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No such list of original selling dealers or purchasers of L88's exists, unfortunately. That would be too easy. No GM records have ever been found for any C2 cars. The best you can do is hope that by chance the car has a GENUINE tank sticker/warranty book or some other real paperwork, and even that isn't conclusive these days.
As far as the number of cars found, I believe the numbers go something like this. Of the original 20 produced, there are 12 or 13 that are considered absolute genuine. Another 4 or 5 that are considered "probable/possible", and about 25 more that are questionable. (these numbers may have changed a bit over the years)
The problem with trying to document an L88 is, they're not difficult to "build" if a few key ingredients are located. The engines and most of it's bolt on components are quite plentiful so you can't possibly document the car that way. Most of the L88 body items are bolt on so anything can be created. Hope this helps.
My answers to all your questions are: Not that I'm aware of!
Unless the car has some bonafide factory or dealer paperwork it's impossible to unequivocally "prove" that it is one of the 20 actually produced by St. Louis.
It seems that a lot of "lost L-88s" have shown up lately. One of the running jokes about '67 L-88s going back nearly 20 years is that "of the 20 produced all 50 (or fill in your own number) are accounted for."
If there is no paper work you are left with looking at the numbers, such as the engine stamp pad, a proper date, code, and VIN derivative on the M-22, and date/code on the axle, and all the other visual signs - proper carb/air cleaner, road draft tube crankcase ventilation,no radiator fan shroud, C-48, J-56, and F-41.
Also, it should be a fairly "late" sequence number. I don't think the first '67 L-88 was produced until April, but it may have been March.
The unfortunate part on the engine is that while at the Bloomington Gold Special Collection in '88, several of the '67 L88 owners there told me they did not have their original engine and that it had been long gone.
So that means two possibilities exist:
- these cars may not have been real
- the potential for a fake car using a real engine (one of the lost ones) existed.
We get into the vintage race car syndrome where as long as you have an original part, you can build an original car. In vintage racing, there are many cases of one original car generating several "original" cars from the discarded parts over the years.
Duke made a good point. Every time I look at chevy trader or mecum or many of the other auctions there is another L88 that shows up. If you looked in every magazine and every up coming auction in this counrty you can probly count 50 L88's not counting the many L88's that proteam and many other dealers have stashed away.Oh yea don't forget about Barret-jackson, they must have 5 or 6 they just discovered and ready for the hollywood auction......
Drew Papsen has the vin numbers of the cars discovered to date. I have the list as well. Of the 20, I have one missing vin in the time period described.
I will share my knowledge carefully.
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