1963 Corvette Z06 - Mickey Thompson Tanker

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Introduction:

Mecum Auto Auction - Kissimmee, Florida - 2015 - Jan. 16-26 - Lot S150

By Eric Gill

In the fall of 1962, some two months before the Z06 option was released for sale to the public, 15 "Specially Assigned" 1963 Z06 Corvettes were allocated to prominent racers for competition on the road courses of America and Europe. Two were assigned to the Gulf Oil team's killer drivers, Dick Thompson and Don Yenko; Washburn Chevrolet's hot shoe Bob Bondurant drew another, as did Don Steves Chevrolet's own Dave MacDonald, and an astounding four of the 15 total were assigned to Mickey Thompson. Before Chevrolet management knew it, all 15 had been assigned but now there was a major problem since racer demand exceeded supply.

With normal Corvette production, consumer demand determines an exact end number. However, in the case of factory competition Corvettes, whether it was 20 1967 L88s, 15 1966 M22s or 15 "Specially Assigned" 1963 Z06 coupes, the precise number is chosen in advance by management so that their suppliers can produce an exact amount of the small quantities of unique parts which comprise such small vehicle runs. Typically this is a multiple of the number five.

Gearing up for "regular-production" Z06-optioned Corvettes took time, so after the last of the 15 "Specially Assigned" Z06 Corvettes, #2244, was assembled on October 24, 1962, it would be over two months and 4,000 Corvettes later before the factory started assembling Z06 Corvettes for the public, recommencing on January 10, 1963 with Z06 #6553. Not so coincidentally, Chevrolet Sales & Marketing saw to it that the very first four Z06 Corvettes sold to the public just happened to be to four very special friends of the Division.

The first of these four "De Facto" Assigned Z06s, #6553, went to Chevrolet dealer and racer Dick Lang who closed the 1962 racing season finishing 4th nationally in SCCA's A Production class. Predictably, the second went to Texas racer Delmo Johnson, who would place his "De Facto" Assigned Z06, #6577, as the highest-finishing Corvette at Sebring in 1963. The third such Z06, #6669, was assigned to A Production Central Divisional Champion, A. W. "Josh" Joslin.

The last Z06 in this unofficial, but still official, gang of four was Serial number 6844 and, though it wasn't technically a competition Corvette, its owner was a close personal friend of Chevrolet General Manager Bunkie Knudsen whose chummy relationship had already resulted in him hogging nearly one quarter of the entire allocation of 15 "Specially Assigned" Z06 Corvettes. It seems that after securing a disproportionate four of the 15 assigned Z06s, even though Mickey Thompson had to stand in line together with the great unwashed masses to get his fifth Z06, he was near the head of that line too. Now he had five.

MICKEY THOMPSON Z06 #6844

By KANE ROGERS

American racing legend Mickey Thompson was a man in a hurry. He competed in numerous types of motorsport during his career and was always at the leading edge. Among his many accomplishments, he was credited with inventing the "slingshot" dragster that put the driver behind the rear wheels for better traction; he was also the first driver to hit 120 MPH in the quarter mile and the first man on Earth to surpass 400 MPH, a feat he accomplished in the Challenger I, a four-engine Pontiac-powered land speed-record car of his own design and construction.

In the late '50s, Thompson was more closely associated with Pontiac performance than any other racer on the American scene, so when Pontiac Division General Manager Semon "Bunkie" Knudsen was appointed to manage Chevrolet in 1961, it was almost inevitable that he would choose Thompson as an early recipient of Chevrolet's new 1963 Corvette Sting Ray Z06, Zora Arkus Duntov's factory-weaponized racing Corvette.

Thompson eventually came to possess not one Z06 but a total of five, a circumstance that has led to some confusion over the years as to their individual histories. The most persistent mystery has surrounded the car Thompson used as his personal driver and to promote his new line of high-performance wheels in partnership with Rader Wheels. Before delving into that story, however, it is necessary to revisit the histories of the other four Z06 coupes raced by Thompson.

