The purported fate of '63 S100001 & S100002 Corvettes

[Rich G.]

Re: The purported fate of '63 S100001 & S100002 Corvettes

The link in post #1 has images of NCRS shipping report letters for six of the pilot jobs, sequence numbers 3, 11, 13, 15, 16, 20. Two are dated 2/11/18 and four dated 3/18/18, all signed by Roy Sinor.

Note that the report for 13 states "Retained by GM-Chevrolet". So maybe it was one of the show cars or used for testing or maybe it became a press car and then sold as a used car. Does the owner have any documented history on this car? The photos of #3 show that the emblem on the FI plenum cover is missing, which I believe is correct for the pilot cars with FI because not even pre-production versions of that emblem were available at the time.

I don't know much about the NCRS shipping program as I have never bought one. Does the car actually have to exist, and if so must the requester be the legal owner? I don't know.

Maybe Roy can chime in and explain, both my questions and the two same dates on the above six referenced NCRS shipping reports.

It would be interesting to know how many of the pilot cars still exist and whatever documented history exists for them after they rolled off the St. Louis 1963 Corvette pilot line.

Duke

The owner says 13 was at the LA Auto Show. He bought it years ago from an individual in Rochester, NY. How it got there is not documented as far as I know. One could guess it had to do with the fuel injection?

Rich

[Duke W.]

Re: The purported fate of '63 S100001 & S100002 Corvettes

Could these be the two on the cover of R&T back then and other mags???

I'm not sure if those were real driveable cars. Note that the HVAC grilles are integral with the fiberglass. I recall that the seats look like '64 types and the tachs had a different face.

I think there might have been some other anomalies, but I haven't seen those photos for years. They may have been some kind of body bucks, clay models, or hand built prototypes, but GM was great at staging photos, and they must have been taken before the pilot build.

Duke

[Steven B.]

Re: The purported fate of '63 S100001 & S100002 Corvettes

I'm not sure if those were read driveable cars. Note that the HVAC grilles are integral with the fiberglass. I recall that the seats looks like '64 types and the tachs had a different face.

I think there might have been some other anomalies, but I haven't seen those photos for years. They may have been some kind of body buck or even clay models, but GM was great at staging photos, and they must have been taken before the pilot build

Duke

I have to dig my magazines out. R&T had an article with a silver coupe and maroon convert on banking with Thompson driving one. I thought it odd at the time the cover convert was red and on the banking maroon---if I recall correctly. Right, there were anomalies on the cars.

[Mark F.]

Re: The purported fate of '63 S100001 & S100002 Corvettes

This is not from a Corvette (it's a '67 El Camino), but it is from the same site listed in Post #1.

I found this interesting because it apparently attests to the fact that GM Division(s?) and even model lines w/in the Chevy Division had different ways of identifying (or not) Pilot or Pre-Production cars.

In this case for VIN Z100001, PILOT is clearly stamped in the Trim Plate.

http://www.pilotcarregistry.com/1967-el-camino.html

67 El Camino PILOT Trim Plate.jpg

[Owen L.]

Re: The purported fate of '63 S100001 & S100002 Corvettes

Maybe a commonly known answer... Were pilot cars assigned a VIN in the same format as the regular production cars?

[Duke W.]

Re: The purported fate of '63 S100001 & S100002 Corvettes

As you can see in this thread the answer is yes in the case of '63 Corvettes. I assume that this is the case for other Chevrolet models of the era, and other GM makes, too, but nowadays it may not be the case. I recall that there were several 1983 Corvettes built, but they have a character in the VIN that makes them illegal to sell to the public or license for road use due to not being fully certified to DOT and EPA requirements of the time.

Those two federal bureaucracies did not exist in 1963.

Duke

[James G.]

Re: The purported fate of '63 S100001 & S100002 Corvettes

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/c1-and-c2-corvettes/4503364-enthusiasts-rare-car-registry-a-never-ending-work-in-progress-thread-resurrection-ok.html

This is a thread I am subcribed to based mainly due to the race car aspect of the research. - however it begins with the pilot/early 63's and is updated when new information is brought to light-
The aspect you may find of interest is: early cars listing coupe conv and colors including photos of vin tags and the cars when they were available (first vin tag photo is of 30867S100003)
IT continues for the early Z06's (early enough to have been raced)-the 396 J56 cars '66 427 M22 J56 cars the '67 L88's L89's.

[Valeria H.]

Re: The purported fate of '63 S100001 & S100002 Corvettes

After some research I am coming up with no new clues about the 001 & 002 cars of '63. My neighbor Doug Dinunzio traced Ted Melson's whereabouts back to 1981 where he was located in Plymouth, MI. I will attempt to contact the Plymouth Police Department for possible 1963 records. I know it is a long shot. I'll report my findings. Any luck with locating Larry Galloway?