BB767

Hello everyone, while this is not Corvette specific, it is of interest to members of this forum. Verne Frantz, known here as the "W Guy" before he passed away in 2021, was a highly respected and knowledgeable contributor to this forum. He was the owner of a remarkable all original, including factory paint, 1963 Anniversary Gold Impala.



This car will be auctioned off in a No Reserve auction shortly on Bring A Trailer. Many of you, especially those on the east coast, might be familiar with this car and those of you here on this forum knew Verne. He's been gone about 2 1/2 years now and we are all the poorer for it. The car now has just under 80,000 documented miles and has all past ownership documents that will go with the car. Verne was the 4th owner and it is still titled in his name. He owned the car for 27 years. Once the auction starts I'll be back with a link to it. 100% of the proceeds from the auction go directly to Verne's wife. I hope this post meets with the forum guide lines and approval. Thank you.

Thomas

gbvette62

This was just one of the very special Late Great Chevy's Verne had. Verne also had a beautiful black with red interior 409 62 Impala convertible and a blue 409 62 Impala hardtop.

If I remember right, he bought the black convertible at Reedman Chevrolet in Langhorne PA in the 60's. It was an original 2x4 409/409 4 speed SS. The hardtop was a regular Impala (non SS), 4 speed, 409/380 that the original owner had added a stock 2x4 intake to. Verne bought the hardtop from the sister of the original owner, who had passed away. Verne had met him at a show in Freehold NJ years earlier and had given him his card, which he'd saved and his sister found after his death. The hardtop was a very low miles car (20,000 ish) and was very original. Just about everything the original owner removed he saved.

In the 80's the national Late Great Chevy Club held their national convention in south Jersey. One of the events planned for the week was a night of drag racing at Atco Dragway. Verne was the show chairman and I was in charge of the drag races, so we were both busy that night, but before we shut down we decided that the two of us would make the last pass of the night, me in my 62 Corvette and Verne in his 62 SS convertible. I had about a car length lead on him heading into the traps when my 62 started to miss and stumbled just enough for him to catch me and win by about a foot. After that night, almost every time I saw him or even talked to him on the phone, he'd make a point to bring up that race again, though in the end he'd admit that I would have beat him if I hadn't burned a plug wire on a header.

Thanks for posting that, it brings back a lot of good memories. I'll have to watch for the auction.

morly1963

Vern was a good person.
I did graphic work for him and he was always very nice.
He answered any stupid question I had about my 63.Vette
I learned a lot from him.
Thanks for posting.

His engine.

427 Sidepipes

Just prior to Verne's passing, I was helping with some research/documentation updates to a book he was working on... I'm wondering if any of his friends ever completed that book?

morly1963

I was working with him on an air cleaner silk screen instructions lay-out that he was going to make for one of his cars.
He also told me he was working on a book about wheel covers and he wanted me to come up with a cover design.

I did a cover with a pic. of his 409 rag-top
(I have to check my files)

427 Sidepipes

It appears Verne was working on more than one book... I hope the info wasn't lost.

BB767

Thanks everyone for your replies! I'll do my best to answer your questions.

gbvette62: Great story! Verne was indeed a very competent drag racer. Verne's estate still owns both of the 409 Impalas you speak of.




This is his '62 SS convertible that he drag raced extensively in the late '60's and into the 70's and 80's. Note the tow attachments cut into the front bumper!! This picture is from last year when a few Late Great club members were cleaning and exercising all his cars for his wife. He bought it when he was 17 years old. His Dad had to co-sign the note for it. I have a picture of his then girlfriend, later his wife, sitting behind the wheel of this car when she was 16 years old and was dating Verne at the time. I will be placing this car on her behalf for sale on BAT later this year with additional information about it.

Now about his other '62, 409 car:







This is Verne with that car back in 2007. Verne bought it from the estate of the original owner in the early 2000's. It is a Super Sport equipped with a 409, 4 speed with around 30,000 original miles. Verne completely disassembled the car, cleaned it, documented it's originality and then began reassembling it. I assisted him with it over a 10 year or so period.






I will also be bringing this car on Janet's behalf, to BAT later this year. Standby for that.

Now as for the book Verne was writing. At the time of his passing, he was writing an authenticity/history book about 1958-64 full size Chevrolet's. It would have been the equivalent to Noland Adams books on Corvettes. All his notes and writings for the book have been passed on to another individual who is continuing Verne's work and will be publishing it sometime in the future.