Two Z06 coupes, a Daytona Blue car wearing number 3 and a Silver number 4, were prepared with their factory 327/360 HP fuel-injected engines for the Daytona Continental Three Hours race on February 17, 1963. The other two, a Silver number 3 and a White number 4, were modified with Chevrolet's secret new 427 CI "Mystery Motors" for the Daytona American Challenge race the previous day, February 16.

In addition to the 427 engines, these two Z06 coupes received numerous other modifications that were consistent with the methods used during that period by Holman and Moody in preparing cars for NASCAR competition. These included four extra shock absorbers, flat aluminum floors, frame reinforcement welds, a large adjustable front sway bar on a welded bracket and large exhaust exits through the frame rails in front of the rear wheels. Additionally, a reinforcing brace extended from behind the driver through the floor to the right front frame rail to counteract the G-force loads caused by the steep banking at Daytona. Along with these chassis modifications, one of the most unique characteristics was the oversized six-lug rear spindles and front hubs, in contrast to the standard five on production cars.

The fifth Mickey Thompson Z06, also White and bearing serial number 6844, remained in virtually stock configuration. For years it was claimed that Thompson used this car in the 1964 Bonneville Speed Trials to test and promote Sears Allstate tires. The tests were highly publicized; photographs showing Thompson in a White Corvette Z06 coupe at speed on the salt were published throughout the automotive press.

When collector Mike Pillsbury discovered 6844 in Southern California in the early 1980s, he believed it to be the Sears/Allstate Tire Test Car, or the "Bonneville car" as it later came to be called. It was presented in Noland Adams' "Corvette Restoration Guide," and was also listed in the Big Tank Survey and the Registry of Corvette Race Cars. It was accepted into the Bloomington Gold Special Collection in 1995 and the Chicago Chevy VetteFest Ultimate Showcase in 1996. It received the NCRS Special Interest Award at Cypress Gardens Florida in 1997. It was then put on display at the National Corvette Museum for 18 months, during which it was shown at the NCRS National Meet in Collinsville, Illinois, in July 1998, where it again won the Special Interest Award. The car also appeared in over a dozen feature magazine articles.

But the first hint of its actual history appeared early on when Pillsbury and fellow Corvette specialist Mike Scott discovered Thompson's Chevron credit card, with an expiration date of November 1964, inside the driver's door. Pillsbury confirmed the card's origins in a personal conversation with Mickey Thompson and it has been part of the car's documentation ever since.

In 1994, Pillsbury sold 6844 to Bill Lacy of Florissant, Missouri. Lacy began restoring the car under the same mistaken impression about its history, an impression shared by many others for years after its completion, as indicated by the aforementioned wealth of awards and honors.

Despite this impressive body of accolades, enough observers had raised questions over the years that doubts persisted as to the car's origins. To determine the truth once and for all, in early 2012 Mecum Auctions' Founder Dana Mecum hired Prove It, a forensic investigation service created and headed by Bloomington Gold founder and Corvette preservation expert David Burroughs. Burroughs' research team, which included Eric Gill and Franz Estereicher, both highly respected Z06 authorities, conducted a thorough forensic investigation, examining period photographs, interviewing expert witnesses including restorer Lacy and examining relevant materials associated with 6844.

In June 2012, the Prove It team issued a report detailing the investigation's findings. Using the "same general procedure commonly used in courts throughout the United States called Preponderance of Evidence," they were able to determine that 6844 was in fact not the Bonneville Car. Specifically, photos taken during the Bonneville event revealed "that the exhaust exits, anti-sway bar, and the much longer shock absorbers and fenderwell cut-outs used for Daytona are still evident at Bonneville."

The report further stated that because only one of the two White Z06 Corvettes was prepared in accordance with documented Holman & Moody modifications, it was logical to infer 6844 was not the Bonneville car because 6844 would have borne, at the very least, "permanent and significant scars of alteration to both body and frame," whereas a pre-restoration video by restorer Bill Lacy shows "no evidence of either the current installation of these NASCAR modifications or any repair from them."

