69 Zl1 Corvette

[Dan 68 Chevy II]

It seems the 600hp lightweight Corvette combination is a handful for someone who lacks the driving ability of such a car.We agree!
So Chevy had this approach to make the car undsirable for the street.First no radio will come in the car and secondly( and most important)the car'scooling system won't handle the city traffic.The suspension spring rates are also increased and this makes for a harsh ride.
What chevy really did was design the car for the amateur road racer. It has flared fenderwells for wide racing tires. Do the 2 existing cars have flared fenderwells? Above Imformation was taken right out of article.

[William]

There were a couple of feature articles on the white Tech Center ZL-1 Corvette back in 1969. It was not a production car. The fender flares were shipped with L-88s, not installed. They interfered with the body drop in production.

There were supposedly 2 ZL-1s built; only the yellow car is documented. The white coupe is purportedly an L-88 that was "dealer converted" to ZL-1 specs. I've heard so many stories about the other one I've lost count.

[Mr70]

I heard 3 were built.One was destroyed by Chevrolet.
Only those two survived.
I have a Chevrolet Zone letter to dealers dated October 24th,1969 saying:

"St.Louis Plant has a 1969 Corvette,(3,000 miles) with ZL-1 High Performance engine for sale at company car discount.Call Zone if you are interested."

I believe this to be the Yellow ZL-1 Corvette.A great time capsule piece.

[Edited by mr70 (08-04-2001 at 08:38 PM).]

[bowtie3168]

There is an "East Coast"collector that owned one of the two cars. I will ask him for some specifics.

[Dan 68 Chevy II]

I have a original Popular Hot Rodding date July 1969.Pages 20 thru 23 has article and pictures on 69 ZL1 Corvette,shows picture of white 69 ZLI with factory fender flares,do you know how many exist and who has them?

[Chevy454]

I believe there were 2 built and sold to the public. The YELLOW ZL-1 CORVETTE is owned by Roger Judski, and the WHITE ZL-1 CORVETTE is owned by Kevin Suydam (known as "Supercars" on this board).

[SuperCars]

William, I own a white ZL1 Vette. I don't know the ZL1 you are referencing as a L88 to ZL1 dealer conversion. I disagree with the statement that the Yellow one is the only one documented. I know you are only repeating things you've heard though.

Anyway the history on my White ZL1 vette as an original GM ZL1 Vette has been known since its delivery to the original owner in 1969. In other words it didn't materialize out of thin air. It was drag raced by the original owner for the first year and a half after he took delivery. I have the contract between the original owner and the owner of the Professional Racing team, as well as their affadavits stating it to be a GM factory installed ZL1. The original owner of this ZL1 Vette traded it away, after only owning it the year and a half; but not knowing it was one of only 2 built. He said it was headed circle track racing complete with the next owner having installed Roll Cage, Fuel Cell, and Flares. The notarized affadavits from the original owner and the owner of the Race Team attest that my ZL1 was a GM factory original ZL1 Vette evidenced by the window sticker in 1969, (not dealer installed). The original owner is Jack Cheskaty, who is still alive and currently is the US Treasury IRS Director of the Rocky Mountain region of 5 states. He provided his notarized affadavit of my ZL1 Vette on his official US Treasury letterhead. He did this at a time when he did not own this ZL1 Vette and had no monetary gain in doing so. No one in this high of a Government Position would make a notarized statement on his official letterhead unless it were absolutely true. Any person who is in doubt of this man's statement, is perhaps in need of an Income Tax audit.

There is a Magazine article (I'm not at home right now to be able to post what issue, as it is in the ZL1 file) in which Zora Duntov and Jim Perkins visited this ZL1 Vette at Otis Chandler's Museum, several years before I purchased it from Otis. The article has a photo of Zora sitting in this Vette etc, and discussion by Zora and Jim Perkins about this ZL1 as they knew this was one of the ZL1 Vettes. Kevin.

[William]

The "white ZL-1" I'm thinking of was at Bloomington circa 1982, the only time I attended. The owner was present and extremely evasive when asked if was an original. Some years later I saw a feature article on it (or another) someplace. This one was an L-88 originally. When the owner learned of the ZL-1 he bought an engine and swapped.

No intention to diminish your car; you evidently have the other one. We did a ZL-1 Camaro many years ago and talked to a lot of people in the process of finding an engine. I heard all the stories out there about the other ZL-1 Corvette.

[JoeC]

I have also been collecting info on the ZL1 Corvettes. Besides the production yellow and white car I have found articles and pictures of Zora's white test mule that appears to be a 1968 body. A Monaco Orange ZL1 used by Chevy as a drag racing test car showed up in an article in Motor Trend Oct 69 called THE 10 SEC TRIP. An article in Sports Car Graphic Oct. 69 called GENERAL MOTORS MISSING MODEL YEAR shows two ZL1 Corvettes at a 1970 press preview. The photos are black and white but one car looks white with a wide stripe down the center and the other is a dark color. They may be the same 2 white and orange ZL1 test cars but were "fixed up" for the press preview because the 70 Corvettes were not there. Martyn Schorr (Cars magazine editor) has stated that he remembers a black ZL1 Corvette test car. There was also an interesting quote that was in some of the magazines supposedly from Zora when asked about the ZL1 Corvettes he said in using his dialect "Were six cars made. Two escaped. Four changed inside and sold to employees."
There was a guy selling a 68 L71 white Corvette with what he said was a prototype ZL1 stripe done by GM
here are some links
http://www.corvetteforum.net/c3/supe...Oct69/zl1a.jpg

http://www.sharkwerkes.com/sharktank...o/68proto.html


[Edited by JoeC (08-05-2001 at 12:07 PM).]

[Kurt S]

I've heard of 2 other ZL1's. One I saw at SC-Atlanta several years ago. Block was VIN stamped.
The other was owned by a guy in FL that had the original block in the garage.
Not sure if either of them have paperwork.