As sGM' infamous racing ban came down the corporate ladder in early
1963, both Chevrolet and Pontiac were caught off-guard. Money had
already been spent to get fresh cars ready for the upcoming season, and
contracts had already been signed that would keep some of those drivers
on the payroll for the year. However, there wouldn't be the ongoing
development work that had characterized the successful efforts of 1962.
For
the new season, the Impala
RPO-coded Z11 would be Chevrolet's top
dragstrip contender-it ended up being a machine that went down in
history as a very competitive vehicle. Though the bigger NHRA titles
would come down to the lighter Max Wedge Mopars for much of the season,
guys like Dave Strickler, Hayden Proffitt (who had left Pontiac at the
end of 1962), Butch Leal, and Ronnie Sox were always a threat, whether
in the S/S or FX divisions. The car seen here actually came from the
upstart Sox & Martin team out of Burlington, North Carolina, though
it was owned by Jack May and based out of Powhatan, Virginia.
The story began when May decided that he needed somebody to drive his
car for him, and had talked to Sox about maybe stepping in. Sox
declined, having firmly realized that a guy like Buddy Martin was
perfect for success on and off the racetrack, but recommended a fellow
Burlington-ite, Larry Wilson, to shoe the car. Moreover, because the Sox
& Martin team already had its own Z11 from Chevrolet, they also
agreed to take some responsibility for Jack May's car, which was quite
similar to the Sox & Martin team car except it had a red interior
rather than a blue. Since S&M's association with the factory meant
they would need to remain legal enough to compete in NHRA events, the
decision was made to make May's car the "more legal" barnstormer.
Match racing was growing rapidly in popularity, and either Sox or Wilson
could be behind the wheel during any given weekend drag tour on the
East Coast. We don't know what was done to the car for this purpose;
back then, racers used everything from mild stroker motors to nitrated
gasoline called "cherry mash." This one got a bored-and-stroked engine
that reportedly displaced 500 cubes. Wilson says that if you ran it up
the rpm band to powershift it, it would blow one or both head gaskets.
The 11.20s it was capable of were run by just keeping as far ahead of
the opponent as possible. As match racing evolved, May decided that he
needed a smaller body and swapped the Impala's Z11 drivetrain over to a
Chevelle in 1965. A racer named Allen Long out of Virginia bought the
lightweight body, and raced it for the next several seasons with a 327
in it, probably in the Modified Production class.
The Z11 then went to its next caretaker, who wanted to make sure
nobody knew what it was. A horrible green paint job covered the aluminum
panels, and black Krylon was sprayed all over the red interior. The car
seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth for the next 30 years,
changing hands just one time when the owner decided to use the car to
pay off a debt. His successor got his cash out of it by selling the
aluminum nose, and the carcass ended up with a Chevrolet enthusiast from
the Buffalo, New York-region.
This is where Hank Gabbert enters
the story. Gabbert, who is a semitruck driver for DaimlerChrysler, had
just finished up his latest project in early 2001, a gorgeous '63 Bel
Air with a street 409 combination under the hood. The car was on its
debut display at the Autorama in Cobo Hall, Detroit, when a young man
told one of Hank's sons that he had an old '63 Impala with some
lightweight parts on it.
"Well, that got me interested," Hank recalls now. "I began making
phone calls to the people who know these cars, and started to get an
idea about just what it might be. So, I made arrangements to go to New
York. Once I saw it, I was pretty certain that it was Jack May's old
car, so I went ahead and bought it."
The fingerprints included the
aluminum bumper brackets and the rare factory Z11 air-cooled brake
setup that had been lifted from the Z-class '63 Corvette. The rest of
2001 was spent documenting and planning for the restoration. Hank found
many people in the vintage Chevrolet business who wanted to see the car
done, and often a single phone number would help chase down a lead for a
part or piece. It should be noted that, with just 50 examples built,
the specific race parts used on these cars are very rare. While there
are reproduction Impala pieces, Z11 parts are a whole different story.
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