68' ZL-1 Stripe?

[Art A.]

Re: 68' ZL-1 Stripe?

Mike, Registration and "titled" are two different things. Yes, all GM vehicles were registered with the State of Michigan and had a registration filled out in GM's name, HOWEVER, GM had a special arrangement with the state which did not require the vehicles to be titled in GM's name as such. When the Fleet office went to the Michigan secretary of states office to get license plates, they were given a blank title with just the vin portion filled in and GM held that title until such a time that GM sent the vehicles to a dealer in order to be sold.The dealer was responsible for filling in the "New" (therefore the first)owners information and COMPLETING the transaction with the state.

Trivia.............Most of Chevrolet Engineering Center's vehicles were plated from a special block of letters/numbers that the State of Michigan issued in that time frame. The block was.......are you ready...........CEC 000 thru CEC 999. Get it: C Chevrolet, E Engineering, and C Center. These plates were used for many years and reissued to new vehicles as they came into the fleet.

Art

[Michael H.]

Re: 68' ZL-1 Stripe?

Thanks Art. That makes sense. I assumed that since it had a Michigan registration, it would have been titled there also. In Illinois, the registration arrived with the new plates and that was only possible after title transfer. It was the only car I'd ever seen with this paperwork.

Mike

[Stephen W.]

Re: 68' ZL-1 Stripe?

Art... All this talk about "test" cars reminds me of a deal offered to my father in the 60's. A family member worked for Pontiac Motor Division. I was 11 years old so my memory is not the best but this is how it went.
My dad optioned the car to his specs and signed an agreement but the car would be used for promotional or evaluation purposes. They would keep the car till a certain number of miles were logged and then it would be delivered to my dad as a "new" car. We were invited to a preview show of the 1964 Pontiacs where he completed the order and signed the agreements in June of 1963. He ordered a Nocturn blue/ med blue int 1964 GTO. This would be a used car but my dad would have been the 1st owner after PMD was through with it. This sounds similar to what has been discussed here.

[steve wallach]

Re: 68' ZL-1 Stripe?

Ok,

Here's some more numbers:

"Car No. 88106T" this is on the Tech Center check in sheet
Also "CEC - 390" The 3and 9 are clear but the 0 isn't so it could
be another number?
"proj. No. 203-68001"
"ASSIGNEE - 30"
"LOCATION - GARAGE"
"USE - DISPOSAL"
"MILEAGE 10203"
There appears to be a secratary's name also "Jules Vermeersch" ?

On the Registration:

"Car # 88106T"

Also "ACQUIRED FROM Chev. Motor Div., GMC, Engr. Center, 30003 Van Dyke, Warren, Mich. 48090"

Thanks again for the replys,

Steve

[Art A.]

Re: 68' ZL-1 Stripe?

"Car No. 88106T" this is on the Tech Center check in sheet

Steve this is the co car file number. There was a little sticker put on the left inside windshield with this number on it.

Also "CEC - 390" The 3and 9 are clear but the 0 isn't so it could
be another number?

Steve this is the Michigan License plate number.

"proj. No. 203-68001"
I'm not sure but I think it is the number that was used for a "test" work order that was done to the car.

"ASSIGNEE - 30"
I'm not sure

"LOCATION - GARAGE"
This is where the car was located within the complex

"USE - DISPOSAL"
This meant that they could sell the car as apposed to crushing it.

"MILEAGE 10203"
This of course is the mileage of the car at the time of disposal.

There appears to be a secratary's name also "Jules Vermeersch" ?
Jules Vermeersch worked in the Vehicle Fleet Office and probably filled out the check sheet.

On the Registration:

"Car # 88106T"
Same as above.

Also "ACQUIRED FROM Chev. Motor Div., GMC, Engr. Center, 30003 Van Dyke, Warren, Mich. 48090"
This is the address of CEC where I worked for 25 years.

Art

[steve wallach]

Re: 68' ZL-1 Stripe?

Hi Art,

Thanks for the info!

Steve

[steve wallach]

Re: 68' ZL-1 Stripe?

Art,

The car purchase was done through Carl King's friend who worked for the Engineering Department, his name was Paul Khoury, did you know him?

Also, do you know anyone that would possibly know anything about this car from the Tech Center or GM?

Thanks again for the help,

Steve

[Art A.]

Re: 68' ZL-1 Stripe?

No, I can't say that I recall the name.

No, I also can't say if I know of anyone who would remember your car. There were lots and lots of car that were processed thru Engineering every year and to recall one of them would be a stretch.

Art

[John H.]

Re: 68' ZL-1 Stripe?

I drove lots of Chevrolet Engineering "M"-plated cars in those days (including many which nobody would ever admit existed, like a '67 Chevelle with a Lucas-injected Reynolds Can-Am 494 ), and all had a small black 3-ring binder in the glove box with the "paperwork", which included a Manufacturer's Registration for the "M" plate and a Xerox copy of the Michigan Law which explained (for showing to the cops who didn't understand the Chevrolet Engineering agreement with the State) that the generic "M"-plate registration was legal. Yup, had to present "the book" to the law a few times - had a LOT of fun back in those days, as Art can attest.

[Patrick H.]

Re: 68' ZL-1 Stripe?

Let me know the next time you get to test drive a Viper prototype.
The fun days don't have to be over.

Patrick

[David D.]

Re: 68' ZL-1 Stripe?

John, That 1967 Chevelle wasn't a Laguna Blue 2 door hardtop was it? Dave

[John H.]

Re: 68' ZL-1 Stripe?

Nope, it was black, loud, and nasty, and the induction roar from the Lucas stacks was priceless