Author Topic: 69 Z/28 X77 garage/barn find  (Read 238084 times)

69 Zee

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69 Z/28 X77 garage/barn find
« on: August 09, 2014, 03:37:28 PM »
Hello all,
I stumbled across this X77 Z about a month ago that’s been literally garaged and barn kept since 1979-80.  I just got it home yesterday after a longggggg day and late nite.   I wanted to share the story and pics with those interested.  I thought the story was interesting enough to share.

The original owner (Jack) bought it new from Liberty Chevy in New York.  Jack & wife moved from NY to Denver to Texas then settle in Tampa in 1977.  It was driven as a family car until 1978.  Jack traded it off for a $700 trade-in value toward a 4 door family car as they now had a 3 year old son.  (see pic of wife holding son and in stroller, Jack under the hood).  The Z was bought by a lady (2nd owner, who's still a mystery) who only owned it for a year then listed it in the local Tampa News paper to sell (see original paper clipping).  A guy name Tom (3rd owner) bought it from the ad where it was being advertised for $1700 "69 Camaro Z28 good condition, stock from factory".   Can I still sign up ? I'll take a dozen at the price..crazy huh..lol   Tom drove it for 1 year during his senior year in high school 1979.  The Tampa dealer or the mystery 2nd owner repainted it to white with blue stripes, a reverse of the factory colors.  I'm guessing the Tampa dealer repainted, figuring the car being 10-12 yrs old needed a new paint job to get a better sell price (group pics below).  Shortly after graduating Tom started tearing the Z apart because he wanted to freash'n up the motor and repaint it back to it's original colors.  (reason you see car apart in the group pic).  Then again shortly after that Tom passed away from a motorcycle accident and the car sat in his/wife’s garage for the next 20 years untouched until 2000.  In 2000, Phil (4th owner, Toms High School best friend) bought it from Tom’s wife.  Phil stated he bought because he knew it was untouched (except for what his frd Tom had done) and all original.  Phil towed it home with the parts boxed up.  There Phil parked it in his climate controlled garage/barn with the intention of rebuilding it someday.  That day never came as Phil said he was also more of a hot rodder than a numbers guy and since this Z retained every original part from the radiator tag to the tire jack and lug nuts he knew it deserved to be restored back to its original condition rather than cut up and hot hodded around.  This guy Phil, coolest dude around.  Had a garage/barn separate from his house.  A/C'd with a dozen other cars inside including his own 68 Camaro and a 70 Chevelle from his high school days.

The Z is complete with the born DZ block/engine, M20 transmission and BU 373 rear.  Has every engine components from the carb to oil pan.  Carb, intake, Alt, balancer, pulleys, heads, smog, chrome breather, crank, cam, "0" rockers, every nut and bolt...Everything !  Original YH rims, brake calipers, suspension, all body panels and Interior.  Interior seats and console are in excellent condition (all wrapped in blankets since 1979).  Z has only 59K original miles
Car needs complete restoration but has 99% of all the born with parts for the car.  Very little metal work needed as it is overall solid from front to back.
Born with color is Dusk Blue code 51 and standard blue Interior code 715 with a white vinyl top.
I have all the original paper work, the original owners name and number who now lives in Arizona.   The POP and even the newspaper clipping when it was for sale for $1700
The original owner, Jack now lives in Arizona.  I was able to get his email address also.  Jack ordered this with power steering, no rear spoiler, flat hood and console w/gauges.  Jack stated the reason he ordered w/o a rear spoiler was because his wife didn’t like the way it looked.
Darrell
'69 Camaro Z/28: 03B NOR X77 Dusk Blue, white top, all orig, Under construction
'69 Firebird all original 350 all power w/ac
'70 Plymouth Superbird: One owner, Limelight green, 45K miles, all original U code

69 Zee

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Re: 69 Z/28 X77 garage/barn find
« Reply #1 on: August 09, 2014, 03:44:39 PM »
Here's some of the original doc's and pics from the original owner's POP and the $1700 bill of sell from the mystery 2nd owner.  Someone was a fan of the "Chip and Dales " ...lol  notice the script at the bottom of the sale.   ;D  also when the Z was repainted in the reverse of the factory colors.

