Unusual 63 SWC at Local Car Show Saturday - Z06?

[Mike T.]

A local car club sponsored a car show Saturday in Petaluma Calif. The turnout was not as good as in years past but there were about 130 to 150 cars in attendance. As I was roaming around the cars yesterday I spotted a Silver 63 SWC. Walked up and saw a solid looking car that had a carbureted smallblock in it but had FI tags on the fender. Not unusual for someone to add the FI tags to a non-FI car I thought. Struck up a conversation with the owner who said he's owned the car since '70 and he said the original engine 'and' the FI unit is at home and he added that his 63 was one of the original 199 Z06's. The tach had the high redline but that could also indicate the 340 horse engine as well as the FI version. Then I looked closer into the engine compartment and saw that very unusual looking Power Brake Dual Master Cylinder which I thought was only used for the Z06's. No big tank in this coupe but from what I gathered from Noland Adams book, the N03 Tank wasn't a 'given' when the later issue Z06's came out but rather a separate option and this one supposedly was built in April '63. There is a substantial roll bar assembly just behind the seats. Oh, I also saw two horizontal plugged holes in the drivers side inner wheel well and thought they could be for the FI Air Cleaner support? He mentioned talking with someone up in Pollock Pines, east of Sacramento about rebuilding his FI unit and figured it had to be Jim Lockwood. I can't believe I didn't take more pics of the car and also completely forgot to look underneath for the vented brakes. I was curious about that drivers side exhaust manifold since it seemed to have the stove pipe hole for a choke and figured it must have originally been for the passenger side of a carbureted vehicle but have heard that FI cars had the choke pipe on the drivers side. So, anybody see something in the pics to prove or disprove this SWC as being one of the original 199?



Mike T.

[Mike M.]

Re: Unusual 63 SWC at Local Car Show Saturday - Z06?

the power brake booster and master cylinder are ZO6 items. mike

[John D.]

Re: Unusual 63 SWC at Local Car Show Saturday - Z06?

Its refreshing to see a possible real deal Z06 non tanker with a fake carb instead of the other way around.
JD

[Sydney G.]

Re: Unusual 63 SWC at Local Car Show Saturday - Z06?

Were you able to spot what the serial number was?

Syd

[Mike T.]

Re: Unusual 63 SWC at Local Car Show Saturday - Z06?

Syd, the short answer to your question is, unfortunately, 'no'. I'm still kicking myself for not taking more pics or checking out the VIN/Trim tags.
I think it was due to my being skeptical about it being the real deal. There's been so many cars running around with non-original tags/hood/decals I just thought it must be a 340 horse car that someone stuck the FI tags on. But, the more I talked with the owner, the more I began to wonder if maybe it was legit after all.

Other than what you see in the pics I posted, the only other details I came away with were the owner mentioning the car was built in April '63 and the core support had the oval opening on the drivers side. Here again, I know that there are a number of non-FI cars running around with that type of core support since I have one, my 65 300 horse Coupe was one of those 'rode hard and put away wet' types of cars when I bought it in '85 and it had one of those supports then. The one odd thing about his core support oval opening was that it appeared someone had taken a torch to the short (less than 1/2-inch) flange and the resulting molten edge was left unfinished. The only other thing I spotted were the two horizontal holes near the top of the drivers side inner wheel well that I figured might have been for the original FI unit.

He did mention that some time ago he had talked with Jim Lockwood up in Pollock Pines, east of Sacramento, about rebuilding his FI unit but I got the feeling he didn't have his contact info anymore so I gave him my home phone and email address so I could pass along that info. I got the feeling he's quite interested in putting his 63 SWC back into original configuration and he'll most likely call.
Mike T.