The Supercar Registry - Tim (NAPA68) and Tracey's beautiful 1966 Corvette 427-425hp

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- - Tim (NAPA68) and Tracey's beautiful 1966 Corvette 427-425hp (https://www.yenko.net/forum/showthread.php?t=169271)

Tim (NAPA68) and Tracey's beautiful 1966 Corvette 427-425hp

Bruce, here is the info on the car Tracey and I bought for our personal collection........

This car was ordered by Mr. John Hersh at H&K Motor Sales of Continental, Ohio on Jan 10th 1966. John was a mechanical engineering student at the time. It is also further documented that John made an order change on January 17th, 1966 to include the N11 off road exhaust on top of the options as listed below.....

-Code 978 Laguna Blue / STD Black vinyl interior
-L72 427 / 425hp
-M21 Close ratio 4 speed transmission
-G81 Positraction 3.08 ratio (more on this later)
-T01 Nylon blackwall 7.75-15 4 ply gold stripe tires
-F41 Special purpose front & rear suspension
-K66 Transistorized ignition (required)
-A02 Soft Ray tinted windshield
-P48 Special cast aluminum wheels (knock offs)
-N36 Telescopic steering shaft

The expected delivery date was to be about 6 weeks. After about 6 weeks, the car was not even scheduled yet. Through a contact at the General Motors Institute in Flint Michigan, it was discovered the 3.08 gear ratio with the L72 427 had been suspended. After subsequent communication with that contact at the GM institute, they convinced the Corvette production scheduler the primary reasoning behind ordering the 3.08 gear was for a strong touring vehicle (low RPM at highway speeds). Production was then scheduled and thus produced on April 8th, 1966 with the 3.08 gear set.

The car was driven regularly until 1976. After that, the car was pulled off of the road for "maintenance" and John's life began to take higher priorities (moving, new house, etc.) Road use was on and off though 1991. Between 1991 and 1992, more significant repairs and maintenance were carried out.

John retained all of the registration slips from 1966 through 1992 when the car received it's Ohio collector plates.

John sold the car in 2012 to Miller Motors in Findlay, Ohio. The car has had 2 private owners between 2012 and now 2021.

The car retains its original Laguna Blue lacquer paint, beautiful unhit body, it's original interior (with the exception of the headliner, and all original and undisturbed drivetrain. The chassis was removed in 2014 for a complete refurbishment by Corvette Repair of Valley Stream, NY. The frame was refinished, trailering arms properly rebuilt and restored, all suspension bushings replaced and control arms restored (with correct riveted ball joints) and the original drivetrain reinstalled.

Since then, the car was campaigned on the show circuit to receive the following awards....

Bloomington Gold / Gold Certified OEM Engine 2017
Bloomington Gold / Survivor Bronze Certified 2014

NCRS Top Flight (Chapter) 2014, 2017
MCACN Concours Gold Certified 2017
MCACN Triple Diamond Certification 2017
MCACN / David Burroughs Pick Award Winner 2017

The car is documented with the following.....
-Original dealer order form
-Original dealer invoice
-Photocopy of original window sticker
-Original Request to Change Order form (dated 1/17/66)

-Original Corvette Owners Card
-Original Keys with H&K Motors key fob

Thanks Tim!

Attachment 205039

Attachment 205040

Attachment 205041

Attachment 205042

Let me be the first to thank Tim for sharing his beautiful Corvette-and to apologize for the wait...and he will be putting up more pics.

I'll be happy to help if Tim needs the help!

Beautiful Vette!! I have a special appreciation for no-radio 427s. Look forward to more pix!!

Bill W

She's a beauty Tim. Glad you guys waited to find the right one. Congrats

Tim,

Awesome Corvette! The ‘66 BB hood is my pick for the coolest design.

I just love Factory Original lacquer paint.

The checking in that paint is a hallmark of a True Survivor.
You can’t duplicate that.

I too, dig that radio delete like Bill W has on his Survivor “7”.

Besides, who needs a radio when your driving a beast, or have a smart phone.

PS, what’s the mileage on this car?

Thanks for sharing !!!
Chris

Quote:

Originally Posted by 60sStuff (Post 1566667)

61,450 and counting. The original owner validated the mileage when he sold it in 2012 at 58,xxx. We've put a couple hundred on since we bought the car. The only thing that bothered me about the car was the chattering clutch. I got that changed out last week. I'll post plenty of detail pics tomorrow when I am back in the shop.

