1965 Omaha Tangier Shrine Corvettes -- delivery

[Wayne M.]

Recent eBay purchase: 8 x 10 glossy of fifteen 1965 Corvette convertibles at Plant(?) delivery on 21st November 1964. They were all Nassau blue with white/blue interiors. Here's a link to a letter from the Chevrolet Omaha zone office that was sent to the plant along with the photograph.


I've contacted NCRS member GL Anderson, and he has data on these 15 cars and their original owners. His dad Gar Anderson owned Anderson Auto Company of Wahoo Nebraska, and this dealer supplied the Omaha Shrine Corvettes throughout the years.

Previous RESTORER articles are Fall 1983 (the purple '62s) and Summer 1993 (the '67s).

The still-active eBay archive that shows close-ups of the people is below. GL says his father is in the middle with the horn-rimmed glasses and the cigarette in his hand.


Would appreciate if NCRS discusson board GM types that were in the Corvette plant in that time period (Joe 930, John Hinckley, others ?) might identify the GM personnel mentioned in the letter; L.J. Biskach, Con O'Donnell, John Evans, Ken Brooks.

The background doesn't look like the Corvette plant, though. More like the parking lot of the Mayfair Inn (check the 2 Dodges next to the bus).

P.S. My host Photobucket doesn't allow pics of more than about 60kb size. Can email parts of this photo in much higher resolution if requested.

[Barbara S.]

Re: 1965 Omaha Tangier Shrine Corvettes -- deliver

Great photos Wayne!
Tony

[John H.]

Re: 1965 Omaha Tangier Shrine Corvettes -- deliver

Wayne -

The gentleman just to the right of the "St. Louis" sign in the trench coat, with the gentleman in the horn-rimmed glasses on HIS left, is Lou Biskach, who has the Plant Manager of the St. Louis complex (Passenger and Truck Plant and the Corvette Plant). I also worked for Lou a few years later when he was the Plant Manager at Lordstown.

John Evans was the Corvette Plant Manufacturing Planner in those days, and a few years later was the Chief Inspector.

[GL Anderson]

Re: 1965 Omaha Tangier Shrine Corvettes -- deliver

I can name every Shriner there and have the stock book for 1965 so can tell the serial number of each of their cars. Also RJ Novotny is the guy in the sorta plaid coat on the left side of the pic. He was our Omaha Zone contact. BTW I still have a couple of those stickers you see on the door of one of the cars. If you have any other questions just ask. GL Anderson

[WayneEast]

Re: 1965 Omaha Tangier Shrine Corvettes -- deliver

Hello,

I currently own a 1967 Shriner Vette and an article was just published in the Corvette Restorer (see last three pages for the Article).

GL Anderson has been a great help to me and I am starting a registery of all Shriner Corvettes, with his help (see my contract info in the Article).
Mr. Anderson is going to send me the VIN numbers for the years he has for the Shriner Vettes to help me get started. It was great to see that he responded to the 1965 Omaha Tangier Shrine Corvette posting.

I have received a lot of e-mail from the article and I have started the registry.

This is an improtant part of Corvette History and I want to help preserve the role of the Omaha Tangier Shrine Corvette Patrol.

Thanks, Wayne

[Wayne M.]

Thanks, GL & John H.

So we've identified 2 of the non-Shriner people in the pic. Some of these faces also show in the more well-known 1967 photo of the 13 white convertibles.

[Wayne M.]

Just read your RESTORER article ...

... and am pleased that someone is stepping up to document these Shriner cars (with GL Anderson's major input).

Somewhere, in the history of the '67's, the story of the fake L88 must be told. Refer to archives, starting 22 December 2005; it's a real hoot. Builder/seller had the bad luck to start with a car whose VIN was traceable to existing Shriner documentation showing a small block birth.