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The block casting date is A-9-67 with a JE engine suffix, the VIN on the pad matches the VIN on the transmission and VIN tag and the car is a late February build and when I ran it through the NCRS calculator it actually said it was built on a Saturday. I'm gearing up to pull the rear end out because the pinion is leaking, that's how I got down the rabbit hole of the shocks and springs. Nobody ever posts pics of the springs or shocks so... and I just sent the fuel pump off to be rebuilt because it was leaking.
Last edited by Surviving 67; 07-30-2020 at 04:11 PM.
Reason: spelling
The car needs to be shown at NCRS events. Not every day we get to LEARN from wonderful cars like yours. Stunning car. Post some pics of the engine pad and tank sheet (if one exists). Us Corvette nuts love seeing stuff like this.
On 1 July 1950, the Air Force transferred Davis AFB to the United States Navy who established an anti-submarine warfare base there. Adak was most recently run by the U.S. Navy as a deployment base for P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft, primarily to conduct antisubmarine warfare operations against submarines and surveillance of naval surface vessels of the former Soviet Union. The Naval Air Facility was also reported to be used as a refueling stop for U-2, Dragon Lady, ultra-high altitude reconnaissance aircraft. By the 1980s there were over 6,000 Navy personnel on the islands.
On 31 March 1997, the Navy closed Adak Naval Air Facility. The lowering of the flag for the last time ended an era that began of 31 August 1942, when U.S. forces landed on the Aleutian Island and established an advance base there for operations against the Japanese on Kiska and Attu Islands. The Navy left behind a contingent of 30 Navy personnel and 200 civilian contractors to maintain facilities, keep the runway open and begin an environmental cleanup.[6][7][8]
Google up where Adak is. Doubtful any corvettes have ever been to Adak.....but I could be wrong 😂
I know where it is and I'm not trying to argue with you, this is one reason why I've never posted before. BUT you said there were no Navy pilots in AK, it's reasonable that he was stationed in Adak and spent time in other parts of AK as I know many service members that do.
The car needs to be shown at NCRS events. Not every day we get to LEARN from wonderful cars like yours. Stunning car. Post some pics of the engine pad and tank sheet (if one exists). Us Corvette nuts love seeing stuff like this.
I'm not going to post the pics of the pad (my personal choice), my plan is if there is ever a NCRS event in my area to take it there and see how it does being judged as a survivor.
My dad took a pic of the tank sticker when he learned about what they were but the good stuff was gone, all you can see now is side exhaust and what I believe is the tire code.
Last edited by Surviving 67; 07-30-2020 at 04:42 PM.
A friend was a P3 Pilot stationed in Alaska, he spent one winter up there, said they flew, drank and worked out with weights because there was nothing else to do. Too cold to go outside and some days it was too cold to fly.
If you're at the NCRS event when I take it you can look at the pad all you want and anything else on the car. Or better yet if you're a NCRS judge in my area and wanted to come look at it and give me your opinion and answer my many questions I'd very much appreciate that. I have questions about say the rear window isn't original, if I buy a correctly date coded reproduction is there anything for me to gain as far as judging? If I clean the gunk, dirt and grime off it am I hurting it for judging? It was undercoated at some point in it's life I'm sure that hurts it? What about tower clamps, if I buy date coded reproductions does that hurt it or should I hold out to find refurbished or originals? I have what I believe are the original spark plug wires and a set of NOS in a box minus one, the ones on it are date coded reproductions which ones would I need on it for judging to get points? One last one the ignition coil is a 207 not a 263 does that mean I have to buy a Chinese knockoff to get points for it?
The truth is the car will never be sold as long as I'm alive and I've been lusting after that car for 40 plus years and I can tell you until this year the number of times I drove it was exactly 1. When I turned 16 my dad quit driving it (imagine that) and after I moved out of the house one of my friends saw him driving it to work one morning with a giant smile on his face. My friend said about 15 minutes later he was driving it back home and didn't seem happy and said it wasn't running very well. My dad is very mechanically inclined and it was having carburetor issues and I know he rebuilt them several times but never got it right, that was the last time it was driven which was in 91.
