Contacted William L., Owner #5, Randolph, NJ.

Today I called William L. and he was an owner of the car from ~1974 – 1987 in Randolph, NJ.

He bought the car from a Al E. who was still in the Northern New Jersey area. In recent years, he discovered the car was a Z06, he knew it was an original fuelie, had the fans on the breaks, had a higher speedometer. Noted that the prior owner replaced the engine with a crate motor he got from Chevy corp. He remembers taking it into Nilsen Sunoco on Route 46 in Dover, NJ. He thought he had it for about 10 years, can’t remember who he sold it to. It was not a daily driver. He didn’t put many miles on it.

He had many corvettes, a 77, 72 and many others. He said it once had side pipes before he bought it as he saw holes for the side pipes in the side of the car. He doesn’t have any documents, tools, parts. 
He can’t remember the exact date he bought it, nor when he sold it (I've calculated it based on discussions with other owners)

He will look and see if he does happen to have any documents.

Spoke with Owner #6, Robert Whitey N.

I called Robert "Whitey" N. today.  He owned the car from ~1987 – 1989 in Rockaway, NJ. 

Whitey’s dad bought a Sunoco gas station in 1967.  Whitey saw the corvette come in from when he was a young boy. It was before high school, he was probably 13-14 years old (about 1972).

He loved the look of the car. The owner was an attorney, William L. of Randolph, NJ, and Whitey always told him that he’d like to buy the car if he ever sold it. Whitey and his younger brother John owned the car together. They borrowed $15,000 from a friend to buy the car. They sold the car in 1989 to Michael D.  He was not happy to see the car go, they really enjoyed the car.

The car was always blue/black when he bought it. It did not have the fuel injection unit. He rebuilt the u-joints on the rear. He doesn’t have any other paperwork. He said that William L. mentioned that the motor was replaced, maybe under warranty.

The pictures below are from 1987.  The car is Daytona Blue with black interior.

Michael D., Owner #7 called me today

Michael D. of Dover, NJ called me. He owned the car from ~1989 – 1992 and sold the car to Jane T. for $23,000.He bought it from Robert Whitey N., who owned a Sunoco on Route 46 in Rockaway with his brother John. The car was dark blue/black when he bought it. He knew it once was a red interior car as there was a piece of red vinyl in the passenger kick panel he saw when working on the car. He owned it for about 3 years and sold it when his 4th son was born. He drove the car a lot and wanted to buy the car back again from Jane T.  But they didn’t call him when they sold it. He’s owned 11 Corvette’s and this one was the tightest car of all of them. He drove the car regularly. The car didn’t have the FI unit in it and the FI emblem was not on the body when he owned it. He has some pictures of it taken when the car was in his driveway. He will send a snapshot of those. He called Robert Whitey N. after the call above and called me back with the following info: Whitey bought it off of William L. who is an attorney in Succasunna, NJ. Whitey says William should know the original owner. The photos below are photo of the car from 1987 that were on Whitey's brother, John N.’s Facebook page. 

Z06 Registery - This car was listed on the registry as black exterior, black interior

I contacted Jim Gessner (vettfinderjim).  I saw that Jim had a list of 1963 Z06 cars that was compiled by Bob Jones.  Jim looked up the car’s VIN on Bob Jones’ Z06 Registry and it was listed as a Black exterior, black interior car.  It's probably has been on there a long time.  Jim said that Bob Jones could probably provide the info of who gave him the info on the car. 

Chatted on Facebook with Owner #7, Michael D.

I found Michael D. on FaceBook and sent him a text indicating that I was researching the car. Michael replied a few hours later and provided the #4 owner information, Robert W N. of Rockaway, NJ.  The family once owned a Sunoco Station in Rockaway, NJ.

Found a work email address for Owner #7, Michael D.

I found an work email address for Michael D. in Rockaway, NJ.  Sent an email indicating that I was researching the 1963 Corvette that he sold to Jane T.  Rockaway NJ is only 10 miles from Mt. Arlington, NJ and near Dover, NJ where Stephen T. mentioned that Michael D. lived. 

I talked with the previous owner, Stephen and Jane T.

I called the number I discovered yesterday and talked with Stephen T. (and his wife Jane who's name was on the title). He owned car for 25 years from 1992 – 2016 and told me about their history on the car.

They bought the car from Michael D. from Dover NJ and who currently works in Rockaway, NJ. The car was midnight blue and black interior when Stephen bought it. Stephen decided to restore the car and paint it silver blue. When he removed the paint, he saw 4 different colors (metallic blue, Daytona blue, etc). He put 1,500 hours in the restoration over 2 years. Bought $15k in parts.

When he pulled the center kick panels, he saw the Z06 written in orange crayon behind the radio. This is how he discovered it was a Z06 car.  As he began to restore the car, he found Z06 written in orange crayon in 3 areas, 1: on passenger side floor, 2: behind radio, and 3: on the bulkhead under gas tank. The Z06 Master cylinder was missing. "It had a crappy master cylinder" when he bought the car so he put on a reproduction. It has the original heads with 202 valves. The carb is out of a 340 HP car. He put in new wiring harness.

The car had the original knock off wheels for a '63-'65.  He restored all 5 of them. The drivers side radiator mount has hole in the radiator mount for the FI Air Cleaner system. He took off the Z06 brake fans as they made a lot of noise. He installed a new antenna and wire, and all new u-joints. Said the frame is in great shape. The glovebox had a sticker in it that said Reedman Chevrolet in Philly. Assumed it was bought there. He had the gauges redone and put in leather seats. He took pictures of all the parts he worked on. They are on a coffee table in the pictures. He painted the car himself in his garage. First time he's every painted a car. He used yellow primer to make sure he covered everything with the final coat. Painted in Ditzler, Silver Blue, same as a Mercedes color. Base coat/clear coat.

He put new black dye on the dash. Radio is rebuilt.

He got arthritis and couldn't get in the car anymore, so he sold it to Tom W who lived down the street from him. Stephen thinks he was the 6th owner because the NJ Title had an "F" meaning that there were 5 prior owners. There are two binders. One with pictures, one with receipts and other documentation. Subsequently, I realized that the NJ title has an "8" before the VIN, likely meaning that Jane T. may be the 8th owner.

Found new contact information for the previous owner

I was searching on Google this evening and found the name of the previous owner, Stephen T. located in North Carolina. He had recently registered to vote and the record provided his phone number. It's 11pm now, so, I'll call tomorrow to see if he's the prior owner of the Z06.

Spoke further with Tony about the Z06 today

We'll have the engine acid tanked (boiled at 200 degrees) and that gets most of the grime off. They then magna flux it and pressure test it. When rebuilding, the crank will be zero balanced with the pulleys and then will also balance with the clutch plate and the clutch. Dan will be bulling apart the car the week after Thanksgiving. I plan on going to Maryland to work on dismantling the car to begin the restoration.