Z-11 Front End & Interior Question

[troublemaker427]

I notice when reading about many current day Z-11 restorations the text will say front end sheet metal from a car other than what has been restored. Is this known because each set of sheet metal is identified separately from one another by a unique number or is it just from memory and word of mouth? I've wondered if the VIN is on the sheet metal somewhere?

Also was anything unique about a Z-11's interior? Did they all have carpet as opposed to a rubber mat?

Thanks

 

[Z-11Guy]

Jody, I believe there was a VIN #embossed on the inner front fender lip where it meets the hood kind of like the Mustangs. The interior was standard Impala sport coupe, with full carpeting, deadener , and seen a few with factory heaters (to draw heat from the motor) though had radio delete. I have seen some pics of Huston Platt's first Dixie Twister before he wrecked it mid 1963 (AA engineering car NOT the Z-11 he bought from Sox & Martin in late '63) with no carpeting at Concord dragstrip early 1963 though looks like he removed it.

 

[troublemaker427]

Thanks Raj. I thought there had to be some identifying marks on the front ends. It's also amazing to me Chevrolet didn't put more effort into taking weight out of the interior. My guess is they met minimum weight with the normal interior? Thanks again.

 

[Phil Reed]

Raj and Jody...................no VIN on the fenders. But there was a number stamp on the inner edge on the top. I believe they were numbered in pairs. I'm posting pictures below of a pair of Z-11 fenders I bought about 3 years ago. I was hoping they might be the same number. They
weren't. As I was driving to pick them up............I decided to try to find out which car they came off and then paint each fender with that color and lettering. But could not find any correlation to the numbers to any of the cars. I wanted to use them for Wall Art!!! Thought that would be cool. They are wall art now but just not for me. I saw a set of 62 aluminum fenders and they were both stamped 8. Hope this helps.

 

[wrench]

Wall art? Trade you an NOS dual 4 bbl air cleaner straight across!

BTW, the seller said that odd looking part was in the box. ?

 

[63 dream'n]

Raj and Jody...................no VIN on the fenders. But there was a number stamp on the inner edge on the top. I believe they were numbered in pairs. I'm posting pictures below of a pair of Z-11 fenders I bought about 3 years ago. I was hoping they might be the same number. They View attachment 34205 View attachment 34206 View attachment 34207
weren't. As I was driving to pick them up............I decided to try to find out which car they came off and then paint each fender with that color and lettering. But could not find any correlation to the numbers to any of the cars. I wanted to use them for Wall Art!!! Thought that would be cool. They are wall art now but just not for me. I saw a set of 62 aluminum fenders and they were both stamped 8. Hope this helps.

Thanks for sharing that Phil,those fenders or anything Z-11 are almost mythical to anyone who grew up reading about them in superchevy....when I saw Old Reliable at Indy in the show car area in the 90's......that "was" the car show,I probably sat and oogled in that one spot for an hour.......anywho, thanks

 

[Blk61409]

Here is aome additional info that might be of interest.
I have 2 sets of 63 Z-11 front ends and a 62. I am going to post the 62 first. It is stamped 27 on both fenders, however the 2 and the 7 are stamped separately. I had an idea they meant 1962 for the 2 and number 7 for the fenders, who really knows. Also, the numbers are stamped on the upper fender rail close to the hood hinge.
"
Passenger side fender, numbered as you see.


Drivers side.

Here is the number of one fender for the Z-11 car. Interesting we have only found a number on one of the fenders.
As you can see it is numbered 45 and is located on the top fender rail close to the grille at the second mounting hole.



The second set are shown below. The left fender is numbered 52 and the right is 44. Note the different font size for the two 4's.





There really appears to be no specifics regarding the numbering of the fenders. Somewhere I have a photo of a fender with the exact same number as one I have and its on a current car. Go figure.
Hope this helps. Pat

 

[63 dream'n]

Thank you Pat for sharing........!!!!

 

[63 dream'n]

Obviously it's not 44,or both 4s would be the same size,since they're on different planes,stamped 1@a time.seeing the 62s you think then the 63s would have a 3 prefix,so maybe the first digit is the month# like on build date.......would that have been fisher(body by)?????

 

[Z-11Guy]

Were the over the counter aluminum numbered the same as the fenders installed at the factory (Flint) ?

Wally Bell told me years ago when he replaced the front end of the Georgia shaker ('63 Z-11 he bought from Platt after a towing accident when he first bought it) the over the counter front end was thicker guage compared to the factory installed aluminum.

 

[Phil Reed]

PAT......
YOUR 52 MATCHES THE 52 I HAD!!!!!!!!!

 

[63 dream'n]

With the stamps proximity to the bolt hole ,helps hold fender,less chance of damage.....we're probably stamped after install on the 63s????

 

[RCampbell]

Pat....I have a "45" fender stamped in the same location. The passenger fender has no visible number...but we might have covered that in the body process.??? Russ

 

[Phil Reed]

With the stamps proximity to the bolt hole ,helps hold fender,less chance of damage.....we're probably stamped after install on the 63s????

I just don't think they were stamped after installation. Can't see any benefit from that as I doubt the numbers were tracked at that point. The aluminum is flimsy at best so I feel they were stamped on a bench or something like that after manufacture. We'll probably never know for sure.

 

[Blk61409]

Agreed, we never will know.

 

[Bub6le 2op]

Phil sell those fenders to me and you can have the fenders off my 62 for your wall art.................but I'm not joking how much

 

[wburge409@gmail.com]

I remember my aluminum front bumper had J.M.R. scratched in it. Never did figure out that one.

 

[Phil Reed]

Wild Bill!!!!!!!! Good to see you.

 

[1961BelAir427]

Wild Bill!!!!!!!! Good to see you.

 

[Blk61409]

Some tme ago I picked up an unusual part and I would like to see if anyone one has any info on it. I think I mentioned it before, but not sure.
Anyway, it's an aluminum dash for the 62 Chevy. The standard pot metal dash weighs about 15 lbs and the aluminum version weighs 5. It was made by AC Delco and it has a casting number of 3777830. I am posting several photos of the dash before and after Al installed it.

If anyone has any info please let me know. Since the Black 62 Bubbletop car has most everything else Chevrolet made that is lightweight, I figured it would be best on the car.


















We glass beaded the dash and clear coated it as well as the glove box door and the other dash parts, heater delete plate, radio delete plate, etc.
You can see there are quite a few imperfections in the aluminum, if it were to be painted a color considerable filling would have to take place to make it presentable.

Thoughts??