taked to mutual friends, but by the early seventies I had lost track.

My next information on the car was the Oct/Nov 1976 Corvette News that chronicled the cars "discovery", sale to Lincoln Auto Parts (a salvage yard) in Seattle, and its quick resale. Quoting from the article:

"The pictures you see here were taken the day we bought the car - and sold it! The customer in Mineapolis who bought it reports that, after several months of work, it's running like new. He wants $12,000 for it - if he decides to sell."

I can offer no corroboration for the dispositon of the original block, but I can tell you that the original owner sold the rear shocks to one of my roommates who also had a SWC. That car was stolen in Riverside, CA in the late sixties or early seventies and was never recovered.

One other story, and if anyone has a chance to closely inspect the car, look to see if there is evidence of a spot repair on the rear deck just above the left tail lights. As we were pushing the car out into the alley to switch from one garage bay to another, circa May 1967 our attention was diverted by the dozen or so sorority girls who came out from their house on the other side of the alley to see what was going on. One of them was my ninth grade girlfriend. We bumped the car into a tree and damaged the paint, but I don't think it damaged the fiberglass.

If I go up to Seattle for my 40 year high school reunion this summer and see my ex-girlfriend, Ill have to tell her how the car still has 12 miles and sold recently for over $600K.

Duke

[Duke W.]

Re: Clarification

The original owner did not plan to install a "non IRS" axle in the car. He did paint white lines in the axle shafts as a quick way to determine if they twisted from launch torque. I thought this was rather "quaint", but the original owner was very meticulous and had a detailed plan of what he wanted to do. I don't recall the installed axle ratio, but I'm sure he planned on changing it to something shorter for serious quarter-mile racing. He sold the TI to me because he wanted to install a Joe Hunt modified Vertex magneto. I told him I thought the TI was better than a thirties technology magneto, but that's what he wanted to do. He also sold the rear shocks, so he probably had a more drag racing oriented shock in mind, but planned to use the OE axle and suspension with some modifications to improve launch hook up.

Duke

[Michael H.]

Re: Clarification

What was his name, do you remember?

Michael