OOCC CORVETTE TRIP Part 3 Survivor Car Show

Writing and photography copyright D. S. Brown.

____________ DAY EIGHT _____________________________________________________

A series of silly incidents delayed my departure slotting me into the heart of slow Milwaukee rush hour traffic. Traffic gained speed as volume thinned out southeast of city limits, but traffic was too heavy to safely make up lost time. I stayed with the flow resigned to missing the morning of the show.

Traffic improved once the main highway transformed into a toll road at the Illinois border. Cars diverted onto secondary toll free roads. After tossing coins in the wire mesh toll basket I blew off everyone drag racing into the empty freshly paved highway ahead. Despite a strong headwind, the car devoured miles of road like a Saturn Rocket eating up space. A rock hurtled across the car striking the top of the windshield frame with a load crack. Later I would discover that it wasn't a rock. The combined force of the headwind and windstream over the nose of the car tore the metal crossed flags Corvette badge off the car. That's really making up for lost time!

It was a bit after 9 AM in Glendale Heights, Illinois on the outskirts of St Charles when the power steering noisily started sucking air. Refillling the reservoir at the Mobil Oil station provided a view of vintage cars and Vettes flowing down the divided median street leading directly to the show. 

The Survivor Collector Car show provides special parking for Corvettes. A winding paved golf cart path terminates at grass parking on the Pheasant Run golf course a hundred yards from the show. The walk to the main event wound through Corvettes owned by show goers which displayed information signs, creating a mini Corvette show.

An unrestored Cordovan Maroon 1968 Corvette 427-435 HP sat in the parking area. This is the first of the Shark Vettes and mine is one of the last. The paint color on the 1968 was very similar to the Claret Red paint on my car. Despite shared heritage and color, tweaks and modifications over the 15 years of the Shark Corvette had morphed the two bookend cars into two different concepts.

The early Vettes snarl and the later ones purr. The original has a more spartan aggressive aura about it's tighter lines and businesslike interior. The later car has a longer wider swoopy nose and tail. Blackout trim replaces the 1968 chrome giving the later car a smoother more flowing feel.  The fastback window on 1978 and later Sharks open up the interior dramatically making it somewhat practical. My glass T tops get light into the inside of the car.

The original 1968 cockpit is a narrow shadowy cave that makes you feel like you are 'wearing' the car when you drive it. The early chrome Sharks I have driven felt choppy, hard and very manueverable. The 1968 has a meaner nose and hood scoop, but the later factory mags on my car are more purposeful looking than the center cap/ wheel combo offered in the 1960s and early 1970s.

The 1968 was loaded with great options like Transistorized Ignition, F41 Suspension and a 4.11 Posi. With only 9,291 original miles the deviations from factory paint and mechanicals are few: a new hood installed in 1970 and a NOM from a Corvette assembled two weeks prior to this car.

The current owner is the third. The car was originally ordered by Donald Fiore on Nov 11, 1967 from Long Chevrolet. To see a story about this dealer, go to the DEALERSHIPS section of this website. Mr. Fiore traded in a 1965 Olds F85 convertible for the Vette and specified a long list of options.

The order form differs from the original window sticker which says a standard Corvette cost $4663.00 plus $41.50 transportation for a base price of $4,704.50. The order form quotes a lower base price of $4,336.00 but makes up for it with $457.10 destination and dealer prep. The window sticker adds option prices (the engine alone was $437.10) to arrive at a hefty total of $5,577.75. The order form option list took the car all the way to $5,863.00, but then a $500.00 discount was applied which is likely the trade- in value for the 1965 F85. Regardless of which price prevailed and despite discount and trade-in, Mr. Fiore had an expensive car in 1960s dollars when he took delivery April 29, 1968.

Long Chevrolet and Mr. Fiore were both situated in Lake Forest, Illinois and the car has remained in Illinois. The third owner said the car has never seen rain.

The optional Saddle Leather interior has a tinge of orange in it which mixes well with the exterior color. You can tell this is a 1968 because the ignition switch is on the dash. The ignition was mounted on an anti theft steering column from 1969 onwards. The 4 speed close ratio and tinted glass were two other options chosen for this car.

A few unofficial car displays were set up around the perimeter of the show. I was drawn to a Mauve 1966 Hemi Charger which had arrived too late to register. Co owner Keith Arteman revealed that it was a one owner 8,000 mile car still using the original oil filter and other regular maintenance items. It would have made a great ZZenith award candidate. To see the story of this car go to the ONE OWNER section of CAR STORIES in this website. 

Close by was a nice Buick Riviera with the cool barrel speedometer. A few other cars dotted the grounds behind the field where the official event was taking place.

Inside the show it was hard to know where to start in this sea of exciting original 1960s and 1970s American cars. There were also a few Jaguars and a VW sprinkled amongst the Detroit cars. Judges evaluated each car as a team. I hung near the discussions between judges to get the gist of how the process worked. 

Cars are judged according to four equally weighted zones: Interior, Exterior, Under Hood, and Chassis. The cars need to be unmodified and unrefinished yet well enough preserved to serve as a template for restoration. Authentic cars are held to stringent standards of exact untouched factory original condition. Even dealership delivery condition often deviates from factory stock, so only a few cars earn the highest credentials.

