On the registry site I viewed Jan Berry's smashed corvette after his April 12th 1966 crash it's a wonder he survived at all after such a terrible accident. Any body have any info on his corvette was it a 1966 427?
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Re: Jan Berry's Corvette
I thought it was a 65 fuile -
Re: Jan Berry's Corvette
Here are a few links on Jan Berry.
"April 12, 1966, Jan took the turn at Sunset and Whittier boulevards at 90 mph and slammed into a parked gardener's truck."
This basic line is repeated in almost all web sites now. Some vary by including "his Corvette", "his silver Corvette", "his red Corvette", "his Corvette Stingray", and others.
The speed is often "speeding", "at 60 mph", and "at 90 mph".
No account on the Internet seems to have any real details on the car. Heck, they can't even agree on what color it was.
The few bad pictures on the Internet show a dark car, so red is more likely than silver. I expected to see pictures of Jan with his Corvettes somewhere but didn't find any. Only pictures were with a few different girlfriends and usually surfboards from the pre-wreck period. One of the few with a car was a '64 hardtop, which was a rental in Hawaii and was the source of the infamous canefield driving that was shown in the 1978 movie "Deadman's Curve" where Richard Hatch drove a '58 (?) through a cornfield to avoid the police.
http://www.sd455.com/moviedmc.htm
shows "Jan" (Richard Hatch) in a '67 Big Block, which didn't get built until 5 months after Jan's crash.
Jan's 1958
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Re: Jan Berry's Corvette
Does anyone have a paid subscription to:
I did a search on the California Plate number and there are some matches.
HarryComment
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Judging from that wreck photo...
...it appears to be a '66 coupe with a 390hp 427 and factory air.Comment
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Re: Jan Berry's Corvette
is that a 33 1/3 laying on the air cleaner? are there any better photos of the car? this is the only one i've ever seen.Comment
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Re: Jan Berry's Corvette
From the picture it had AC and was definitely not a 65.Comment
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Re: Jan Berry's Corvette
Also not a BB because of the cross brace on the hood under frame. And that looks like a wheel and tire laying where the air cleaner should be.Comment
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Re: Jan Berry's Corvette
I think it is a big block. Looks like what remains of the hood support on the drivers side, still attached to what's left of the x brace. Small block support would have been on the pass side. The 66 big block hood did have the x brace.Comment
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Re: Jan Berry's Corvette
Yes maybe, I agree that the 66 BB had the cross brace, the 67 did not. But brace is shaped differently and it is hard to tell from the twisted damage which one it is. But, a 66 BB AC car would have had bolts with large washers at the upper ends of the radiator support. Again it is a bad picture, but I dont see the bolts and washers.Comment
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Re: Jan Berry's Corvette
The core support is definitely big block, due to the pairs of holes/bolts near each end of the upper bar and the slight arch to the center. The small block didn't have either.
Definitely AC, as you can see the condenser. I seriously doubt a pop star would have it added at a local garage so it was ordered and thus factory.
390 hp 396 with AC? Nah, even Barrett Jackson hasn't seen one of those, so that leaves '66 390 hp 427 with AC.
The crash was too early to have a '67 unlike the movie.
I'm not sure if that is a record cover or a poster or maybe a fan photo.Comment
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Re: Jan Berry's Corvette
If you look at the corners, you see two dark spots that are the bolts. The piece of hood support like Michael said does have the hood support brace there on the driver's side. There are no bolts in the center of the support top bar.
The small block support in this picture shows no holes/bolts on the ends and a sharp 90 degree corner to the opening at top, not an angle like in the picture.
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Re: Jan Berry's Corvette
Harry-----
I don't see how there could be any match for the plate in California. In general, license plates in California cannot be transferred or "reassigned" from one car from another. The exceptions are all forms of "personalized plates", dealer plates, manufacturer's plates, governement (exempt) plates, and 1958 or older series plates. The 1963 series (yellow-on-black) plates as was "worn" by Jan's car CANNOT be transferred to another car. So, those plates would have "died" when Jan's car was ultimately junked. California requires any auto dismantler to turn in the plates for cars that are "junked". It's possible that someone "reclaimed" the plates and the dismantler had to claim that they were "lost". However, regardless, they would not be able to be reassigned to a car under current California law.
Even if the law were ever changed to allow the 63 series plates to be re-assigned, these particular plates could not be. If they were declared "lost" by the dismantler who junked the carcass of the car, then they might not ever be considered to be "clean" plates that are re-usable and re-assignable. Such is the case with many 58 and older series plates.In Appreciation of John HinckleyComment
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Re: Jan Berry's Corvette
I agree Wayne, it appears there are no bolts/washers or upper radiator brackets in the pic. It's definitely a big block core support though. Possible it's an early production car and the large washers/spacers weren't used and what we are seeing is actually just the bolt heads?Comment
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Re: Jan Berry's Corvette
Joe, all I was pointing out was a match on the plate number and was asking if anyone had a subscription to look at the data to see what it is!
HarryComment
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