vin #'s ?

[SebringBill]

Joe,

Yes, I was on the ramp up to the small roof parking lot on the front addition. What added special meaning for me was I understand that the original building is slated for demolition soon.
Another piece of Corvette history soon to be rubble.

The 53s only were allowed to drive in and out of the rear entrances, similar to original assembly!

I got to drive around with George McGriff, who may have driven your car out the door after assembly; what a nice guy - even left rubber from the parking lot in his 96 Caprice (with an LT1)!!

 

[Tyler Townsley]

Bill you haven't wore out the micro drive yet? Looks like you had a blast.

Tyler

 

[Eric]

Hi Eric,

Great photo...

most likely that was my brother, James Kirsch in the car when you took the pic...

He had to leave early, how did the awards banquet go...?

Joe Kirsch

p.s. can you post a bigger .jpg of the car...?

Joe,

The banquet went quite well all things considered. A lot of pictures and very little time to get things in order. Lots of awards to give out with so many cars in attendance.

The larger files are on the PC at home. I'll post the pic when I get home from work.

- Eric

 

[worldsoldestcorvette]

SebringBill,

I saw a mention of you wearing out a micro-drive...

Is that a reference to the 1Gb drive on a digital camera...

When my son was born 2 1/2 years ago I switched from film to digital cameras...after about 5,000 pictures I have about worn my Canon s100 out and am looking to replace and/or upgrade...

Just curious if that is what you have and how you like it...

Thanks,

Joe Kirsch

 

[JohnZ]

Here's the final incarnation of E53F100036 in 1960; it was stock when I bought it off a used car lot in 1959 for about $900 (when nobody cared about the "plastic slushbox six" Corvette), painted it black, sold the powertrain to a buddy for his Dad's pickup, put a Buick "nailhead" V-8 in it (3x2 here, 6-71 blower later), and went drag racing (runner-up in "A"-Modified Sport at the 1961 NHRA Nationals in Detroit, ran 12.20's). Sold it in late '61, new owner totaled it (and killed himself in the process) about six months later. If I only knew then what we know now....

 

[worldsoldestcorvette]

JohnZ and #036

Short but interesting time you and #36 had JohnZ.

Sorry for the driver who lost it...

So what is the story on your Marina Blue '67 roadster...

Joe Kirsch

 

[SebringBill]

Joe,

I bought a Casio QV-2900UX digital camera about two years ago for my wife (and just like our 97 Corvette she let's me use it quite often!). I also purchased (from the Casio website) an IBM 340 meg microdrive (at the time a LOT of memory). With this 2.2 megapixel camera I can take 401 pictures at high res before I run out of memory. (Tyler can attest to this - he and I shared a room on the NCRS road tour last summer from FL to Monterey - I downloaded every night to his laptop and had to delete some pics on the microdrive twice during the trip!)

BTW, what sold me on this camera were two features: the 8x optical AND 4x digital zoom (that's 32x!!) and the lens swivels 270 degrees like many higher end cameras.

Hi Tyler - yup, Flint was the place to be!

 

[JohnZ]

Re: JohnZ and #036

Short but interesting time you and #36 had JohnZ.

Sorry for the driver who lost it...

So what is the story on your Marina Blue '67 roadster...

Joe Kirsch

The '67 is the first Corvette I've ever owned (have had seven) that I didn't body-off restore myself; I sold my '57 last summer and replaced it with the '67. It had a body-off about two years ago, done very nicely, but not necessarily to detailed NCRS specs; I've been spiffing it up while driving it over the last few months, getting it ready for its first Flight Judging next weekend. It's an all-original drivetrain 327/300 4-speed, 3.36 Posi, radio, tinted glass, power steering, Marina Blue with the white/blue interior and white top. Nice highway cruiser, very reliable.

 

[worldsoldestcorvette]

JohnZ: THAT is an extremely nice looking '67...I am a fan of mid-years...especially '67 and expecially side-pipe cars...Marina Blue makes it all the better...

In '77 my dad located a Marina Blue roadster with Bright Blue interior and bought in for $2700...still have the handwritten receipt from the guy in Kingfisher, Oklahoma...

Other than brakes, only major mechanical work was to replace the shifter. Added fresh paint and interior it has been a reliable and trusty steed. Have driven it from OK to CA and enjoyed every mile. The rumble of the sidepipes led me to adapt mid-year pipes for my '79...they are ok, but not near as nice as the '67.

A long sidepipe story; I'll try to make short...We have a '63 fuelie with pipes (and that is a unique sound...) Unique enough we heard it roar off when a thief stole it during an NCRS national in MO. My dad and brother chased them with an '85 through the rain at high speed...could only catch them in the turns...luckily the drive cable for the fuelie broke and the thief yanked the emergency brake and bailed out...the car was safe but they never caught the guy, although a semi was found waiting with the ramp out to load it up...Thanks to the pipes we were able to get a jump on the thief!