Tim

Quote:

Originally Posted by NorCam (Post 1566666)

She's a beauty Tim. Glad you guys waited to find the right one. Congrats

Within the last year, I had sold the 67 400hp car back to my Dad (he really missed the car). That was an impossible car to replace for a long list of reasons. I redid the injected 64 for myself and have been enjoying that car immensely. Then this one popped up. I do have a little bit of history with this particular 66.

Back in 2012, I was at Bloomington Gold (when Mecum still ran an auction there). I had seen this car and was quite intrigued by it. I liked the originality and the odd combination of options. I was bidding on the car, but it went farther than I felt comfortable with. Fast forward to a month ago and I see the car popped up for sale and proceeded to make the purchase.

After I drove this car, Tracey and I declared it as a keeper. Now I gotta quit fiddling with the 66 and get the 64 ready to sell.

Beautiful car Tim. Enjoy in good health!

----Of course I love it, as anything Laguna Blue would be. But, favorite Corvette options of mine over the years are, No.1 no radio, No.2 telescopic wheel, No.3 KO cars, No4 427/425 cars No5 off-road underneath exhaust cars. This beauty trips all my triggers! Have fun with this piece of history, Tim....Bill S

Tim, what a great car with cool options and a wonderful history. This car is all business, just the way I like them.

Very nice, one of my favorite colors.

Love the car - it has found the perfect caretakers. Congratulations.

I know this car well. It's a great car and real deal. Congrats Tim, looks great.

Best,
Dave

Another 60’s automobile (‘66 Corvette Sports Car) that has Survived 55 years.

Not only are the Survivors beautiful to look at and drive, but it’s exciting to document with Original paperwork and photos of factory cast numbers, stampings, tags, etc.

This is the part ^^^^ I appreciate on these cars.

Tim, thanks for those photos as they are going into another folder on my iPad.

Chris.

PS, You’ll need to revise your signature.

----The stamping pad on this car should be our go to picture to validate other pads!....Bill S

Can't wait for the drive video!

Really cool car, Tim. Congratulations!

Tim, Congrats on your car! A survivor vette. And a big block to boot! BBBenny

Some vintage pics. Check out those driving lights!!!!

https://i.imgur.com/I2IUNCxh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/W8xOBvah.jpg

Tim, as you know Dave and I know the previous owner well and have seen the car at local shows many times. Wonderful example. The air cleaner lid on this one came from my personal collection and fits the patina just perfectly. Continue to enjoy it!

Dan

Gorgeous Corvette Tim!! Congratulations on another bad azz ride!

Like any new car, they can be fickle til you figure them out or you straighten it out. So, after trying to tune on it........and being able to run the idle mixture screws all the way in......off to Eric we go!

And this is what he finds and explains in his Facebook post......

Vintage Musclecar Parts
Omcto9gbol8ear2 o9ie23 3at 5:42 PM ·
Holley 3247 For a '66 427/425 L72 Corvette for Tim Schuetz of Boulder Motorcar Company.
This one came in for a basic rebuild and to diagnose a few leaks and a fat idle condition. It had been previously rebuilt by another vendor and had several incorrect small peripheral components that had to be replaced.
I also noted that the metering surfaces on the main body were warped to Hell and back, especially the primary side. I figured that was likely the cause of the fat idle, but there was another gremlin lurking in the shadows that had to be sent packing.
The carb failed the first live test miserably. It was Pig fat rich and the mixture screws had little affect. I popped the front bowl and block off and checked the primary block for warp. It was out over. 020" in several places, and that's a bit too far out to get flat again.
I cheffed up another original primary block for it (this one checked out with only .007" warp) and buttoned it back up, and it ran like a Swiss watch on the follow-up live test with perfect mixture screw response. The only hang was a tiny hesitation off idle which happens intermittently on these '66 780 carbs that use an .021" primary discharge nozzle (squirter). A swap to a .025" nozzle cleans that right up.
This is why we live test whenever practical and possible.

The car has never run this good and suspect it has not in a looooong time. Thankfully we still have guys like Eric around for these old stoves!

That is great, Tim. I bet it would outrun those four headlights back in the day.

Wow, that is COOL. I did not know you got this. Nice score.

Top notch car! Have fun with that beauty !

