Looking for information on '63 pilot line cars

[Deborah B.]

Hello everyone,
I'm new to this site. I am looking for any material that tells about the 1963 pilot line cars. I have a book at home that says that #1-#25 were used for advertising photos, proving grounds etc but it didn't give any details as far as which vin's were coupes and which ones were convert.
Also interested in knowing if these cars were sent to dealerships or what.
Would you guys be able to help me out?

thanks
Deb

[Joe L.]

Re: Looking for information on '63 pilot line cars

Hello everyone,
I'm new to this site. I am looking for any material that tells about the 1963 pilot line cars. I have a book at home that says that #1-#25 were used for advertising photos, proving grounds etc but it didn't give any details as far as which vin's were coupes and which ones were convert.
Also interested in knowing if these cars were sent to dealerships or what.
Would you guys be able to help me out?

thanks
Deb

Deb------


The person you need to contact is Franz Estereicher. I doubt there is anyone on earth that knows more about 1963 pilot line cars than Franz. I think you should be able to send him an e-mail through the "members list" section of this board. Tell him Joe Lucia sent you.

[Deborah B.]

Re: Looking for information on '63 pilot line cars

Hey Joe,

Thanks, you're the BEST!
I will try to contact him tonight.

Deb

[Wayne M.]

Re: Looking for information on '63 pilot line cars

.....I am looking for any material that tells about the 1963 pilot line cars. I have a book at home that says that #1-#25 were used for advertising photos, proving grounds etc but it didn't give any details as far as which vin's were coupes and which ones were convert.
Also interested in knowing if these cars were sent to dealerships or what.
Would you guys be able to help me out? ....

Welcome, Deb; sorry I didn't answer your email earlier. All I have for 1963 is the GM Canada Shipping Records, and the only car it shows among the first 25 is VIN 00014, a convertible, red on code 2490 interior, which, in theory, could be any of the three non-black vinyls, but looking at the trim chart, is probably red vinyl.

It was shipped to dealer # 4300, which is probably some province of Manitoba location; IMO, a weird place for the first Canadian C2 to land .

In the column heading "produced", it says Aug 20th, and "shipped" the next day. But going by Canadian GM records from other C2 years, we believe these dates may represent when the car arrived at the GM Canadian distribution center, and not necessarily the St.Louis "birthday".

For example, the next VIN shipped north is # 00068, and its dates are both Sept 18th., which just might be the birth date, given so few were produced by that month's end.

[Deborah B.]

Re: Looking for information on '63 pilot line cars

Very interesting. Too bad I didn't get lucky and you had the information for #9. I'll keep going.
I did just get a document from GM that was found in Zora's files.
"1963 Production Corvette Fleet Usage Summary"
It does not give the VIN # jhas a column called Corvette # and they start with 38. So, 3813, 3814 etc. but not in any numerical order.

[Joe L.]

Re: Looking for information on '63 pilot line cars

Very interesting. Too bad I didn't get lucky and you had the information for #9. I'll keep going.
I did just get a document from GM that was found in Zora's files.
"1963 Production Corvette Fleet Usage Summary"
It does not give the VIN # jhas a column called Corvette # and they start with 38. So, 3813, 3814 etc. but not in any numerical order.

Deb-----


I think that Franz knows the history and current whereabouts of just about all the pilot line cars. In fact, I think he even has a lot of this committed to memory and can often comment without even looking at a written reference.

[Rich G.]

Re: Looking for information on '63 pilot line cars

I have seen #13 recently. It is a silver coupe. FI. Can't remember the interior color. I think (not sure) it spent some of its early life at the Rochester factory

[John H.]

Re: Looking for information on '63 pilot line cars

Very interesting. Too bad I didn't get lucky and you had the information for #9. I'll keep going.
I did just get a document from GM that was found in Zora's files.
"1963 Production Corvette Fleet Usage Summary"
It does not give the VIN # jhas a column called Corvette # and they start with 38. So, 3813, 3814 etc. but not in any numerical order.

