Great find and a Great project Pat. I'm looking forward to seeing the car finished.
Z-11 restoration
- Thread starter Blk61409
- Start date
What happens to this one......
11.14 @ 126.5 !!!! That's not just FAST for back then, it's fast for now.
What's left of Bob Tucker's Z-11 is in Ohio where the Colbert car came from. Heard it's pretty bad rust wise (roof and cowl gone) and cannot be restored
. Tucker sold the car to Bill Connell who himself had a Monaco blue Z-11 (Wallace Chevrolet, Albany GA) prepared by Don Nicholson out of Nalley Chev. Bill Connell later traded the Tucker Z-11 to John Thorne for a new T-bird from what I heard. Thorne later sold the car to Larry Hollafield who then sold it later to the owner in Ohio where it's been ever since (out in the elements since the late '60's early '70's). Tucker's Z-11 was the lowest VIN# for Z-11's with a F160XXX (don't know the rest). From what I've been told years ago, Bob Tucker wanted to order a gold '62 Impala SS 409 with the aluminum front end and over the counter Z-11 heads and manifold. It was August of '62 and was too late to place an order at Jim Rathman Chevrolet in Melbourne FL. He heard about the RPO Z-11 option for '63 and that's what he ordered. He kept that car meticulous.
Last edited:
Thank you......cool pic......sad ending
What's left of Bob Tucker's Z-11 is in Ohio where the Colbert car came from. Heard it's pretty bad rust wise (roof and cowl gone) and cannot be restored
View attachment 34052
Thanks, I don't know where I put my Z-11 book Rusty Symmes gave me years back that has the VIN # of Strickler/Jenkins Z-11. I can call Don also to find out. All I can say when I heard about serial# of the Tucker car I was shocked!!! Most of the Z-11's VIN's were in the F166XXX to 170XXX range. My home town Seattle Alan Green Z-11 was a F181XXX. Seems like the Z-11's delivered to California were railed from Flint in one shipment because all the ones I saw VIN info on were in the F167XXX and F168XXX interval. Brian Batchelders Z-11 was the last Z-11 assembled in the end of Feb 1963 beind in the F220XXX I think/
Per capita California got the largest shipment of new 1963 Z-11 Chevy's which was 11 there and North Carolina coming in second with 6 being sold new there.
Brian Batchelder's Z-11 in 1969 , originally ember red black interior car, still exists in AZ unrestored.
Per capita California got the largest shipment of new 1963 Z-11 Chevy's which was 11 there and North Carolina coming in second with 6 being sold new there.
Brian Batchelder's Z-11 in 1969 , originally ember red black interior car, still exists in AZ unrestored.
So what exactly is the claim on the strickler/jenkins car......it's the 1st delivered,do they attach #ers in random order from 57 or 25 or so tags.......reportedly they were built in or delivered in two groups.....??????
I believe at the time the "Old Reliable IV" was found , it was the earliest VIN# car found until Tucker's car was unearthed within last year. As I mentioned above Tucker made his order of his '63 in August of '62 or shortly there after when he found out through Harold Laws Sr @ Jim Rathman Chevrolet in Melbourne the '62's production ceased for re tooling on the '63's. As the aluminum nose '62 SS Impala coupes, all the '63 Z-11's were assembled in Flint MI until mid Feb 1963.
Raj,
Rusty listed that car's VIN as F224825 and the interior as red. now, I know he makes a statement early on that he knows all the information in the booklet isn't accurate. Do you know the interior was black?
Thanks,
Dick
I saw a color photo of Brian's car on a trailer taken shortly after he purchased it and could swear the interior was black, though could of been the reflection from the sun through the glass. I believe Brian still runs a machine shop in the Portland ME area and is a nice person to talk to from what I heard. he replaced the Z-11 in 1968 with a new '68 L72 Biscayne 2-door sedan from what I heard as well.
It's going to be interesting watching this car go though it's restoration. It was a local car and I'm trying to dig any history on it, with not much luck.
For anyone that has boxes of old Super Chevy mags. lying around (like I do) There's a good article on Dave Colbert in the October 1985 issue. His
SS/GTA monte carlo is on the cover and the article mentions Dave racing a black 62 409 biscayne at Indy in 62 and campaigning a potent Z-11 427 Impala.
Tom G.
For anyone that has boxes of old Super Chevy mags. lying around (like I do) There's a good article on Dave Colbert in the October 1985 issue. His
SS/GTA monte carlo is on the cover and the article mentions Dave racing a black 62 409 biscayne at Indy in 62 and campaigning a potent Z-11 427 Impala.
Tom G.
Surprisingly there were only 3 Z-11 Chevy's sold new in NY in 1963:
-Dave Colbert as you already know Glenn Campbell Chevrolet Buffalo NY
-Billy Lagana, Oak Hills Chevrolet, Eastchester NY (restored)
-Don Kimball, Salinas Chevrolet, Syracuse NY (nose still exists though rest of the body disappeared in North Las Vegas in 1977 after the owner neglected to pay storage fees)
Not sure who owns the Billy Lagana car today, I remember Floyd Garrett had it in his collection along with Old Reliable IV and the black Z-11 (VP Hartgrove car).
The Don Kimball front end (Bonanza II) was owned by Mike Martin who owned the grey ghost Z-11 (originally Clippinger Chevrolet car from Covina CA) and later sold it to well known 409 connoisseur in the Midwest and also had the front end of the John Hagen Z-11 also that ended up on the black Z-33 mystery motor 427 Biscayne race car.
Kimball piloting Bonanza II Z-11 at the '63 US nationals outrunning the Tasca '63 Ford T-Bolt prototype in A/FX. Not sure who took out Kimball after this run? Strickler?
The Don Kimball front end (Bonanza II) was owned by Mike Martin who owned the grey ghost Z-11 (originally Clippinger Chevrolet car from Covina CA) and later sold it to well known 409 connoisseur in the Midwest and also had the front end of the John Hagen Z-11 also that ended up on the black Z-33 mystery motor 427 Biscayne race car.
Kimball piloting Bonanza II Z-11 at the '63 US nationals outrunning the Tasca '63 Ford T-Bolt prototype in A/FX. Not sure who took out Kimball after this run? Strickler?
