CRUSHING HISTORY - This '63 Impala Z11 Didn't Survive the '70s
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- Опубликовано: 18 дек 2023
- This extremely rare 1963 Chevrolet Impala Z11 met its demise in an Iowa junkyard in the 1970's. It started life in Goldsboro, North Carolina, then Atlanta, Georgia, then New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio and finally Iowa. The car retained its original 427ci W motor and special lightweight body panels throughout its time on the drag strip. You'll see this car's progression, including a brief stint as Hubert Platt's Georgia Shaker, before Hubert switched over to Ford in late 1963. The car went on to several other owners, who all went on to be legendary drag racers later in their career.
Follow along with this car's journey, as well as a brief education about the Z11 package, a very rare factory drag car option, offered to select drag racers and dealerships in the USA.
#chevrolet #impala #dragracing 
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My uncle told me a story growing up about going to a Maryland junk yard to grab some parts for his 63 impala. He said he picked up a fender and a bumper and brought them home. A few weeks later he was pulling the fender and bumper off his and realized the junk yard parts were aluminum. He went back to the junkyard to look for the car and it was gone. This took place back in the early 70's
I live and grew up in the Hagerstown Md. area. Know exactly where Hoffman Chevrolet used to be and the Huntzberry Bros. That junk yard was probably Elwood Grimm's.
Oh wow that's wild @540street...what crazy luck!
How could you not know they were aluminum when you were picking them up?
No doubt.
@@SLJ2137694 Unless he never picked up a fender beforehand...
Wild how many owners the original car had. It's a shame most of the original factory drag cars got raced to death. Love the early Drag Racing History! Thanks for taking the time to bring the story back to life👍
Thank you for watching!
@@HotRodHoarderthank You for Sharing
The Z-11 was such an awesome car. And I love that Monaco Blue exterior color.
Your channel is one of the best rediscovering drag racing history. Please keep up your excellent work! Thank you
Very nice! I love hearing the history of vintage drag cars.
Thank you, glad you liked it!
Love the Z11 and the Swiss Cheese Pontiacs! Never realized this 427 was based on the 348/409 platforms..i always thought they were part of the Smokey Yunik mystery motors..mark vi i believe? Thanks for time and effort! Love this channel!🇺🇸🙏☮️
Yeah, there is definitely some confusion about the 427's...the Z11-spec 427 was a stroked 409, built for drag racing. The 427 "mystery motor" was the Smokey Yunick NASCAR engine, which was based on the Mark IV big block, which wasn't available to the public yet.
Did not Know the 427 CI had it's start on those early Blocks
Either.....
To Cool....
I remember going to the drags when I was little at Palm Beach International Raceway (P.B.I.R.) and seeing the "Georgia Shaker." My favorite was always Ollie Olsen. Loved them Willis. To me they had the coolest bodies. Another favorite was the "Stone Wood & Cook." GOD BLESS all the greats who influenced thousands of future Gear Heads.....
The 409 was a grenade motor. I can't imagine how punching it up even bigger and with more compression would have made it even more prone to blowing up. But that's a gorgeous car and I wonder what it's 1/4 mile ET's were.
The 396/427/454 big blocks liked to spin rod bearings because of the angles the rods are at TDC & BDC, which also liked to break piston skirts. Still got to love them because of the monster mid range RPM torque band and high range RPM horsepower. Just got to be patient on applying the power to the pavement, or everything goes up in smoke.
Great video, really dig these older factory monsters. In the video you mentioned Nalley Chevrolet, my cousin used to race Lamar Walden’s bubble top Impala and do headwork for his shop. Before they built their tube chassis fiberglass bodied car they raced a Nalley backed steel bodied car. Awesome details of the history of an iconic race car in this one.
Very cool history! Too bad the original got scrapped. 😥 That would be a very valuable car today had it survived. The recreation is awesome too! No question. 😎 I believe the 427 would go on to become the Corvette's main engine until the early 70s insurance and emissions killed it. Thanks for sharing!!
This version of the 427 was very short lived...1963 only. The newer 427's that came out a couple years later were the later big block design and a whole new animal.
great story, nicely done and not the usual "57 made" bull. (Tonawanda engine records show 50 units) and it was nice to see the picture I took of Wally and Beverly in the car at Mason Dixon Dragway. I was egging Wally to "step on it". I had a wonderful time that day spending it with the Bell's and Jackson's. I rode mrs. Jackson in my Z11 (looking) race car the Loving Chevrolet that morning when we lined tio two cars up side by side. Bob Walker Jr.
