I've been lookin' for several hours for the picture of the duck that ruined my photo op of my L88 with Zora and Larry Shinoda. (see the judging standards discussion)
I haven't found the duck yet, but ran across this picture of the Vega that was responsible for me buying my '67 L71 Coupe.
In about 1987 or so I was drivin' on a major road and saw a Vega wagon with big tires & a for sale sign. The thing that caught my eye was the "powered by 427" lettered on the front fender. I whipped in the car lot and had a look. It was obviously a BB Chevy, but the pad was obscured by a remote fuel filter and the back of the block was jambed so hard against the firewall it was impossible to see the casting number. Only thing I could see was the large plugs above the oil pump showing it to be a 4 bolt block. He wanted to sell it for cheap, so I bought it on the spot and had it towed to my shop. When I removed the fuel filter from the front, the block was stamped with a JE, which needless to say was the surprise of my life. At the time I had a neighbor who was in law enforcement at the Federal level, so not knowing whether the engine came from a coupe or a convertible, I made up both prefixes and he ran a search through the system. The car showed up in the records about 3 hrs away. I called the lady who's name the car was registered in and asked if she owned a '67 Corvette. She replied that she did, but in response to the next question, replied that it wasn't for sale. I told her that I had the original engine and would be interested in the car if that ever changed. In a few minutes, I got a call from a guy saying he was her friend and an NCRS member and he wanted to know if I wanted to sell the engine. I didn't, and the calls went back and forth for probably a year and a half or longer. Finally he called one day and asked if I still had the engine and if I'd changed my mind about selling it. I told him I still wanted to keep it, and he asked if I wanted to buy the car. He informed me that the car was in the possession of a dealer in Charleston, where it had been since before my initial contact. Why the owner answered that she owned the car when I first called has always been a mystery. I called the dealer and inquired about the car. He was aware I had the engine and was anticipating the call. He gave a fairly un-flattering description of the car and based on that I thought his asking price was too high, and told him I'd pass. Months later, maybe 6 or 8 or longer, I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about the car. I called the guy the next morning and asked if he still had the car, and made arrangements to drive and look that same day. The car was in my opinion better than the previous description, and I thought deserving of the original engine. The weird part was, it was only a few days later that Hurricane Hugo ravaged Charleston and the dealer's building was flattened. I think I was told that he had over 20 cars inside that were destroyed or seriously damaged. I've never figured out what triggered the mid night obsession to go and look at the car immediately, but whatever it was likely saved it from being badly hurt. The car still had the original heads, manifolds, etc, but for some reason had a '68 CE 435 block assembly. I'd assume that it was a warranty replacement shortblock. It still has the laquer that it was repainted with sometime prior to my buying it, and the dealer said it'd been painted about 10 years prior if I remember right. We did pull the chassis and do it when the original engine was reunited with it, so except for the paint, it's a pretty good ole' car with a KNOWN ORIGINAL drivetrain.
EDIT: Sorry the picture is so big. If I can figure out how to downsize it I'll repost.
I haven't found the duck yet, but ran across this picture of the Vega that was responsible for me buying my '67 L71 Coupe.
In about 1987 or so I was drivin' on a major road and saw a Vega wagon with big tires & a for sale sign. The thing that caught my eye was the "powered by 427" lettered on the front fender. I whipped in the car lot and had a look. It was obviously a BB Chevy, but the pad was obscured by a remote fuel filter and the back of the block was jambed so hard against the firewall it was impossible to see the casting number. Only thing I could see was the large plugs above the oil pump showing it to be a 4 bolt block. He wanted to sell it for cheap, so I bought it on the spot and had it towed to my shop. When I removed the fuel filter from the front, the block was stamped with a JE, which needless to say was the surprise of my life. At the time I had a neighbor who was in law enforcement at the Federal level, so not knowing whether the engine came from a coupe or a convertible, I made up both prefixes and he ran a search through the system. The car showed up in the records about 3 hrs away. I called the lady who's name the car was registered in and asked if she owned a '67 Corvette. She replied that she did, but in response to the next question, replied that it wasn't for sale. I told her that I had the original engine and would be interested in the car if that ever changed. In a few minutes, I got a call from a guy saying he was her friend and an NCRS member and he wanted to know if I wanted to sell the engine. I didn't, and the calls went back and forth for probably a year and a half or longer. Finally he called one day and asked if I still had the engine and if I'd changed my mind about selling it. I told him I still wanted to keep it, and he asked if I wanted to buy the car. He informed me that the car was in the possession of a dealer in Charleston, where it had been since before my initial contact. Why the owner answered that she owned the car when I first called has always been a mystery. I called the dealer and inquired about the car. He was aware I had the engine and was anticipating the call. He gave a fairly un-flattering description of the car and based on that I thought his asking price was too high, and told him I'd pass. Months later, maybe 6 or 8 or longer, I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about the car. I called the guy the next morning and asked if he still had the car, and made arrangements to drive and look that same day. The car was in my opinion better than the previous description, and I thought deserving of the original engine. The weird part was, it was only a few days later that Hurricane Hugo ravaged Charleston and the dealer's building was flattened. I think I was told that he had over 20 cars inside that were destroyed or seriously damaged. I've never figured out what triggered the mid night obsession to go and look at the car immediately, but whatever it was likely saved it from being badly hurt. The car still had the original heads, manifolds, etc, but for some reason had a '68 CE 435 block assembly. I'd assume that it was a warranty replacement shortblock. It still has the laquer that it was repainted with sometime prior to my buying it, and the dealer said it'd been painted about 10 years prior if I remember right. We did pull the chassis and do it when the original engine was reunited with it, so except for the paint, it's a pretty good ole' car with a KNOWN ORIGINAL drivetrain.
EDIT: Sorry the picture is so big. If I can figure out how to downsize it I'll repost.
Then on top of that the storm seriously damaged his building a short time later. I think it goes without saying that 1989 probably wasn't his best year. He seemed like an honest guy and the car was not over described or over sold.
Did you scrap it after pulling the 435 hp engine out of it?
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