I have a couple of updates n the 66. First of all, the copy of the window sticker was validated by the NCRS (by our very own Tim Gilmore).
https://i.imgur.com/Blrwp4wh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/IfUHCzph.jpg

Secondly, I received a couple of copies this week of the magazine feature on the 66 that was shot 2-3 years ago about the car that was finally released in the December 2021 issue for Corvette Magazine
https://i.imgur.com/X8OnaeRh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/W7lmpolh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/EjCGJLrh.jpg

And third of all and probably the most exciting part for me, is I have located the original owner. John is alive and well in Ohio. We spoke for about 15 minutes yesterday and have to time sketched out today to talk.

Finding the original owner is the jackpot of all jackpots.

Ryan W31

Awesome car and story... congrats Tim.

Well done - congratulations.

I had a delightful conversation with Mr. John Hersch today. Quite the character I must say! I think we both were shocked with how long we spoke. He also added, he was surprised what our conversation sparked in terms of his memories about the car. He spoke of how he arrived at ordering the Corvette.....

As mentioned earlier in the thread, John was a General Motors engineering student. His interest in sports cars (rally racing in particular) was the byproduct of an experience with a TR6 Triumph and an Austin Healey 3000 he owned. John also mentioned he had contemplated the purchase of a Jaguar E Type or a 66 Corvair (:eek2:) versus the Corvette. He chose the Corvette for 2 reasons. First, the dealer network was much stronger with a General Motors car. Secondly, his Father worked for a bank that did quite a bit of the financing for H&K Motors. Thus, John received a sizeable discount on the Corvette (to the tune of about 20%).

John recanted in addition to the struggle of getting the car produced with the 3.08 gear, he initially ordered the car with an M22 (as opposed to the M21 he later chose). John knew he did not want a radio in the car. He also later decided he did not want to run the risk of listening to a possibly loud racing transmission. On the subject of the 3.08 gears, John was of the opinion GM discontinued the availability of the L72 / 3.08 combination due to the high speed capabilities that car would have. With the aerodynamic limitations of the Corvette and then current tire technology, the combination could prove to be a huge liability for GM. John had to use a contact at the GM Institute in order to convince the production scheduler that John was interested in strong touring car with minimal RPM. Ironically, John did tell me a story when he once.........buried the 160mph speedo. He went on to say the amount of time at that speed was short due to not only concern over the tires, but the car was damn near out of control!! John mentioned (and had documented) he twice broke a valve spring under warranty. He was running the engine right out to 6500 RPM redline. Later he read in Corvette News that the team Corvettes were limiting RPM to 5500 at Daytona, to extend engine life. John said he never broke a valve spring for 30,000 miles after he applied the same disciplines.

John's influence from rally cars was evident and understandable, now that we talked. The pics of the car with 4 euro driving lights (2 pencil beams and 2 fog), radial tires (mostly European thing in the late 60's) and of course a switch under the center cushion to turn off the tail lights (LOL). John being an engineer, wanted to keep tabs on oil temp as well as engine vacuum, so he installed gauges in the center dash panel. Also in that position were the switches for the driving lights. When I saw this car for the first time back in 2012, I remember the gauges still being in place and thought........"there has to be a cool story behind those!"

John told me that he drove the car full time for the first year or two. From his home in Ohio, he'd commute to school and work. After that first year to two years, John purchased his Mothers 64 Chevy II to commute daily and relegate the Corvette to a second car.

As time continued, John tried different items to retrofit not excluding an air conditioning unit in the back of the car. John had purchased an auxiliary air conditioner from JC Penny as he remembers it. Initially, it worked as a good rear window defogger. John later went to install the compressor and drew the line there. John felt he would have needed to modify the hood in order to get the compressor to fit. That added to all of the extra plumbing, would have made the car too difficult to work on. So, that's where the A/C ended. John also contemplated repainting the car..........brown. Thankfully he got over that!

One of the last items John had asked me about was gasoline and what I was using. He spoke of how finicky the car was over the quality of gas. Without a doubt, Sunoco 260 is what made the car happy. The car had a habit of running warm, especially if he had the timing pulled back.

Today, I have sent John many of the pictures I shared here. I also am sending out a copy of the Corvette Magazine that features his old car. I'd say he found quite a bit of novelty in the fact the car was a magazine feature. In all, I feel I have made a new friend. I certainly will continue to be in touch with John:biggthumpup:

It's a sad thought when a person considers how many of these stories are never documented and thus, go to the grave with their owners. Having said that, the story and the person (people) are far cooler than the car itself. I'm glad I found John and can help preserve a little bit of history.

Tim

https://i.imgur.com/W8xOBvah.jpg

How cool is that - thanks for sharing.

“More than just a car”

Awesome!!

Ryan W31