Thank you for commenting Bob...and thank you for taking that picture of Wally behind the wheel! I'm sure he had a great time, even if he didn't open it up!
Great story great car 👍🇺🇸
Thank you for watching!
Thank you for the History of this car. Beautiful recreation of the famous Drag car. Enjoy listening to you on this video!
Thanks for sharing!
💯👍👊
Love your coverage of the historic drag cars!😎 Looking forward to seeing more!
Thank you for watching!
Awesome stuff. Thank you
Super cool story champion. Thanks 👍🇦🇺
Wow - thanks for sharing !!
Thanks for watching!
A friend of mine has a Z-11. Really cool car. I even got to drive it
Great job on the video thanks
Great video...thanks
Thank you for watching!
Awesome stuff sir
Thank you for watching!
I actually found a list on line of the dealers that sold the original z11s and the people they sold them too. Also information about the surviving cars and current location. I have to be honest and say at my age everything I just said is true I just don't remember how I did it. Good Luck I know you will try and probably be successful thank you so much like my mom used to tell me you will always have your memoties.
I really enjoy your channel, you put a lot of effort in bringing back real american race cars and history behind, if you ever get up to southwest Virginia, used to race it elk creek dragway .look up an nova station wagon called Charlie brown , you be amazed the history on that one
Thank you! I'd love to get up that way sometime. A buddy of mine, Terry Davis, used to drag race a slick '66 Chevelle at Elk Creek several years ago. I'll have to look into the Charlie Brown car...I always love drag cars with history!
Love it!!
Thank you for watching!
Some really cool mason dixon history!
Wishing I had more photos from this car's days at Mason Dixon Dragway, but I'm sure I'll dig a few up someday.
I REALIZE THAT THESE Z-11 CHEVY'S WERE SOLD ALL OVER THE PLACE. IS THERE MAYBE A CENTRAL MUSEUM LOCATION WHERE THERWE ARE A LOT OF THESE OLD EXPERIMENTAL AND F/X CHEVY, FORD, AND MOPAR CARS LOCATED FOR VIEWING? REALLY ENJOYED YOUR VIDEO! ALWAYS WERE INTREAGED BY THESE VERY RARE AND FAST CHEVYS!! THANKS
I don't know of a particular museum that has a selection of experimental cars on hand, but I was really impressed with the Factory Drag Car exhibit at the Savoy Auto Museum in Cartersville, Georgia. They had this Z11, a Swiss Cheese Pontiac, a '64 Thunderbolt, '65 A990 Mopar, '68 Hemi Dart, and others on display. It was really great, but I believe that exhibit is now over. The Savoy museum has rotating exhibits to keep things fresh...it's a neat place.
Great video!...Heading to the vintage Dragfest in Lebanon PA this weekend?
Great Car, great video. Even a Mopar guy can appreciate a beast like that(though it would have been cool if you would have shown a bit of the Hemi Dart behind it, lol)
Idk where my comment went, but my father has a real one that he's had sense the 80's. Someone probably lost a foot to with a exploded clutch/flywheel. Had a hole at the ankle area above the gas pedal. Its a 63 and was a 427 pacecar we sanded most of the decals and sponsors off in the mid 90s. He still has it in the garage. If anyone knows anything about this car please let me know. Ty from Burke county NC.
It's for sale for the right price and yes it's a true z-11. It needs to be restored and a new home. We started in the 90s but never got finished.
Very cool car and story. Don Fezell used to bring a lot of interesting factory drag cars to the York US30 Musclecar Madness 10-15 years ago when I was able to participate. One year, he brought TWO restored 63 Z11s, one of them being the original Rudolph Chevrolet car driven by Frank Sanders. Also met Wally Bell at those York shows, super nice guy who was good friends with Sam and Rick Auxier (who originally raced my car). Sorry to hear he passed away. Another one or Wallys claim to fame was he also raced a factory built 1964 A/FX Comet called Thunderball. It was originally the Brinsfield Lincoln Mercury sponsored car campaigned by Ronnie Sox and Buddy Martin.
Oh wow, I didn't realize he also had a factory A/FX Comet...very cool! Thank you for sharing.
Hell yea Always love a Good story
Thanks for your continued support Tommy!
