Meeting with an original owner...a special visit.

[NorCam]

With many of the Muscle cars now being in the 50 year old range, one thing many of us never get to do when buying or restoring an old muscle car is meeting with the original owner. In this case, today was very special as I'm restoring on old Green Zapper that Kym Miller ordered brand new in 1969 and has many good memories with. Kym and I have been in touch many times since learning through some racing friends that this was his old drag car that he ordered new in March 1969. It last saw the street in 1971 before Kym campaigned it throughout the PNW as a Super Stock drag car which in turn brought him many victories, and a Division Championship in 78.

We last talked a few days ago about maybe getting together when the car was finished up, and today he called me up out of the blue and said "hey I'm in town", can I come out with a couple bud's for a visit and meet with you? Well, an hour later we were introduced and Kym hung out for an hour while we shared in a few stories about him getting married as he bought this car, and how he got into drag racing with it. He checked out the progress on the car and is working with me to chase down the original motor which we now have a really good bead on. More on that when or if that turns into something special?

We enjoyed a great first meeting, and no doubt Kym and I will be getting together next summer when I hope to have the car finished up. Here are a few pictures taken with the car today. Very cool not only to talk with the original owner so many times, but to meet with the car here and share in a few stories while it's being taken back to stock form. So so cool!


(Meeting Kym Miller for the first time in person)


(A picture taken while we talked about his old Z/28)


(Checking out the paint and discussing the stripes)


(Checking under the hood while we talked about some fresh leads on the original block)


(Kym telling me why he ordered the Endura Bumper which he spotted sitting inside the car)


(Discussion around the car and a great surprise visit today)

No doubt we'll be meeting again so Kym can bang some gears in his old Zapper next year, but here's hoping some new leads on the original motor lands it back under the original hood. Here's one more shot from Kym with the car just after he got it, and hitting his first drag race with it back in 1970. The rest of the drag racing shots can be seen on my website http://x77z28.com as this car was heavily campaigned across the Pacific Northwest for many years.


(Kym Miller with his factory ordered Z/28 in Kimberley, B.C. Canada - Circa 1970)

[NorCam]

Should also mention that I just tracked down three old 8mm videos of this car while it was being drag raced back in the 70's. I will soon be putting together a set of drag race & track clips showing burnouts and full passes against some heavy weight and notable Hemi cars that it raced with nearly every Sunday.

More on that soon...but here's a couple shots of the car in it's old race themes.

[Crush]

What a really cool story, thx for sharing

[mockingbird812]

Well that is some great news. Is that a plastic front bumper. Congrats Earl!

[wundercluck]

Found and talked over the phone with the original owner of the JL8 Z I used to own. Never met him in person but the first thing he said was it came from the factory with four wheel disc brakes. Never will forget that!!!
Don

[NorCam]

Yes Sam.

He ordered it with the VE3 front bumper ($49.95 Option) and although he knew it was pretty heavy, he never took it off in all the years he raced it. It came with the car when I bought it although it had a fiberglass bumper on the car when I brought in home in full race trim. It was last raced in 2012 before being retired from the track, and was remarkably straight.


Shot taken while fitting the bumper before painting the car.

[DW31S]

I know exactly how you feel about finding, meeting, and becoming friends with the original owner of a '69 Camaro race car. You (me too) are very lucky to find the fellow and lucky in that the OO is interested in his old ride. Old racing stories are the best and some of the "tricks" those guys used are still in use today! I remember your car in Muscle Car Review. Please keep us posted on your restoration. Will the car be restored to original or as-raced? I'm doing mine back to the original race livery from the summer of 1969 (eventually).

[NorCam]

Dave, I struggled for a while about maybe leaving it back halved and restoring it back to race livery, then after talking with Kym and the other three owners, everyone stated they liked the history being promoted on the website and stated their preference to see it back to stock again. That's when I decided a nut and bolt resto would be performed on the car. I'm very happy I chose that route but really dig its race history as well.

[KenMaisano]

I love the story and the car.

[454_Malibu]

Cool Story. I recognize the Grand Stands of SIR.. now called Pacific Raceways.. Maybe saw this car race back in the day,, [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/headbang.gif[/img]