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In Gulf livery -

"But there was one Corvette buyer then who had no problem with the ZL1-powered Corvette's $9,900-plus sticker price: John Maher, a western Pennsylvania drag racer who was a personal friend of Don Yenko. Says Kevin Mackay of Corvette Repair in Valley Stream, New York, who restored this ZL1, "He had an International Blue '68 L88 originally, and when he found out that they were making another car that was lighter, and with the aluminum block, he decided to order that, and he got it through Gulf Oil and he drag raced the car."

John raced the Monaco Orange ZL1 "Winning Automatically," with its heavy-duty Turbo 400 for a number of years, while adding different stripes, colors, and decals during the years he campaigned it.

Eventually, it was parked and stored where it avoided the ravages of time and weather. There it stayed until he sold it to Bruce Perrone, its current owner. "I bought the car in 2007," he says. " It was largely unrestored. It had just under 3,000 miles on it. Over the years, it had gone through a few paint schemes, but I bought it from the original owner who'd raced the car from day one." Bruce adds."

John held onto a copy of the original invoice and the original tank sticker that shows the ZL1 engine option and the M40 automatic transmission. With this original documentation, there is little doubt this Corvette is the real deal.