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.

Began the process of researching the ownership history

I started today to research the ownership history of the Z06. I have a copy of the last title with the owner from 1992 until 2016 when Tony purchased the car. I spent some time Googling the last owner of record on the title, Jane T. from Mt. Arlington. I discovered a Stephen and Jane with the same last name from Mt. Arlington NJ, but also discovered they moved in 2015....I'll need to keep searching.

More details on the Z06 car from Tony

I spoke with Tony today regarding the Z06.  He bought the car in 2016. The prior owner was Jane T. of Mount Arlington, NJ.  The title was issued in 1992. Tony has a bunch of older pictures of the car being restored. In the pictures, the car appears to be in black color, possibly blue.  The pictures show it on jack stands with Z06 backing plates, and T-arms. There’s a picture of the car in a news article at the Cozy Drive-In which is near Mt. Arlington NJ.

Z06 is written on the rear bulkhead, under the radio, and on the passenger floor pan.  These are the three places the Z06 writing is known to be written. Has all three.  Tony said the Z06 markings were original based on the style of the writing.

There’s a picture of a guy, his wife and son restoring and stripping the paint off the car.

Seats were reupholstered. Dash was painted black.  But you can see under everything in the interior that it was red.  There’s red overspray under the back and the bulkhead. In 3 weeks, Tony plans to start pulling apart the Z06 and will get a list of what’s needed.

Picture of the car in 1994, prior to restoration by the owner at that time.

Picture in ~1994 when the family was working on the car, planning to paint silver blue.

Picture in ~1994 under the carpet, clearly showing red paint on the floor boards.

Picture under the passenger side floorboards with the Z06 F writing.

Picture from ~1994 with the Z06 F writing behind the gas tank.

Picture from ~1994 of the interior with red paint on the floor boards and black overspray under the headliner and rear windows. Windows were left in the car during this restoration.

Finned Z06 brake drums from 1994 restoration.

Z06 backing plates

Z06 backing plates during restoration in 1994.

Z06 brake cooling fans in 1994.

Z06 brake drums

Picture of the completed car ~1995 at the Cozy Drive-in on Route 46 in Netcong, New Jersey.

Picture of the Z06 car once restoration was completed in ~1995.

Text received from Tony Avidesian

Tony texted me:

Chris
I am about 1 month from starting the restoration on the black red Z06 and want to talk to you before I begin
Call me
Thx Tony


We spoke. Tony decided he wanted to sell the car. He said he’s going to start restoring it in 30 days. Clean car, underside is clean, but need to go through it. It's a black/red Z06 car and he's aware of 1 other black/red Z06 that he restored. It's located in Florida. I expressed interest.

I attended Corvette's at Carlisle this year, met the Z06 Book authors

I attended Corvette's At Carlisle this year and Tony Avedesian released his book, The Definitive 1963 Corvette RPO Z06.

At Carlisle, I spoke quite a bit with the 3 authors Tony, Greg and Marty.  I also read the book cover to cover over the next few days after Carlisle.  I was looking for a '63 SWC as the time, but after reading this book and learning about the uniqueness of the Z06, I mentioned to Tony that I was interested in finding a Z06 car.

Link to purchase The Definitive 1963 Corvette RPO Z06.

First saw the Z06 at Tony's Corvette Shop, MD

I first saw the Z06 car in a storage garage at Tony's Corvette's in Gaithersburg, MD. I was there looking at a 1963 fuelie roadster (which I now own) that Tony was selling. The Z06 was silver blue with black interior. Tony bought the car from a guy in NJ because it was a Z06 and the trim tag indicated that it was originally a black/red car. Tony said he was planning on restoring the car as he wanted a small tank Z06 for his collection. I don't have a picture of the Z06 from that day, but below is the '63 roadster that I was looking at that day.