64 Z-06

[Mark D.]

Re: 64 Z-06



It is either 11-62 or 11-63 (11-62 wouldn't make sense so it must be 11-63)

[Michael H.]

Re: 64 Z-06

It is either 11-62 or 11-63

It would have to be 11 of 63. That's probably about the time transistor ignition was first added to the 64 option list so the sheet would have been revised at that time.

These sheets changed often during model years as available options were added/deleted.

[Ed L.]

Re: 64 Z-06

Thanks, Mike. The original post said 11-64. Ed.

[Michael H.]

Re: 64 Z-06

Thanks, Mike. The original post said 11-64. Ed.

Thanks. I corrected it to show 11-63. Brain fade, I suppose.

[Chris E.]

Re: 64 Z-06

I'm amazed, is anyone else?...........

[John H.]

Re: 64 Z-06

I think this addresses Tom Hendricks' previous post about a dealer bulletin; from page 241 in Noland's Vol. II book. The footnote references the Dealer Bulletin, issued December 26, 1963.

[Michael H.]

Re: 64 Z-06

I think this addresses Tom Hendricks' previous post about a dealer bulletin; from page 241 in Noland's Vol. II book. The footnote references the Dealer Bulletin, issued December 26, 1963.

According to this, there were not only no Z06's produced for the 64 model year, but also no J56 or F40 optioned cars until after the December time noted.

[Duke W.]

Re: 64 Z-06

So it appears that '64 "Z-06" orders were placed on hold awaiting said "design modifications and refinements", and when Chevrolet determined that they would not take place, F-40 and J-56 were unbundled and dealers with 1964 "Z-06" orders were instructed as of late Decemeber, 1963 to contact their customers with to determine what they wanted to do.

So there really is no such thing as a "'64 Z-06", which is what I always believed, but now we know "The Rest of the Story" as Paul Harvey used to say.

Now the next question is what were these "design modifications and refinements" originally scheduled for Z-06?

Duke

[Tom H.]

Re: 64 Z-06

Were there any rule changes in the racing world that might have lead to the demise of the Z06 package ?? Just a thought.

[Michael H.]

Re: 64 Z-06

Now the next question is what were these "design modifications and refinements" originally scheduled for Z-06?

Duke

That's what I was wondering too. Possible that disc brakes were just over the horizon for mid 64?

[Duke W.]

Re: 64 Z-06

According to this, there were not only no Z06's produced for the 64 model year, but also no J56 or F40 optioned cars until after the December time noted.

Once the unbundling was communicated to dealers in late December, I see no reason why F-40 and/or J-56 could not be ordered and built within 30 days unless there was no inventory, which could be the case if design changes were anticipated and no '63 Z-06 parts remained at the plant.

This "'64 Z-06" situation is similar to the '63 P-48 situation. When I ordered my SWC in early February, I wanted P-48, but was told by the dealer that the order would have to be placed on hold because P-48 was not released. Since I wanted the car "yesterday" I dropped P-48. Good thing I did or I would never have received my SWC.

Duke

[Duke W.]

Re: 64 Z-06

That's what I was wondering too. Possible that disc brakes were just over the horizon for mid 64?

My thought, too. Maybe they hoped to release the new disc brake system as part of Z-06 in 1964 before the regular release as base equipment on '65 models, but by December they realized that they would not be able to get the parts to the plants until too late in the '64 model year.

The other question is why did they even bother to unbundle Z-06 since at that point it was only the HD suspension and HD drum brakes? Why didn't they just go ahead and process the Z-06 orders as is? The customers didn't expect anything different from the '63 Z-06 package.

Duke

[Duke W.]

Re: 64 Z-06

Were there any rule changes in the racing world that might have lead to the demise of the Z06 package ?? Just a thought.

I don't think so, but then the HD brake package never did work worth a damn, even after Chevrolet changed the lining material at least once if not more times during the '63 model year.

The Washburn Chevrolet team basically ended up with a J-65 system due to their bad experience with J-56 and kept the brakes this way even after they lightened the car and made other changes that forced then into the C-modified class about mid-way through the '63 racing season.