Deb -

All vehicles ordered for Engineering evaluation/testing were assigned an Engineering Vehicle number when they arrived, for internal tracking; that number had no relationship to the car's VIN number.

[Sydney G.]

Re: Looking for information on '63 pilot line cars

Hi db,

Glad to see you opened this thread.
Is your '63 Coupe the #9 car?
If it is, you have a great opportunity to compare it with the '63 #8 Coupe Tom mentioned in the earlier thread a day or two ago about the early '65.

I have #14 recorded in my '63 file (from paperwork only) as having a Red interior and #13 recorded as having a Blue interior.
I hope Franz joins in!

Good luck with your research Deb.
Syd

[Edward S.]

Re: Looking for information on '63 pilot line cars

In 2001 I was looking at the 65 L78 I have now when someone told me that a guy here in Jersey had a 63 split FI for sale that was in great shape. I had at one time a red split and I went to look at this fuelie - it was silver with a blk. interior. The night I went to look at it the owner did alot of work himself and had the valve covers off doing some adjustments to the lifters. The car was in nice shape, but since I could not start it up or take for a ride I did not really look at a lot on the car because I had my heart set on my 65 - never looked at the vin. I do remember the car had blackwall tires and I mentioned that if I bought it I would put ww of it - the owner who was not into NCRS told me he had been invited to a show for fuelies held on the grounds of the plant in NY that made the FI units. He had a great looking award he had won at the show for the condition of his unit. Long story short he said when his car was judged it had ww on it and lost points as he was told his car would have left the plant with blackwalls - I did not give it a second thought. I bought the 65 and about a year later a friend told me he was looking for a quality Split Window - I still had the phone number of the guy with the silver car and gave it to my friend. I was surprised to find the guy still had the car and sold it to my friend. My friend had it for 6/7 months and took it for judging somewhere that had differant people coming over to see if he wanted to sell the car. He held on to the car for a couple of months as people kept calling about the car - he was told that it was a pilot car. I would hate to tell you what he paid for it and what it sold for - all I know I have been kicking myself all these years for not buying it. I would think that somewhere there are judging sheets on file for I think 2002 ( somewhere held along the East Coast) that would have the vin#. Wish I had more info for you but I hope in some way this helps.

[Sydney G.]

Re: Looking for information on '63 pilot line cars

Are the first 25 cars built in 1963 all considered to be Pilot Line cars and were they the actual start to '63 regular production?
Or, did the '63 Pilot Line cars have separate distinctive trim tags, as the Grand Sports had?

It would be interesting to see the Body sequence car by car on the trim tags.

I was just wondering based on what Wayne said about the Canadian car #14.

Syd

[John D.]

Re: Looking for information on '63 pilot line cars

Jerry Bramlett has some 63 pilot line cars. #16 is one of them. I agree that Franzie has more info that anyone in our hobby about the pilot cars. He was writing a book but I haven't heard anything about him or the book lately.
Seems Franz has dropped out of sight for some reason. Anyone hear from him? JD

[William L.]

Re: Looking for information on '63 pilot line cars

Deborah, try c2registry.org they have vin nuimbers ooo, oo3, 020, 021, & 023 listed. Hope this helps. Bill

[Joe L.]

Re: Looking for information on '63 pilot line cars

Jerry Bramlett has some 63 pilot line cars. #16 is one of them. I agree that Franzie has more info that anyone in our hobby about the pilot cars. He was writing a book but I haven't heard anything about him or the book lately.
Seems Franz has dropped out of sight for some reason. Anyone hear from him? JD

John-----


I think he's getting back into some area of automotive parts manufacturing----maybe shocks or springs. That was keeping him pretty busy the last time I talked with him.

[Deborah B.]

Re: Looking for information on '63 pilot line cars

Unless I'm blind, I didn't see Franz listed in the "member list"
Does anyone have his email address?