To encourage preservation on a wider level, cars with a partial repaint or dealer undercoating can be certified at a lower category. A Survivor Car needs to be at least 20 years old and retain 50% of its original finish and equipment in good shape in three of the four zones. The FingerPrint cars have to score 75% in these areas in all four zones and be at least 30 years old.

The ultimate cars are the ZZenith certified cars. These cars score at least 90% in all four zones and are a minimum 40 years old. You can spot one simply by looking for a car with ALL the judges surrounding it. The entire board has to decide in these cases.

Sitting at the front of the field was David Dodd's ZZenith 1968 Chevelle SS 396. David and his daughter related stories as they flipped through a binder of old photos and documents. The SS is original except battery and shocks. To see a story about this car, go to ONE OWNER in the CAR STORIES section of this site.

Winding through the 75 cars on the field with half an hour per car meant it would be impossible to see every car or speak to every person. Many cars began pulling out mid afternoon. Exciting cars 'got away', but anyone who has ever competed in sports knows the mantra: 'its not over until it's over'. I kept my focus on the moment, getting as much as possible crammed into the time without just skimming the surface.

One that 'got away' was an interesting looking black 1965 Olds F85 that won ZZenith. Owner William Luckenbill wasn't around when I came across the car. The F85 two door post coupe with 'poverty caps' and black wall tires was bare bones with an odometer reading 12,515 miles. Despite being a Midwestern car with black interior and exterior it didn't have A/C.

I enjoy driving the early F85s. They have a tight short hood mimicking easily manuevered compacts combined with a ride close to the smoothness of a full size. 1964/5 F85s feel slightly different than the later 'coke bottle' style 1966/7s which have more hood and less trunk. The 1966/7s settle you back in the car for an even better ride and handling at the expense of the 'compact' feel of the earlier cars.

The ZZenith cars kept coming. I talked to a few people who were keen to win an award and finally see the historic significance of their cars recognized. Some owners were well known in the hobby while others wished to remain anonymous. They all wanted to share their cars with fellow enthusiasts. Others were there to sell a vehicle and revelled in the amount of exposure this event could generate for them. Everyone shared a keen interest in touring the field and seeing as many cars as possible.  

I spoke to Art. His Thunderbird earned a ZZenith award. Art regards himself as the 'custodian' of the T-bird which he inherited from his father. Art was pleased to show the car but prefered to maintain some privacy. To see a story on this car, go to the TWENTY YEARS PLUS section of this website.

I spotted two of my all time favourite cars: a 1970 Cuda AAR and a 1970 Buick GSX. These two cars represent the purest distillation of musclecar era excess. In the last year of high compression before decades of detuning these extreme performance machines with eye catching looks represent a high water mark for screaming small blocks and thumping big blocks.

Early musclecars such as the stacked headlight tight bodied 1965 GTO are revered for their unrestrained power and classic clean styling. Those early GTOs had delicate pinstripes reinforcing the fender lines. The other end of the musclecar era featured high impact paint schemes, wide stripes, spoilers, scoops and window slats. Cars like the awesome 1969 Roadrunner Six Pack with the lift off hood, the Mach 1, the Judge or the Superbird explored just how far-out these cars could get.    

The 1970 AAR was a radical homologation and promotion of Chrysler's involvement in Trans Am racing. AAR is an acronym for 'Dan Gurney's All American Racer'. This car marked the first time a factory muscle car had larger rear tires than front, just like street racers. A spaggetti tangle of pipes reverse back through mufflers to create side exhausts that look real exiting just in front of the rear tires. The big news is the revvy reinforced small block 340 with a six pak on top.

The Chrysler T/A and AAR street homologation cars at 340 c.i. exceeded the size of the race car enignes. A new 1970 rule allowed contestants to destroke street engines to fit under the Trans Am 305 c.i. limit. In 1970, none of the Trans Am homologation street cars were under the 305 c.i. ceiling except for the amazing Boss 302 Mustang. The Planet Houston AMC website cites two known 304 c.i. Mark Donohue Javelins, but they are an exception. Javelin homologation cars usually pack 360 or 390 cubes and were advertised with these engines. The Camaro Z28 now had the extremely potent 350 LT1 and the Pontiac Firebird Trans Am never had less than 400 c.i. on the street.

Alas, this was another one that 'got away', but there are photos!

The GSX was a mid year answer from Buick to the ever wilder cars appearing in 1970. The top dog GSX Stage 1 accelerated with Hemis, Cobra Jets and the LS6 Chevelle but handled better than all of them. Bill Sales' Apollo White 1970 Buick GSX Stage 1 is scarred from several salty road winters and hard racing action. Almost everything is original on the low miles car. Unfortunatly the GSX is just a touch too rough to merit recognition as Survivor, certified in the "Limited" catagory. To see a story about this GSX go to the 20 YEARS PLUS section of this website.

Bill Sales radically reshaped my entire trip. After Bill had pointed out many interesting details on his car our conversation turned to the largest gathering of GSX cars ever. This event was taking place at the end of next month at the Buick Nationals. I was disapointed in the timing,

"I'll be back in Canada by then." 

"You can't miss this show! This many GSX cars are never going to gather in one spot ever again. They are coaxing guys to the show from all over the country. They are bringing in basket cases, barn finds- anything and everything. Regular guys who have never been to a car show before are being brought in. All the local groups are working their contacts to find every existing GSX!"

Thanks to Bill, I decided to extend my trip. Not only did I see an incredible gathering of GSX cars, but the extended trip led to all sorts of interesting developments and detours.