ZL-1 #1 Mecum May 15 - 17

[jbsides]

#1 at Mecum Spring

[DW31S]

I have pics of that car from Super Chevy 1990. Bill Porterfield
owned it then and on the way to Indy had a trailer fire and the car was pretty heavily damaged. I kinda knew him at the time and helped him get the car out of the trailer and assess the damage. We got the hood off the car and fixed a couple of things and DID get it running. He drove it around the pits a little, but for safety's sake did not race it then. His arm was burned, but he was hurt more emotionally than physically. I think Bill Porterfield (a retired Oldsmobile engineer) deserves a whole lot of credit for bringing to light not only the car here, but the Camaro ZL-1 in general. At that time, around the late '80s into the early '90s those "Aluminus Raticus" as he used to call them were not as widely known as they are now.
I'm curious to see what this car sells for. It has had a long and storied career; not only as the very first ZL-1, but as a many-time record holder in several classes and sanctioning bodies.

[William]

Bill Porterfield IS the reason we know the ZL-1 Camaro VINs.

The story was recounted in John Hoopers 1969 Camaro book. Bill bought what he believed was the #3 ZL-1 Camaro March 1981. He had contacts at Chevrolet and was able to speak with Vince Piggins. The NHRA required Chevrolet to establish a production run of at least 50 cars and after some digging Vince was able to find the file with the VINs. A few months later Super Chevy magazine printed the list with a typo or two.

Vince Piggins passed away in 1985 and I'm sure all of the other documentation in his posession reverted to Chevrolet and was destroyed. Timing is everything.

Bill is the unofficial Gibb Chev historian and is the source for dealer paperwork for the 50 Gibb ZL-1s.

[olredalert]

----Always had fun at the track when Bill was there. I was lucky at Milan as he broke and I won, and then lucky again at Quaker City as he broke before we had a chance to run. As you can imagine NO.1 was a bit temperamental. He was contracted to run Ronnie Sox (RIP) in Dale Smiths (RIP) beautiful 68 Sox and Martin Cuda and broke in testing. The promoter came to me to stand in for Bill, but I was at least a second off Ronnies best time. We settled at him giving me 3/4 of a second but Ronnie got impatient and stood the Cuda on the bumper. When he came down he holed the oil pan. It didnt seem to matter as he tried to chase me down anyway pissing oil the whole way, but missed by a car and a half. Never thought Id ever race Ronnie much less beat him no matter the circumstance, so I was a happy camper that day! Bill P was fearless with NO.1 though and would stand that thing on the casters. Those old style wheelie bars scared me every time I watched him. The car looked like a pogo stick out of the hole. Sorry for running on, but the mention of Bills name brought back some very good memories......Bill S

[Xplantdad]

Cool stuff Bill!

[Kim_Howie]

William, maybe you need to ask the Gibb family as to where the ZL-1 records came from. Also ask them about the 68 COPO nova records. The winter of 1989 I stopped at Fred Gibbs house.
He and Helen invited me into there home, a complete stranger.
They talked with me over two hours about the cars. I tolded Fred I think I knew of a 68 Gibb nova. Fred told me he didn't have the records but he gave them to Bill Portfield. The next day I was called by Bill and he finally told me it was one of the cars & he wanted to know what my plans were. I bought the car in 1989 and that car is owned by Annie Hartweg. Bill had never found the records Fred had them all the time. Also when the Novas records were released. I think the article states they were from Helen Gibb. Please check me facts out with the gibb Family.
Kim Howie

[William]

Every factory document we have for ZL-1 #4 came from Porterfield. Within the last year he contacted me about acquiring the original Shippers' copy and a few other docs. He recently stated to me in an email that he still has docs for over 40 of the Gibb ZL-1s. All the docs for the recently sold #9 ZL-1 came from him. I know nothing about the COPO Novas.

I never had any contact with Fred Gibb or his family. When Doug Martz owned #4 he visited the Gibb family. As a former Chevrolet dealer he was also warmly received. We had a repro Shippers' Copy for #4 which he graciously inscribed "Thank You Fred Gibb 2-4-89." Later in the year, at the SC-Indy ZL-1 reunion, Porterfield handed me a bankers' box full of Gibb Chevrolet paperwork. There can be no question he was/is in possession of the records.

#4 was one of the ZL-1s returned to Norwood, re-invoiced to Hauser Chevrolet Bethlehem PA with #43. They couldn't sell it either and had Sabatine's Speed Shop race it for the 1970 NHRA season. Sabatine returned it with a 402 and Hauser put it on the used car lot April 1971 for $2695.

I know all this because Dan Palchanes spent hours on the phone and in the library copying microfiche newspaper classifieds. He also acquired vintage racing photos of the car and an NOS Hauser dealer emblem. He put us in contact with the guy who bought it used from Hauser. He gave us all of this information; never asked for a penny.

There are few people in the hobby like Dan.

[Kim_Howie]

I think you have missed my point I am saying the records came from the Gibb Family not Piggins.

[Charley Lillard]

My understanding is the ZL1 list came from Piggins also. Wouldn't Fred have only had a list of cars he ordered ?

[sYc]

I thought the majority of the numbers came from Gibb, but when BP looked for ZL-1 #3 (the Berger car) is was not on the list, and that is when BP contacted VP, who located paperwork for the non Gibb cars.