Duke

[George J.]

Re: 64 Z-06

I don't think so, but then the HD brake package never did work worth a damn, even after Chevrolet changed the lining material at least once if not more times during the '63 model year.

The Washburn Chevrolet team basically ended up with a J-65 system due to their bad experience with J-56 and kept the brakes this way even after they lightened the car and made other changes that forced then into the C-modified class about mid-way through the '63 racing season.

Duke

Duke,
this is a little off-topic, but do you know anywhere that I might find a thorough explanation of all of the sports car racing classes/categories from the sixties? For someone who did not live it, they are massively confusing. Thanks.

George

[Duke W.]

Re: 64 Z-06

No, I don't. You might look at the SCCA Web site to see if they have any historical information.

SCCA had four basic categories in that era - Production, Modified, Sedan, and Formula, which were open wheel cars.

The Production and Sedan classes in that era were pretty much showroom stock with the exception of removal of some interior trim and exterior trim and bumpers, and open exhaust, but no headers until the mid-sixties.

If you modified a production car too far for from the production rules you had to run in a Modified Class and CM was the highest class based on displacement. It was the precursor to Can-Am. Cars. Modifieds basically had to have a full envelope body, "doors", and seat two people. Beyond that almost anything was allowed and the class boundaries were based on engine displacement. Many D-modifieds were home built.

A-sedan was the basis for Trans-Am cars.

Sometime, I think in the eighties, SCCA combined a number of Production and Sedan classes into "GT classes" and allowed tube frame cars. I believe the lower performance production classes still survive and and you typically see both newer cars like Miatas and older cars like MGs running in classes like E-production, and Sprites and Midgets have composed H-production since the Stone Age.

FIA had their own rules and additional modifications were usually allowed as long as the factory "homologated" them with documentation to the FIA.

Corvettes and other sports cars were classified as "GT" (Grand Touring). There were also "Touring" classes for sedans, and both were usually subcategorized based on displacement.

GT classes had a minimum production requirement - typically 100. A most famous case was the Ferrari GTO. The old man promised to build 100, but the final number was only 39. The Prototype classes as the name implies had no minimum production requirement.

The "Sports" class was established circa 1965 with a minimum production requirement of 50, which qualified the small block GT40 for this class and later, the Porsche 917.

SCCA pretty much had monopoly control over US road racing, but the Southern California Region broke away sometime in the late fifties or early sixties - calling themselves the California Sports Car Club or Cal Club. SCCA retaliated by not accepting Cal Club drivers for SCCA races which still included Northern California. This whole flap caused Bob Bondurant to quit racing for awhile, but Shelly Washburn (of Washburn Chevrolet in Santa Barbara) talked him into coming back to race the new Sting Ray. By this time Cal Club and SCCA resolved their differences and Cal Club became an SCCA region in good standing.

Though managed by SCCA three US races were FIA sanctioned, so the manufacturers could earn World Championship points, and the cars could run in FIA configuration. These three FIA races were Daytona, Sebring, and Watkins Glen.

Of course back in that era GM officially was not involved in any kind of racing, but Duntov had a "back door" and there were several organizations including several Chevrolet dealers (Washburn, Alan Green, Seattle, and Delmo Johnson, Dallas) and other organization like Mickey Thompson and Grady Davis (a Gulf oil executive who owned his own racing team) that got logistics and engineering support, and these organizations got the first batch of '63 Z-06 Coupes that made their racing debut at the Riverside three-hour enduro in October 1962.

Doug Hooper won that race in a Thompson Z-06. The lone Cobra driven by Ken Miles was clearly faster, but broke a hub and was DNF, but the handwriting was on the wall. Duntov responded with the Grand Sport, but the program was shut down before he could build the 125 cars to qualify it for FIA GT and SCCA AP. The GS would have been a world beating GT/AP car, but it had to run FIA races as a Prototype, and CM in SCCA, and it was not generally competitive against the newer, small mid-engine Prototypes and CM cars due to its large frontal area and poor aerodyanmics (high drag and lift compared to the mid-engine cars that had similar power an weight, but much lower drag and lift).

Duke