I'm going to try and research the seller name "Pat" and see what I can find.
Darrell
'69 Camaro Z/28: 03B NOR X77 Dusk Blue, white top, all orig, Under construction
'69 Firebird all original 350 all power w/ac
'70 Plymouth Superbird: One owner, Limelight green, 45K miles, all original U code

69Z28-RS

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Re: 69 Z/28 X77 garage/barn find
« Reply #2 on: August 09, 2014, 03:45:20 PM »
Copngratulations Darrell...  

 it sounds as if it could be a great car when everything is put back.. :)
and fantastic that you received the protecto-plate and paperwork!!
09C 69Z28-RS, 72 B 720 cowl console rosewood tint
69 Corvette, '60 Corvette, '72 Corvette
90 ZR1 red/red #246, 90 ZR1 white/gray #2466
72 El Camino, '55-'56-'57 Nomads, '55-'57 B/A Sedan

jack92584

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Re: 69 Z/28 X77 garage/barn find
« Reply #3 on: August 09, 2014, 03:49:43 PM »
Wow..Great find. Congratulations are definitely in order. Keep the pics coming.
69 Z28 / Hugger Orange /  Deluxe Houndstooth  / M21 / 4:10 Posi / GM of Canada documented

69 Zee

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Re: 69 Z/28 X77 garage/barn find
« Reply #4 on: August 09, 2014, 03:52:00 PM »
Here's she is all loaded up and about ready to pull away.  We had another 12 ft trailer loaded with all the parts, interior, motor, trans, body parts and other goodies..lol
Darrell
'69 Camaro Z/28: 03B NOR X77 Dusk Blue, white top, all orig, Under construction
'69 Firebird all original 350 all power w/ac
'70 Plymouth Superbird: One owner, Limelight green, 45K miles, all original U code

69 Zee

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Re: 69 Z/28 X77 garage/barn find
« Reply #5 on: August 09, 2014, 03:57:22 PM »
Originals YH and correct dated rims.  Hidden VIN's all in order.  Body is about 97% solid.  Will need some work to the rear of each qtrs and a few small area in the trunk and floor pan.  But over all... solid and it will retain most all it's metal... WOOHOO !!
Darrell
'69 Camaro Z/28: 03B NOR X77 Dusk Blue, white top, all orig, Under construction
'69 Firebird all original 350 all power w/ac
'70 Plymouth Superbird: One owner, Limelight green, 45K miles, all original U code

69 Zee

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Re: 69 Z/28 X77 garage/barn find
« Reply #6 on: August 09, 2014, 04:00:10 PM »
Copngratulations Darrell...   

 it sounds as if it could be a great car when everything is put back.. :)
and fantastic that you received the protecto-plate and paperwork!!
Thanks,  yeah it's been X-mas in August for me..lol.
Darrell
'69 Camaro Z/28: 03B NOR X77 Dusk Blue, white top, all orig, Under construction
'69 Firebird all original 350 all power w/ac
'70 Plymouth Superbird: One owner, Limelight green, 45K miles, all original U code

69 Zee

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Re: 69 Z/28 X77 garage/barn find
« Reply #7 on: August 09, 2014, 04:02:15 PM »
Wow..Great find. Congratulations are definitely in order. Keep the pics coming.
Thanks,  my phone's been smoking from pics..lol.  More coming
Darrell
'69 Camaro Z/28: 03B NOR X77 Dusk Blue, white top, all orig, Under construction
'69 Firebird all original 350 all power w/ac
'70 Plymouth Superbird: One owner, Limelight green, 45K miles, all original U code

69 Zee

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Re: 69 Z/28 X77 garage/barn find
« Reply #8 on: August 09, 2014, 04:12:30 PM »
Oddly I haven't seen any partial VIN stamp on the eng.  pad nor the filter location.  Is it possible that the stamper ran off to the bathroom when my blocked passed..lol   ???
Darrell
'69 Camaro Z/28: 03B NOR X77 Dusk Blue, white top, all orig, Under construction
'69 Firebird all original 350 all power w/ac
'70 Plymouth Superbird: One owner, Limelight green, 45K miles, all original U code

