Archives for May 2012

Two (out of eight) former owners I can’t locate. The first only had the car for a few months and I have no info on him.  Finding him may be impossible.   Alfred said he thinks the first owner had the car reposessed.

The next one I can’t locate is Dave Brock. Normally I only put up first names, but since I can’t find him, I’m using his full name. From discussions with Alfred, it sounds like he is 95% sure he sold the car to Dave Brock. Dave Brock is a very common name and I have had no luck in tracking him down.

I met up with Jack again a few months ago, and we talked about Dave Brock.

In November of 1974, Jack was sent to a aircraft maintainence school. I think he learned to repair C130 engines  there. The school was at Sheppard AFB Wichita Falls, Texas. One of his fellow students was a Dave Brock. There is a very good probability this is the same Dave Brock that bought the car from Alfred and sold it to Larry. Larry then brought the car to Hurlburt field.

Dave Brock = Top row, 3rd guy from the left

Jack = Bottom, left corner

I recently got an email from Jack’s brother…..Dan.

It is always awesome to hear from guys that actually drove the car back in the day. The car was part of their lives and history while growing up and every single one of them that I’ve talked to remembers the car and in many cases even loved the car and their time with it.

Dan wrote:

I’m Jacks brother Dan from Jersey.
I just wanted to drop a line to say that I’m glad that someone with the vision & compassion to restore the Z to it’s original state, bought it.   I never thought I would see the day that Jack would let it go, so congrats to you.
Jack & I were just talking about the fact that other than Jack, I was the only one that he ever let drive the Z .
I can still remember that day ( approx. 30 years ago ) like it was yesterday. The feeling of driving that car at 20 yrs. old was incredible, I remember the way people looked at the car going down the road was purely ” I WANT THAT “.  I will follow the progress of restoration on the site you have on the Z, (thank you for having that ) There’s not many things that are worse than letting a part of your life go & never seeing it again, At least we can still see it & the appreciation the new owner has for it.  Good luck with the Z & I hope you enjoy it as much as Jack did.

 All’s I can say is THANKS for the email Dan.  I think that the appreciation I have for the car equals that of the former owners and I am trying my best of make sure the car turns out the best that I can.  My goal is to make the car as it came off the assembly line in 1969.  THANKS for the encouragement!!!

When I was going through the parts that Jack gave me, one of the parts was the radiator cap. The rivet on top looked odd and there was a hole in one of the ears. I confirmed that it was an original cap on the Camaro Resource Group. The guys there are truly amazing. Some of them can look at a blurry and small picture of an engine and spot 5 to 10 things right off the bat that make the engine either incorrect or a possible clone.

So….I posted my radiator cap and asked for help, and they confirmed the cap is absolutely correct for a 01B 1969 Camaro. The hole was probably drilled by someone who attached a safety cord.

Then I started looking for a place to have it restored. Some of the guys on the CRG said I should restore it myself, but compared to folks that specialize in specific parts, my work qualifies in the category of either “hack” or “backyard mechanic”. Since that’s not acceptable for this car, I started searching. One name that came up consistently as doing awesome work on yenko.net and camaros.net was Joe Perri.

I sent the radiator cap off to Mr. Perri and was real happy with the results. He even fixed the hole that was in the ear.

Joe Perri
6845 N. Mendota Avenue
Chicago, IL 60646
phone: 312-307-1977
email: corvetteillinois@comcast.net