When I got it I sent the carburetors off to be rebuilt because they were puking gas does that hurt it when it comes to survivor class?
I've been lurking on this site for a LONG time so I have a lot of questions and I appreciate your patients helping me work through them
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That is a cool car. Are the aluminum heads from GM? May have missed that part. For fun I was googling images of the old navy base in Adak in the late 60’s and found a couple mustang pics but no vettes. I found a website from navy personnel stationed there and will send you the link in a pm. Maybe you can find out who the original owner was.
Here are some of the factory T-Hook holes in the '67 frame; have no idea what was welded to the frame on your car, but it was NOT factory. Each T-Hook tie-down hole had a welded-in reinforcement inside the frame to spread the load.
I was skeptical about the story of the car being welded to the barge which is why I posed the question. It also makes sense that whatever was welded to the front of the car was for towing purposes but the front of the car doesn't exhibit any type of damage from being towed. Also if it was towed to the track why go to the trouble of towing a stock car and not driving it? I also can't come up with any kind of contraption for the back that would've done any good and I was hoping with all the knowledge here that someone might have a pic or seen something resembling that in the past.
The car has a JE block and the date is to early to have been an L89, I believe they were dealer added. They had what appeared to be the correct gaskets for aluminum heads, 7/16" push rods and the washers between the heads and the head bolts. The previous owner also told my dad he had them off to do a "valve job" whatever that meant. Based on the 5 cracked valve guides on the intake side I'm not sure I believe that but it does explain what appeared to be a "bubba" installation of the intake manifold. When I took them to the machine shop the guy that owns it told me he believed the valve guides were cracked from floating the valves. They also have what appears to be a work order alpha-numeric number stamped into them and hints of orange paint.
I'll never know what happened to the car in it's earlier life and if it was raced it made it through it all without any damage and keeping it's original components, how often does that happen?
Absolutely wrong! The Coast Guard air station on Kodiak Island was a Naval Air
Station from the time it was built in 1941-42 until it was closed and turned over to the Coast Guard in 1973. I was stationed there as a C-130 pilot with the USCG in 76-78 and while I was there found a number of Corvettes including a 67 convert , 400hp 427 in marina blue with white interior, tele, teak wheel, sidepipes, headrests, etc. I bought it for $2000 with a blown #7 cylinder. The car had a sticker on the drivers vent window with Navy wings and another decal with "Muscle Shoals" (Alabama I asume) which had been shipped up there like most of the cars of military personell and did not return to the states when they did. Others I found were a 65 396, 66 425hp, 54 corvette scrapped in a Navy junkyard along with many old cars from the 30's up.
When I transferred up there for 2 years, I left my 56 and 71 in storage thinking I would have to put my Corvette hobby on hold but I was very wrong. Anchorage had a sizable Corvette population and I found probably ten 65 396 cars and a lot more of different years. I bought a 65 there with original engine 365 hp coupe with maroon paint and black and white interior and brought it back to the lower 48 when I transferred back. Sold it to Jay Wisler in Tampa in 82.
Interesting story on the Corvette and great-looking car.
It is not beyond reason that whoever welded those things on, or the reason why it was done, were just out of their minds. When you see something unusual, it's good to ask for the most common and potentially logical reasons why something was done, but don't discount that somebody was just being stupid. In other words - being Bubba. Being Bubba far enough out means that it doesn't have to make any sense.
I used a home-welded rig to tow a Triumph from San Diego to San Francisco in the mid-1980s, which included (yes, it was Bubba-stupid level) a weldment to the TR4s frame. If that car was high value and someone looked at it today (although I doubt it still exists) they might come up with all kinds of thoughts on just what was welded to the frame and why.
When I was in Hawaii, when we shipped high value components to and from the West Coast of the US, they were always required to be welded to the ship's structures. These obviously were not Corvettes. However, maybe someone who worked in such a field decided it was somehow necessary to do so, and took it upon themselves to do the same with their Corvette. Stranger things have happened. Anybody know what the standard shipping practice was 55 years ago? I sure as heck don't, although I doubt it included weldments.
07-30-2020, 03:51 PM
