409Kid
Well Known Member
Okay guys you’ve been asking so here’ s the story. You all know I’ve been blowing up this site asking questions and being rather secretive. I was trying to keep a lid on what was happening behind the scenes to protect my interests. I have now purchased most of what remains of a Monaco Blue Impala Z-11
I have long known about this car as I was present when the PO purchased the complete running car in the early 1980’s for $1200. It was actually a couple of miles away from where I lived, buried in a back yard and knee deep in tall grass along with an early Corvette. At that time there was no internet, little to no information about Z-11s in general and no known people to contact. The car was missing several key pieces and the PO wasn’t convinced in his mind that the car was a true Z-11. He made a decision to pull all the Z-11 parts, running gear and scrapped the rest with the remains destined to go on a Biscayne. The top end was eventually installed with the cowl induction but some issue arose and the parts were removed.
From what I have found out about the car thus far is at some point in its early life the QM short block grenaded. How bad, I don’t know but the bottom end had subsequently been replaced with a 425 horse. No idea if any of the short block survives today. Also, at some time in the cars life as another story goes… the car was being worked on in a driveway. The hood was placed in front of the car. The parking brake wasn’t set properly and the car rolled away crushing the hood. The hood was scrapped. Other items missing were/are the fan shroud, hood latch plate and the grill braces.
Another close friend of mine and I had been speculating that this car might have been the Porter Chevrolet Z-11. But my basic research on this site potentially had it being the Porter, Bader or Munson Chevrolet Z-11s based on the registry information available as all were Monaco Blue, from CA and basically unaccounted for.
Nothing is known about the previous previous owner (PPO) at this time.
The PPPO is also a friend of mine and I contacted him last night to pick his brain about what time frame he owned and what he remembered about the car. I believe he owned the car sometime nearing the late ‘60s to early ‘70s. I’ll get a better idea in a couple of days. He had mentioned that when he owned the car he had bought an extra set of heads, a 4bbl intake, and a dual quad cowl air cleaner setup to replace the missing cowl induction from Doug(?) Hughes in AZ probably in the early ‘70s. So at that point only the hood, fan shroud, latch plate and short block were missing. He later sold the spare top end pieces. He then said he has a picture of the car showing the front missing some of the headlights but it does shows the CA license plate. (I have some one looking into whether the PO might still have it ). In addition the PPPO said he found a tin can in the car containing some cards. I knew the car was from SoCal and I started naming the potential dealerships and he thought Bader was the one. He would look for the pic and the tin can as he had saved them all these years.
I talked with him again yesterday. One of the cards is for Bayer Racing in El Monte Ca along with phone #s and addresses along with papers with more names and numbers. I plan to travel and meet with him early this weekend and continue our conversation about his time owning the car. So at this point we are nearly 100% certain that this is what remains of the Bader Chevrolet car.
The person he bought the car from is unknown at the moment. We may find the answer in the tin can. It is known however that the PPPPO had purchased it from a Southern Ca speed shop.
And that’s what we know so far. Sadly, Jack Bayer died several years ago. I’m hoping I can find some family members, old friends, business partners that might have additional information, possibly artifacts, pics, logs, correspondence etc that I can add to my research.
I have long known about this car as I was present when the PO purchased the complete running car in the early 1980’s for $1200. It was actually a couple of miles away from where I lived, buried in a back yard and knee deep in tall grass along with an early Corvette. At that time there was no internet, little to no information about Z-11s in general and no known people to contact. The car was missing several key pieces and the PO wasn’t convinced in his mind that the car was a true Z-11. He made a decision to pull all the Z-11 parts, running gear and scrapped the rest with the remains destined to go on a Biscayne. The top end was eventually installed with the cowl induction but some issue arose and the parts were removed.
From what I have found out about the car thus far is at some point in its early life the QM short block grenaded. How bad, I don’t know but the bottom end had subsequently been replaced with a 425 horse. No idea if any of the short block survives today. Also, at some time in the cars life as another story goes… the car was being worked on in a driveway. The hood was placed in front of the car. The parking brake wasn’t set properly and the car rolled away crushing the hood. The hood was scrapped. Other items missing were/are the fan shroud, hood latch plate and the grill braces.
Another close friend of mine and I had been speculating that this car might have been the Porter Chevrolet Z-11. But my basic research on this site potentially had it being the Porter, Bader or Munson Chevrolet Z-11s based on the registry information available as all were Monaco Blue, from CA and basically unaccounted for.
Nothing is known about the previous previous owner (PPO) at this time.
The PPPO is also a friend of mine and I contacted him last night to pick his brain about what time frame he owned and what he remembered about the car. I believe he owned the car sometime nearing the late ‘60s to early ‘70s. I’ll get a better idea in a couple of days. He had mentioned that when he owned the car he had bought an extra set of heads, a 4bbl intake, and a dual quad cowl air cleaner setup to replace the missing cowl induction from Doug(?) Hughes in AZ probably in the early ‘70s. So at that point only the hood, fan shroud, latch plate and short block were missing. He later sold the spare top end pieces. He then said he has a picture of the car showing the front missing some of the headlights but it does shows the CA license plate. (I have some one looking into whether the PO might still have it ). In addition the PPPO said he found a tin can in the car containing some cards. I knew the car was from SoCal and I started naming the potential dealerships and he thought Bader was the one. He would look for the pic and the tin can as he had saved them all these years.
I talked with him again yesterday. One of the cards is for Bayer Racing in El Monte Ca along with phone #s and addresses along with papers with more names and numbers. I plan to travel and meet with him early this weekend and continue our conversation about his time owning the car. So at this point we are nearly 100% certain that this is what remains of the Bader Chevrolet car.
The person he bought the car from is unknown at the moment. We may find the answer in the tin can. It is known however that the PPPPO had purchased it from a Southern Ca speed shop.
And that’s what we know so far. Sadly, Jack Bayer died several years ago. I’m hoping I can find some family members, old friends, business partners that might have additional information, possibly artifacts, pics, logs, correspondence etc that I can add to my research.
Last edited:
