Updated Norwood Chevrolet 1963 Z-11 Bel Air pics

Z-11Guy

Z-11Guy

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Just was cleaning out my laptop hard drive and wanted to update pics of the Norwood Chev 1963 Z-11 aluminum noses Bel-air that had a real QM 427 engine shortblock and Z-11 heads that was dealer assembled(over the counter). This car was raced out of Warrick RI and ran hard though not sure how it competed compared to Strickler's/Jenkins or Sox & Martin Z-11's. It was a threat to Bill Lawton's Tasca Ford 427 Galaxie though the '63 blue T-bolt might of been a different story. Feeling a little better now though got a ways to go still , thanks.

8352023.jpg 63chevyinNY.jpg norwood.jpg 63chevy001.jpg
 
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jim_ss409

jim_ss409

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Cool pictures. :beer

Hey Raj, you mentioned that the Z-11 shortblock and heads were available over the counter. I remember Pat Lobb saying the same thing.
I'm guessing several racers would have bought the Z-11 heads and intake to upgrade their 409's, I'm just wondering if over the counter Z-11 style heads were common back in the day.
They seem pretty rare so I'm guessing that they didn't sell a lot of them.
I'd be interested on any insight you, or anybody else might have on that subject.
 
Z-11Guy

Z-11Guy

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Thanks guys for being there for me :) As many of you know Tonawanda produced 20 QM short blocks before the GM racing ban. Norwood Chevrolet received at least one along with a set of Z-11 heads and intake separately might of got help from Brian Batchelder who had the real Z-11 Chevy in Maine who provided his VIN to get the parts. Dave Kenehan and Joe Padula set up the Z-11 '63 Bel Air. I know Butch Leal had 2 different motors for his Z-11 that Jim Garrison @ Bill Thomas enterprises prepared as well. Eddie Shartman /Jackshaw Chevrolet received a short block as well for their dealer assembled Z-11 Impala. The parts manager at Jackshaw Chevrolet was good friends with Don Nicholson and that's how the pipeline worked. Nicholson told be back in 1996 he set up Malcolm Durhams, Houston & Hubert Platt, Bill Connell, Steve Bagwells and Eddie Schartman's Z-11 Chevy's (Eddies being the only dealer assembled car) at Nalley Chev. Thanks again guys, just give me some more time, Raj.
 
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Blk61409

Blk61409

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As previously mentioned, the only way a Chevy store could order the Z-11 parts was to have the info from one of the cars, serial number, selling dealer, delivery date, etc. That info was then called in to the Chevy Parts Depot where one of the guys there that handled off line stuff would verify the info and then place the order. All of the parts came from the Chevy National Parts Depot in Michigan and were strictly controlled. They would ship immediately any part requested with the correct info. Now, as soon as any Chevy store got the info the first time it was "game on", they then could order anything for anybody. One of the limiting factors was the price. I believe a bare head listed for $115 and I believe dealer cost was $96 in 1963, so that is about $900/800, list/cost, today per head. Then you had to buy, valves, rocker arms, push rods, push rod guide plates, short block, pan, even the fuel pump push rod was different(titanium), intake, valley cover, gaskets and on and on. By the time everything was added up I remember specifically it was staggering at that time. Don't forget that the 396/427 was starting to be rumored by that time with the appearance of the Mystery Motor at Daytona. While we had several guys wanting the parts we ordered them and they ran the stuff through out the 63-66 period. After all we had nothing else to compete with. I for one had to lighten everything on the engine to get it to be a high rev engine because it already had all the torque it needed. I had to lighten pistons, crank, valves, valve spring retainers, etc, this got me to 7500 RPM in 64 which allowed me to blow up things much faster!!!

All in all, while a few people were able to get the "over the counter parts", Chevy made it very hard to get. Many times we were told they were out of production, get over it. However, if you persevered, pestered them, go over the local guys heads to Michigan you could get a few pieces. Bernie Krauss was one of the best guys with Chevy in Detroit, if you could get to him you could get your parts. I have a Z-11 intake with a casting date of 1965, so I know they made a few parts through then.