Anyway, sorry for the rambling story...we got into Vette's aroung '76 before we could drive...Dad wanted us to have an appreciation for working on cars...Vettes were fairly affordable back then...our first one was a '54 which eventually became the first '54 to win the NCRS Duntov award...

Ok, enough reminiscing. I personally think there was a peak reached with the '67, maybe because the '68 wasn't ready and they were able to take time to refine and refine some more...You worked for the General...what do you think...?

Joe Kirsch

 

[67HEAVEN]

I personally think there was a peak reached with the '67, maybe because the '68 wasn't ready and they were able to take time to refine and refine some more...You worked for the General...what do you think...?

Joe Kirsch

Hmmmmmm......can I agree with that statement?

Hell yeah!!!!!!! :L

 

[Tom Bryant]

Great story Joe. I can imagine the feeling in your gut when you heard your car driving away. Glad it had a happy ending.

I had about the same thing happen in '67. I had a new 442 at the time and had arrived home just after dark. Went into my apartment and put a couple things away in the kitchen. I looked out the window and it was gone. I'm sure I looked out because I heard that unmistakable 442 exhaust burble. Luckily they found it the next day. Seems that all the thieves wanted was the custom wheels I had just put on. After that, wheel covers were just fine with me. Haven't liked Indianapolis since.

A funny side to this story involves a friend of mine. He had a triple black '64 Ford 500XL fastback R code. 427/425 horse, 4 speed, transistor ignition and all. He couldn't sell it so he left it sit outside my apartment over a long weekend with the keys in it hoping it would also be stolen. When we arrived back down to Indy on Monday AM it was still sitting there.

Tom

 

[67HEAVEN]

A funny side to this story involves a friend of mine. He had a triple black '64 Ford 500XL fastback R code. 427/425 horse, 4 speed, transistor ignition and all. He couldn't sell it so he left it sit outside my apartment over a long weekend with the keys in it hoping it would also be stolen. When we arrived back down to Indy on Monday AM it was still sitting there.

Tom

It's red now Tom.

 

[Tom Bryant]

:L It could be. I think about that car occasionally. It would be worth a bunch today.

 

[vettefinderjim]

Glad to see you Joe and John

Hope your travels this year are fun for both of you. Thanks so much for sharing your car with us all. I have always said it is the people that keep this hobby going.

Hope to see you both soon.
Jim

 

[vettefinderjim]

We got off track visiting!!!

Sorry Redeye,

There are a lot of little items about a 67 big block that are different from a small block.

There are a reported three 67 L-88's from 1967 in the 17000+ vin area. Drew Papsen from CT. has been survaying these cars for years.

Also, at Bloomington this year the owner of Pontiac Historical Services, that has recods on all the Pontiac cars, made an anouncement at the Special Collection that he has records of all Corvettes back to 1971 on microfish and paper records back to 1961 and possibly earlier. In 2005 he should be ready to release the answers you are looking for.

We have all heard stories for years about info like this. We shall see.

E-mail me and i will be happy to share big block knowledge with you.
Jim

 

[Verle]

Joe,

I missed you at the 50th. We drove my 57 and had a great time.

Verle

 

[JohnZ]

JohnZ: THAT is an extremely nice looking '67...I am a fan of mid-years...especially '67 and expecially side-pipe cars...Marina Blue makes it all the better...

Ok, enough reminiscing. I personally think there was a peak reached with the '67, maybe because the '68 wasn't ready and they were able to take time to refine and refine some more...You worked for the General...what do you think...?

Joe Kirsch

I spent my entire 37-year career with GM and Chrysler either in or supporting assembly plants with tooling, launching new products, and as a Plant Manager; I was assigned to the Corvette Group in '67-'68, and spent the summer (and fall) of '67 launching the '68 Corvette at St. Louis. Worst launch of my entire career - the car wasn't ready, the engineering development and testing wasn't finished, the suppliers weren't ready, and the tooling wasn't done either, but we launched it anyway - it was a disaster, and became a year-long prototype program. That's why there are so many one-year-only parts on 68's; we redesigned most of the car at least once before the 1969 model change. I was only 27 then, and still remember it vividly - it was a nightmare :bash

 

[worldsoldestcorvette]

JohnZ-Well I always thought the '68's seemed a little hurried, with the push button door lock and all...of course this really contrasted with the extra time taken to refine the '67...glad for that...

Verle-Hello...actually I wasn't up there, that was James and he took the car up...glad you took your '57 up... I am going to be in Carlisle and so is #003!

cheers,

j