'68 or '69 "Road & Track" ZL-1 test?

[Rob Clary]

Any of y'all know which issue of Road & Track had the orange ZL-1 Corvette road test in it? I swear I've seen it somewhere, and I'd buy one if I could find it, but I can't get a good enough description from the ones on Ebay to take a chance on?

Thanks in advance!




The Supercar Registry

[Mark #28455]

Re: '68 or '69 "Road & Track" ZL-1 test?

The one I saw was for a white ZL1

[Rob Clary]

Re: '68 or '69 "Road & Track" ZL-1 test?

Hmm...ok, any idea on which issue? Thanks!




The Supercar Registry

[Robert C.]

Re '69 "Road & Track" ZL-1 test?

There's only 2 ZR-1, 69', One is yellow, with all the documentation, owned by Roger's Corvettes in Maitland Fla.
The other one is white, doesn't have all the doc's.I don't know where it lives.

[Rob Clary]

Re: Re '69 "Road & Track" ZL-1 test?

There's a white one in Kevin Suydam's collection in Seattle...

http://corvettes-musclecars.com/cgi-bin/emAlbum.cgi?c=show_thumbs;p=1969%20Corvette%20ZL-1%20427-430HP

But, there have been reports of up to 7 ZL-1 Corvettes made, as some of the vintage road tests & press days suggest. Now, whether some were L-88 to ZL-1 conversions or vice versa is still up for grabs. But I will say this...I am talking to a gentleman that claims to still have the tank sticker for the ZL-1 Corvette he bought/ordered in 1969, and it's neither the white car in Seattle or the yellow car in Florida...

[Mark D.]

Re: '68 or '69 "Road & Track" ZL-1 test?

Rob,
There was an article in Motor Trend magazine in May 1969 titled 'The ZL-1'. It was based on the pre-production mule which was white and had flares. The author was Eric Dahlquist.
Motor Trend did another article entitled 'The Ten Second Trip' which told the story of the orange pre-production unit for 69. It said, among other things, the journalists were not aware it was a ZL-1. Bob Clift described how writer after writer could jump in and easily turn 11 second times. Unfortunately, I don't have the date of that article.
In 2001 I had a car featured in the Bloomington Gold Special Collection. While there, I had the honor of a one on one conversation with Mr. Clift. He told me how blindingly fast that orange car was. He went on to tell me many more stories including driving a Grand Sport through the streets of Miami when the cars were on their way to Nassau.
Regards,
Mark Donnally

[Rick S.]

Re: '68 or '69 "Road & Track" ZL-1 test?

Rob,
I don't have the answer to your question but you should try "Ask the seller a question" on ebay and maybe you will get your answer from the seller.
Good luck,
Rick

[Rob Clary]

Re: '68 or '69 "Road & Track" ZL-1 test?

Yeah, that's what I thought, and the guy told me to "read the description". Gee, thanks, buddy! LOL!! Oh well, it's not life/death, just lookin'!!!




The Supercar Registry

[Mark D.]

Re: '68 or '69 "Road & Track" ZL-1 test?

If you are interested, it looks like Hot Rod Magazine did an article on the orange car in December of 68.
Regards,
Mark

[Rob Clary]

Re: '68 or '69 "Road & Track" ZL-1 test?

Thanks Mark! I'd heard about the May MT article, but wasn't sure what was in it...now I know! As for the "Ten Second Trip" article, that was in October of '69...hop over to Corvettearchive.com and check it out!

Hmmm...I got my Road & Track lead second hand, so maybe the guy I talked to was confused?




The Supercar Registry

[Rob Clary]

Re: '68 or '69 "Road & Track" ZL-1 test?

Cool...MANY THANKS!

[Rick S.]

Re: '68 or '69 "Road & Track" ZL-1 test?

Sounds like the type you wouldn't want to buy from anyway! When a seller doesn't answer the question asked or doesn't respond to my question I won't bid and walk away.

[Rob Clary]

Re: '68 or '69 "Road & Track" ZL-1 test?

I agree...I asked him a specific question about a specific article, and he pretty much blew me off. I mean, all I was asking was for him to pick up the magazine and thumb through it! He acted like I asked him to scan it and email it to me!




The Supercar Registry

[Michael M.]

Re: Re '69 "Road & Track" ZL-1 test?

It is true that only 2 were sold to the public, but a few others were made by the factiry for GM. I seem to remember that 5 others were made as COPOs. A guy at the Fall VetteFest claims to have the orange one that Zora test drove ...

[Mark #28455]

the 5 other ZL1's

It is my understanding that there were originally 7 ZL1's planned. The factory had a tremendous amount of trouble with the yellow ZL1 and the remaining 5 were ordered to be converted to L88's and to be sold.
Heard this story from someone who worked at Tonawanda at the time. He said that the 5 exchange L88 engines were shipped to St. Louis, but the ZL1's were never returned to Tonawanda. He suspected that the ZL1's were likely supplied to racers (not sure if it was with or without the cars).