Bottom line Chevy top execs decided to kill racing and threatened everyone that supported it, so it made it easier to just not fill orders as time progressed. They agreed to fill some orders based on who you were and that was about it. I used Haydens info to get parts for several years, but Chevy knew guys like Hayden and others had to switch to other brands to race so the pressure for replacement parts was not going to be great going forward. Many others will have an idea about how many heads etc were made, but I would bet not many given as hard to get as they were. I know I had mine welded so many times they looked like welding school rejects. Anyway thats what we did.
 
jim_ss409

jim_ss409

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Supporting Member 5
Thanks for all that info guys. :deal
It sounds like GM didn't really want to sell much Z11 stuff. :(

I just looked up an article in the Chevy 348 and 409 book. It's a collection of articles that I think appeared in Hot Rod magazine.
In the "Modifying the 348 and 409" article they mention the changes made in 62 with the transition to the 690 style large port heads and they go on to say...

"This head has now been superseded by a still more upswept port, higher compression type which will be standard on 1963 models."

The article goes on to describe the separate valley cover etc. and there are pictures of the Z11 style parts.
So, it looks like either Hot Rod made a mistake when they reported this, or maybe Chevrolet changed their mind about making the Z11 style heads the standard high performance head for 63.

Either way, it's too bad that the Z11 style engines didn't make it into regular production as the standard high performance engine for 63.
I think that would have made the legendary 409 even more legendary.

Then again, I can see where GM wouldn't want that much engine under the hoods of cars with factory warranty.
 
Blk61409

Blk61409

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Supporting Member 9
Thank you.
I was just reflecting on what Z-11 cars there were in Ft Worth and Dallas and I kind of shocked myself when I remembered them. In Dallas of course was Buddy Taylor(Barry's dad) and he got his own parts with his own car through Friendly Chevrolet.

On the Ft Worth side we had Frank Sanders' 62 car owned by Ken Hare with the Z-11 top half and aluminum front end, Dick Harrells 63 Z-11 car, Lloyd Barrow was the third owner then Gene Brown fourth owner, then Hayden's 63 Z-11 car owned by Clyde McKnight. Then we had the 62 Jim Jones owned, it had an aluminum front end and 409 with Z-11 top end. I don't remember whose car that was, but Buddy help me here, I think it might have be your dads and or Dan Deans. In addition to these cars there were a few of us that had used heads and parts we traded around, borrowed from each other, etc. I had sets from Dick Harrell, Frank Sanders, Hubert Platt and my own. You could not miss Hubert's, he had his name stamped in them. All of these cars original owners received extra sets of all the breakables and that is how I picked up most of my hard parts. Hayden had no idea how many cars he supported after they went to the second, third or fourth owners in the Ft Worth area. That's why I mentioned what I did at the convention. I supplied all of these guys with their parts.
Looking back I had no idea how lucky we were. There were 3 Z-11 cars and 2 of the rare 62's with aluminum front ends.

I forgot to share I worked at Ernest Allen Chevrolet in Ft Worth during this wonderful era!!! A great time to be racing!!!
 
Dewman

Dewman

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Supporting Member 1
It is truly amazing that Chev decide to pull out of the racing scene while every one else kept plugging away.
Click to expand...

I probably should know this by now.............But, why did the Chevy exec's pull out of racing? Are there any facts concerning the issue or is it only hear-say about the decision?
 
G

Gerry

 
Supporting Member 1
Another story about Z-11 parts purchasing. In Aug. 1964 we(my brother and I) cracked a cylinder
head on the Z-11 we purchased from Bill Connell. Unknowing to us, we went to the local Chevy
dealer in Dearborn, H. R. Marsh, to order another set of cyl. heads. We were told they were not
available unless the original vehicle owner sent a letter to the parts manager at H.R.Marsh
indicating that the engine from his car had been sold to us. We contacted Bill Connell and he
agreed to the letter. Several weeks later we had a new set of Z-11 heads. I don't recall the exact
price but I think they were a little over $100.00 each.
 
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