An old friend of mine and his girlfriend owned a small block 4 speed 63 Impala & one thing I always wondered about on these cars is how did the guys who raced them keep from braking the the two piece drive shafts?! I remember I drove their car way back when and I tried a rolling holeshot & I blew the center carrier bearing and got lucky because Dee Nichols was in his shop on Woodward in Royal Oak, Michigan heard the commotion and we were able to buy a replacement bearing from him and fix it in their parking lot.
The way the fenders are buckled in a couple of photos looks like a mishap while backing it off of the trailer. Saw an article years ago that said that was the most common way for that to happen. Trying to keep a cold temper-mental race motor with no choke from stalling while backing it off of the trailer, you get too much ramp speed then the front-end bounces off of the ramps when you hit the brakes at the bottom! Then you cuss a lot.
Great, informative video. In the early 60's - factory race car development was at a frantic pace from the big 3. The Z-11 was the pinnacle of the full size car, big CI's ( for that era ) Unfortunately, that was the last year for competitive full size stockers. In '64, the game changed to the new mid size platforms that hit the market essentially rendering these cars uncompetitive. There's nothing older than yesterday's newspaper - but for last years race car
Yes sir, 1963 was the end for GM's awesome factory drag cars. Ford held on to the full size platform for one more year with the Galaxie lightweight, but obviously shifted focus over to the Thunderbolt. Big changes happened in quick order!
I really enjoy your channel!
I met a man in Georgia that has 2 of those cars. Z11 mystery engines. He actually has one of the Z11 brand new in the crate. I haven't spoke to him in a few years. Reggie Jackson also had one of these cars.
The Z-11 and 427 'mystery motor' were 2 different motors.
@@pb68slab18what’s the mystery motor?
The so-called 'mystery motor', according to legend, was a factory R&D racing-only motor direct from Chevrolet. Supposedly, a Mk.III prototype of the now famous ('65-up) Mk.IV Big Block that was delivered to certain racers shortly before the race, and removed and shipped back to Chevy shortly after the race before anyone could open them up to see what was inside.@@chevyboijay
Great video Tommy!
One cool car
Thanks for watching!
@HotRodHoarder your welcome and I can't wait for the next video
I know your not talking about a Plymouth but I had a '70 Road Runner with a 440 rated at 395 hp. from the factory I dynoed it at 3 different shops the lowest was 355hp to the ground.
John Haggen from Minnesota also raced a Z11 and I think He purchased it from Hubert's Brother...
Looks just like my dads minus the lettering
That thing needs to be back on the road! I know a guy who could probably get it running again.
Your dad has one? Is it on the channel?
WoW
I wonder what happens to the driveline? It also looks like that picture of the car went ahead the red roof cuz they have just painted the rest of the body white and left the roof red from the previous owner??
All 63 chevys had 15 inch wheels, 62 was the last year for the 14
👍 🏁🏁 👍
Thanks for watching!
In the video when you was talking about car being called branded you said Larry Moeller his last name is mohar Larry is a personal friend of mine and I share the video with him
I believe I pronounced it mo-ar but I could be wrong. I knew the spelling was Mohar. Sometimes, I just have to wing it on these names haha.
😎
How were the aluminum parts sourced to recreate this car? Were they nos or fabricated?
To my knowledge they were sourced from other Z11 cars. There is a SMALL network of Z11 guys who have access to some of the original parts. I'm sure the aluminum parts needed major attention, but they look great now!
I positively recall that within the last 15 years as of 2024, reading an advertisement in one of the musclecar mags (Don't remember which company) for reproduced aluminum hoods for these. Maybe a limited run but honestly don't know.
I knew jack shafer back in thr day
So to my understanding the original car was crushed????
Yes, that is my understanding.
These people who try and recreate an old race car then make everything perfect including two sanded and buffed clear coat jobs end up with something that is obviously fake.
It's very easy to over restore a car...when you're pouring a bunch of time and money into something, you want it to be as slick as possible even if the end result is WAY nicer than the original. I can see both sides of it...I like originality, but shiny stuff is cool too.
Dopey corncobs didnt know what they had.
Hind sight is always 20\20. You never know how great something is while you're living it. Sure, there are exceptions, but generally time and history have to do their thing.
By then, many of these factory cars had already been parted out or scrapped, so it wasn't a huge deal at the time, but yeah, if they'd only known...
@@HotRodHoarder more than one Z11 had it's engine yanked out and installed in a '64 Malibu in order to run in A/FX class . Malcolm Durham and Dick Harrell come to mind , with Harrell later switching to a Nova body .
Not correct. I had 63 impala with 14 by 7 rims on it. Had a 64 ss with same size rims on it.