in the car business all of my life. I began with a Chevrolet dealer when the 63 Z-11 cars hit. I vividly remember whenever there was a high performance car that came in the dealership for any mechanical warranty work we had to call the Chevrolet Zone office for them to send out a guy to "inspect then deny".
I do remember in 64 we had a guy come in with a 64 SS 409-425hp that had dropped a valve, imagine that. He raised total hell when told no and when the Chevy rep showed up even more so. Anyway, they put a short block and heads on that car, I remember it s vividly because I got the warranty parts after Chevy approved the claim and let us "scrap the parts ourselves". Of course I rebuilt it and I blew it up again later, real good!!!
Back to the story....there was this guy that made an arrangement with a Chevy dealer to campaign a new Z-11 for him(some of you might know this story so feel free to chime in with better details). The racing contract called for the Chevy dealer to take care of parts and the driver would handle labor and race for the dealership. This was not uncommon, I have a copy of Frank Sanders contract for his Z-11 car and when I raced for the Chevy dealer he bought the cars and provided the parts and I supplied the labor, but I got to keep the weekly winnings.
Anyway, all went well , small parts here and there, gaskets, oil, etc, until finally bad things happened!!! The racer blew up the engine and went to the dealer, the dealer said this has to be under warranty and called Chevy and they did the "inspect and deny".
The dealer/racer took on Chevy for a warranty claim/lawsuit. Chevy stalled and motions flew and time passed. Finally Chevy decided to give him a new 427 engine. They both smiled because a lot of time had passed, the parts truck arrived along with the Chevy service rep. They opened the crate only to find a new 1966 427/425HP engine, not a Z-11. Remember, by now this was about 1 1/2 years later!!! Seems the attorneys and the bean counters agreed to a 427 High Performance engine settlement. So, what to do. Since the Z-11 was old technology they opted for the latest greatest 427!!! At that point the Chevy rep said "I have to destroy the old engine because it is a warranty claim!! Now, no one ask then had any idea what the value of ne of these would be today so they said of course.(wish I had been there). They go to the dealership shop where the Z-11 engine was stored and the Chevy rep began his work. First he took a Ball Peen hammer and could do no damage, then he asked for a heavier hammer.
Now, he gave up after what you see in the photos and gave the rest of the engine back to the dealership for their disposal. As I understand the engine went on to power another car and this is the ONLY FACTORY WARRANTY CLAIM paid by Chevrolet for the Z-11's.
Now the photos in the next message!
I do remember in 64 we had a guy come in with a 64 SS 409-425hp that had dropped a valve, imagine that. He raised total hell when told no and when the Chevy rep showed up even more so. Anyway, they put a short block and heads on that car, I remember it s vividly because I got the warranty parts after Chevy approved the claim and let us "scrap the parts ourselves". Of course I rebuilt it and I blew it up again later, real good!!!
Back to the story....there was this guy that made an arrangement with a Chevy dealer to campaign a new Z-11 for him(some of you might know this story so feel free to chime in with better details). The racing contract called for the Chevy dealer to take care of parts and the driver would handle labor and race for the dealership. This was not uncommon, I have a copy of Frank Sanders contract for his Z-11 car and when I raced for the Chevy dealer he bought the cars and provided the parts and I supplied the labor, but I got to keep the weekly winnings.
Anyway, all went well , small parts here and there, gaskets, oil, etc, until finally bad things happened!!! The racer blew up the engine and went to the dealer, the dealer said this has to be under warranty and called Chevy and they did the "inspect and deny".
The dealer/racer took on Chevy for a warranty claim/lawsuit. Chevy stalled and motions flew and time passed. Finally Chevy decided to give him a new 427 engine. They both smiled because a lot of time had passed, the parts truck arrived along with the Chevy service rep. They opened the crate only to find a new 1966 427/425HP engine, not a Z-11. Remember, by now this was about 1 1/2 years later!!! Seems the attorneys and the bean counters agreed to a 427 High Performance engine settlement. So, what to do. Since the Z-11 was old technology they opted for the latest greatest 427!!! At that point the Chevy rep said "I have to destroy the old engine because it is a warranty claim!! Now, no one ask then had any idea what the value of ne of these would be today so they said of course.(wish I had been there). They go to the dealership shop where the Z-11 engine was stored and the Chevy rep began his work. First he took a Ball Peen hammer and could do no damage, then he asked for a heavier hammer.
Now, he gave up after what you see in the photos and gave the rest of the engine back to the dealership for their disposal. As I understand the engine went on to power another car and this is the ONLY FACTORY WARRANTY CLAIM paid by Chevrolet for the Z-11's.
Now the photos in the next message!