"The frame was nearly perfectly preserved and in-tact per factory production. Engine compartment fenderwells were also intact with no evidence whatsoever of ever being cut out for installation of the extra long front shock absorbers. The original 1963 white fiberglass floor remains in #6844 and has never been removed, according to Lacy. These facts are confirmed by Bill Lacy who clearly remembers how nicely preserved (and stock) the frame and body were before any restoration was begun. Although the [front inner] fender wells were replaced with the current ones, Lacy stated that the originals were never cut out and the Lacy video on-file confirms that." Simply put, the White Daytona car and the White Bonneville car are one and the same, meaning that 6844 was in fact Thompson's daily driver and the same car that appeared in the Rader Wheels advertising photographs. This conclusion is also supported by photographs taken at Bonneville of a White Fuel Injection coupe, equipped with Rader-Mickey Thompson prototype wheels, that is identical to the car that appeared in the magazine ads for the same wheels.

Another very important piece of evidence, overlooked for years but included in the report, was a letter written to Corvette Fever Magazine by the late Doug Hooper, who won the three-hour production race prior to the October 13, 1962 Los Angeles Times Grand Prix at Riverside in Thompson's Daytona Blue Z06. Commenting on a story about Thompson in the December 1998 issue, Hooper listed the four Thompson racing Z06 Corvettes and wrote, "There was another white one that Mickey used as his personal driver. That car was left stock." He then concluded, "Maybe that was Mickey's street car."

In addition to concluding that 6844 could not be the White Z06 modified, prepared for or raced at Daytona, Bonneville or Riverside, Burroughs' report also provides persuasive evidence that it was "the fifth Mickey Thompson Z06 Corvette—a very rare and unique vehicle in its own right." First, the Chevron credit card, the expiration date of which places it "within the period of Thompson's likely use of the car as his personal driver." Mechanical details common to the other Thompson Z06 Corvettes and the aforementioned photographs are also part of this body of evidence.

It is fair to ask how 6844 could have been confused with the Bonneville car for so long, a matter also addressed in Burroughs' report. It comes down to the fact that more connected and corroborated documentation emerged over the years and, when through the efforts of Burroughs and his team it was amassed and examined as a whole, the mystery was finally solved to the satisfaction of everyone involved in the Prove It investigation.

We believe Mickey Thompson would have had it no other way.

Highlights

• Mickey Thompson's personal Z06 Tanker
• Previously known to be "The Sears/Allstate Tire Test Car"
• Researched, confirmed, and documented to be Thompson's personal driver by Corvette expert David Burroughs' 24-page "Prove It" report
• Thompson likely spent more time driving #6844 than all four of his other Z06 race Corvettes
• #6844 was also used as the advertising model for Mickey Thompson mag wheels
• Awards and invitationals include the NCRS Special Interest Display awards in 2003, 1998, and 1997, Chevy Vette Fest Nationals Showcase certificate, Bloomington Gold Special Collection, National Corvette Museum 18-month exhibition, America's Dream Corvette 60th Anniversary display, Z06 Tanker Survey, and the Hot Rod Power Festival Award of Excellence
• Displayed at the Beverly Hills Greystone Mansion Concours d'Elegance
• One of only 63 produced
• Restored in show condition
• RPO-Z06 Performance Equipment Package, one of 199 produced in 1963
• The Z06 Performance Equipment Package was a $1,818.45 option in 1963 and included the fuel injected L84 engine, close ratio 4-speed transmission, 3.70 Positraction rear end, heavy duty springs and shocks, larger diameter front sway bar and Z06-exclusive dual circuit power brake master cylinder, sintered metallic brakes with air scoops, finned drums and cooling fans
• Matching numbers L84 fuel injected 327/360 HP V-8 engine
• Rochester mechanical fuel injection
• 11.0:1 compression, low restriction exhaust and a hot solid lifter camshaft
• M20 close-ratio 4-speed transmission
• N03 36 gallon fuel tank
• Radio and heater delete
• Mickey Thompson's original Chevron credit card found in driver's door
• Production date of January 14th, 1963 and delivered new by Don Steves Chevrolet in LaHara, California (dealer code 519 in zone 20) per the official NCRS/GM Shipping Data Records