69 Zee

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Re: 69 Z/28 X77 garage/barn find
« Reply #9 on: August 09, 2014, 04:23:53 PM »
What exactly does all that paint mean ?  Looks like someone had a "Friday liquid lunch" near quitting time in Norwood while assembling the crank.  I know that area, being from Cincinnati originally and there's plenty of bars to hit for lunch..lol
Darrell
'69 Camaro Z/28: 03B NOR X77 Dusk Blue, white top, all orig, Under construction
'69 Firebird all original 350 all power w/ac
'70 Plymouth Superbird: One owner, Limelight green, 45K miles, all original U code

69Z28-RS

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Re: 69 Z/28 X77 garage/barn find
« Reply #10 on: August 09, 2014, 04:25:51 PM »
Re the VIN stamp on the engine..   Anything is possible, but not having one is not probable... :)     Your block appears to have been 'worked' before..   the stamping on the deck is 'thin', but I can still see broach marks, so it appears to be the original application stamping and matches the Protectoplate.   The block surface you photographed also appears to have been repainted before,so I suspect once you clean the paint off that area, and look very closely, you'll see the VIN stamp on the cast surface.   NOTE:   that stamping is very difficult to see even with perfect metal and vision..    Be careful when cleaning to NOT abrade the block itself..  Use a little lacquer thinner and a brass fine bristle brush to clean the block, then put a bright light on it..  look at it from various angles also holding your bright light at various angles..  I'm sure it will 'pop out' for you..     then photograph it..   ensure that the stamping is captured in the image....  :)
09C 69Z28-RS, 72 B 720 cowl console rosewood tint
69 Corvette, '60 Corvette, '72 Corvette
90 ZR1 red/red #246, 90 ZR1 white/gray #2466
72 El Camino, '55-'56-'57 Nomads, '55-'57 B/A Sedan

69Z28-RS

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Re: 69 Z/28 X77 garage/barn find
« Reply #11 on: August 09, 2014, 04:28:52 PM »
it appears to me that your biggest 'issues' are going to be:    1) finding all the fasteners that were removed when things were disassembled..  and if you have them, getting them associated with the correct locations..  and 2) paying the costs for rebuilding/restoring the parts..       You have a great starting place though.. :)
09C 69Z28-RS, 72 B 720 cowl console rosewood tint
69 Corvette, '60 Corvette, '72 Corvette
90 ZR1 red/red #246, 90 ZR1 white/gray #2466
72 El Camino, '55-'56-'57 Nomads, '55-'57 B/A Sedan

69 Zee

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Re: 69 Z/28 X77 garage/barn find
« Reply #12 on: August 09, 2014, 04:39:20 PM »
it appears to me that your biggest 'issues' are going to be:    1) finding all the fasteners that were removed when things were disassembled..  and if you have them, getting them associated with the correct locations..  and 2) paying the costs for rebuilding/restoring the parts..       You have a great starting place though.. :)
Yeah I have 2 huge containers also of all the brackets, nuts, bolts, screws, washer..ect.   Phil stated that he knows the history of the car since his high school days (1979) and the block was never touch, just disassembled.  He does not know anything about what the dealer in Tampa may have done.  But he highly doubted it.  Car has 59K actual miles also.
Darrell
'69 Camaro Z/28: 03B NOR X77 Dusk Blue, white top, all orig, Under construction
'69 Firebird all original 350 all power w/ac
'70 Plymouth Superbird: One owner, Limelight green, 45K miles, all original U code

6667ss138

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Re: 69 Z/28 X77 garage/barn find
« Reply #13 on: August 09, 2014, 04:42:35 PM »
Congrats Darrell, I've been looking forward to you getting it home and letting us see.
I agree with Gary, you will probably have to carefully remove the paint and might have to get some good light and a magnifying glass and then you might only see part of the VIN numbers. That's the way it is on mine. Mine is still in the car which makes it even more difficult to read. They just didn't stamp them very hard or clear there a lot of the time.
Keep the pics and info coming!

69 Zee

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Re: 69 Z/28 X77 garage/barn find
« Reply #14 on: August 09, 2014, 04:47:26 PM »
The heads and Carb numbers.  Also the drive shaft with the stripes.  Again..anyone have answers about the stripes around the drive shaft ?
Darrell
'69 Camaro Z/28: 03B NOR X77 Dusk Blue, white top, all orig, Under construction
'69 Firebird all original 350 all power w/ac
'70 Plymouth Superbird: One owner, Limelight green, 45K miles, all original U code