Thanks again for all your comments. Verne had a tremendous amount of knowledge that he readily shared. Many of us were the beneficiaries of that knowledge. I'm sure I speak for others, he is sorely missed.

Thomas

gbvette62

At the time of his passing I know there were others he'd been working with who had hoped to complete his work and eventually bring the book to print. At one time I was very active in the club and still know a few people in the Jersey Late Great's that may know the status of his book.

Verne would bounce ideas for the book off of me every once in a while. He knew that at one time I headed up the in house advertising for a large corporation and I'd done some photography and artwork for the Jersey chapter of the Late Great Chevy club, including the logo for the Jersey national convention.

I know his original plan was to do a book very much like Nolan Adams' Corvette Restoration & Technical Guides. He'd gathered a lot of the information and photos and had the general layout pretty much figured out as to how he wanted it, though I don't know if any of it had actually been put into page form. At one point Verne was also working on a guide to 58-64 Chevrolet trim tags, but I don't recall if that was going to be a separate book, or part of his planned restoration guide.

gbvette62

Thanks for the updates.

I don't know why I thought the hardtop was a regular Impala. I'd seen it many times, but probably not in at least 15 years. It may be because my cousin had a nearly identical 62 Impala hardtop in 64-65, and Verne's car always reminded me of it. My cousin's was a 409/380, 3 speed column shift, regular Impala with Radir mags in the same (Nassau?) Blue and was even from the same area as Verne's was, the Red Bank, Asbury Park, Point Pleasant section of the Jersey shore. I won't get into it here but I'm sure you know the story of the hardtop's original owner, his issues, where the car was stored and Verne's adventures in acquiring the car, including sneaking into the basement to try and find the original wheels.

Again, thanks for the pictures, updates on an old friend, and the memories!

Pilot Dan

I was out to Verne's place and spoke with him about that Blue Impala which was inside and he was working on. Super clean and meticulous work being done on it. I hope someone in the area might buy it and finish it so it could be seen completed. He had a wealth of independent research on all topics Chevy that he catalogued from personal research. I asked him about the C-1 distributors and when they switched over from the oil tube to cap for instance because I had an example of one with a later date code than stated in NCRS guide and he provided multiple examples he had compiled. I hope someone can take all that research he did and complete his book.

Dan Hampton

Great looking cars. The '62 GM cars had to be some of the cleanest designs of the decade. Chevrolet through Buick had some of the nicest-looking cars out there. His 409s are really nice.

ChrisBlair

Now it is clear why he was "W Guy"

Mighty fine

BB767

The auction for Verne's 1963 Impala is now live on Bring A Trailer. Here is a link to it:

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1963-chevrole t-i...

It's a 7 day No Reserve auction ending May 31 in the afternoon. For those unfamiliar with Bring A Trailer auctions, any bid placed in the last 2 minutes of the auction extends the auction by 2 additional minutes. There is no sniping of auctions possible. That is a very fair way to conduct an auction I think.

Anyway, take a look and feel free to add a comment or two. Especially if you knew Verne and or the car. Verne was special and so is this car. Thank you everyone.

Thomas

Rick67

As stated above,Verne was a wealth of knowledge and a super guy.He would always take time to answer questions I had about my 63 SS 409/425 hp convertible.
The car collecter community lost a great member when he passed.

dplotkin

I got into the hobby 23 years ago with a 63 Impala convertible I still have. Verne was the first forum based expert I met and was an enormous help.

I will take a run at his car, if for no other reason than to protect it from modifications and that I'm a sucker for old Chevys with AC. I'd be a proud custodian.

Dan

jim lockwood

Good luck, Dan. You will make a great next custodian.

BB767

Dan I hope you do take a run at his '63. It's my hope that someone like you will buy it and know they are only custodians of it for a relatively short time. As such preserve its originality as much as reasonably possible and make no permanent, irreversible changes to it and then pass it on eventually to the next custodian. I shudder to think of it turning into a low rider or restomod! The nice thing about this car is you can actually use it and not be paranoid to drive it. It's far from perfect, but certainly nice enough to be proud of it. The 327/250 is an easy engine to live with. Not temperamental in the slightest and runs just fine with today's "gas". Good luck.

Thomas