LOW VIN - Sting Ray

[Carl Beck]

I thought this was interesting.. Pre Production or "Pilot" 1963 Corvette Sting Ray - Sept. 1962 build date.

http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2012/10/25/pilot-1963-corvette-convertible-to-cross-the-block/?refer=news

FWIW,

Carl B.

[72 OJ]

Yes nice article, I wonder if there are any ''Pilot" Z's out there alive,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[conedodger]

I recall reading an article about a pre-production Z sitting next to a building in Japan rusting away...

There is an interesting story about a pre-production Porsche 914 that I know to be true because I know at least two of the principals involved. One did jail time over it. The car, Number 4 as it was designated by the Porsche factory somehow made it across the ocean and onto some property in the Mojave Desert. My friend was contacted by some people because he owned one of the biggest car forums on the web with over 10000 members and hundreds of members online all the time. He was asked if he was 'interested' and they could 'get it for him.' He said yes, and the car was delivered to him. Now, this car was not only pre-production it was an anomaly also in that Porsche crushes their prototypes. It had a number of hand-tooled features and it was rusted pretty badly. No one seems to know how it got out of Germany or across the ocean. My friend made no secret of having the car. He figured Porsche didn't care by that time. He wrote an article about it that was published in Excellence Magazine. That is when the plot thickens as they say... Unbeknownst to my friend, a guy had seen the article in Excellence and approached the police in San Bernardino County, CA claiming to own the car and having a DMV issued lost title replacement. His story was that he bought it at a storage facility auction when someone had quit paying on their garage. My friend also had a DMV issued lost title replacement (Don't get me started on how amazed I am at the shear number of idiots gathered in one place called the California DMV). So, the police had a stand-off. Both had title to the car. The police pondered for a moment and decided that the storage garage guy had prior title, and it still isn't illegal to be an idiot so DMV was faultless. So they started trying to recover the car. For some reason, here is where my friend seems to have lost his judgement. The police started looking for him to get the car. They went to his wife and left a card, they were going through a divorce so it is unclear if he got the message that they were looking for him. They went to his work, the trolled his website. With some detective work they determined he was living with a girlfriend and they arrested him at 3am and transported him to San Bernardino County. He spent about a week in jail while the website raised money for his bail. Ultimately, he was sentenced to time served and probation.

The guy who bought the car from the storage facility has neither the time or the talent to restore the car so he has partnered with Automobile Atlanta and I am not sure what their plans are. I suspect, they will just display it in their humidity and temperature controlled showroom. (George Hussey the owner has some very tasty and valuable cars in that showroom).

It came out later that the guy who approached my friend in the first place apparently went to the property in the Mojave Desert and pulled the car sideways out from where it was stored between two other cars. He then loaded it on a flatbed and towed it to my friend. Not sure how much money changed hands but my friend got royally screwed...

Moral of the story: It isn't worth it...

Edited October 25, 2012 by conedodger

[Carl Beck]

Yes nice article, I wonder if there are any ''Pilot" Z's out there alive,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Yes of course - we know that HLS30 00006 and 00008 are alive and well. Who knows, maybe HLS30 00009 though 00012 will show up some day.

FWIW,

Carl B.

[ollie]

Very cool car...BTW the '66 442 on the RH side under "most viewed ads" is about 10' away from my '73, which will be fired (the Z) for the first time this weekend after a year long intense restoration. We have a shop area set aside within our coprorate offices. Makes for a nice break during the day.

[Marty Rogan]

Whatever happened to the 2 Z's that were used for North American testing? I believe they were shipped back to Japan for evaluation after the test. Wonder what happened to them after that?

Marty

[siteunseen]

Y'all remember the Mako Shark Corvette from '61? Saw one of those at a World of Wheels when I was a youngster in the early '70's. " The concept inspired the 1963 Corvette Sting-Ray", from Wikipedia.

[240260280z]

[Carl Beck]

Shows you how totally screwed up Winkipedia is. Actually the original concept drawing that was the basis for the 63 Sting Ray was drawn by Peter Brock when he worked at GM Design in 1957. From that original sketch as a Coupe - the first prototype Stingray Racer would be built as a roadster. By 1959 Dr. **** Thompson would drive a Stingray Racer to a Championship in C-Modified Class of SCCA. That in turn evolved into the 1961 Mako Shark show car. From the Stingray Racer prototype Chuck Poehlmann and Larry Shinoda would refine the shape into a production ready roadster and coupe first produced for the 1963 Model Year.

FWIW,

Carl B.

[Taz0162]

I saw the maco shark at a Bloomington gold show when it used to be held in Springfield IL many years ago.