Very nice!! Thanks for sharing.

 

How much money did they put into the restoration? Im assuming alot, but to not paint the grill? Rediculous....

 

How much money did they put into the restoration?

Ah, it'd have to be a not-so-small fortune.... I remember talking to the guy that was in charge of the restoration, and one of the biggest problems was trying to find original photos of everything except the exterior to recreate the details. As he said, who takes close-up photos of the engine bay, interior and trunk on a race car, in anticipation of a restoration 35 years later? Also here is a link to a story on the car and it's restoration:
http://www.uniquecars.carpoint.com....au/portal/alias__uniquecarsau/tabID__203009/ArticleID__7274/DesktopDefault.aspx

to not paint the grill? Rediculous....

I also had some pictures of the car from it's racing heyday, a few of these are posted below. As you can see, the race car always had a black grille in '71-'72, not sure if the car was shipped from the States with the silver one and it got repainted (or replaced later - car was bound to suffer panel damage during racing), but either way the car is now as it was when it raced. BTW, photos have the credits on them for photographer where known.

 

Beyond cool.

 

Bob Jane bought two ZL1 Camaros from Jim Rathmann Chevrolet in Melbourne FL.
ZL1 # 33 a Hugger Orange 4sp and ZL1 # 52 a LeManns blue TH400 car.

I have read that both went to Australia.
the #33 was raced and the # 52 was drag raced with a 350 cu in engine.

ZL1 #52 was later wrected and junked

The ZL1 # 52 engine was used as a spare for the ZL1 # 33 race car

not sure if this is true but read that Bob Jane still had the original ZL1 engine that he took out of 52 and used it in the restoration of #33

I also read that ZL1 # 33 after racing was used for some sort of mid or rear engine project before it was found and restored.

 

Thanks for posting, Jim Rathman Chevrolet was about 40 minutes from my home.Rathman and Indian River Chevrolet had thier hands in many Big Block Hi-Po cars..... Iron Block
and ZL1's. Sad story Rathman handed the business over to his son and he got into drugs and run it into the ground, it is no longer with us, Rosner Chevrolet has it now.

 

I think he's referring to the area around the grille (that should be body color) not the grille itself

 

Yes, fair point - maybe he was. In the original photos of the car, the grille surround is body color but the 'restored' car has the black surround.
Next time I see the car, I'll try and find out from the crew chief what the story is. Last saw it at the Muscle Car Masters event at Eastern Creek Raceway in Sydney in September last year, very likely it will be there again this year.
Incidentally, I happened to be standing next to the car when they started it up (who am I kidding, I spent the entire weekend next to it ) and got some video footage with audio..... I have never heard such a great sound as that 427 revving through an unrestricted big-bore racing exhaust!

 

Jim Rathman Chevrolet has a great history
Jim R drove in NASCAR and Indy car and won the Indy 500 in 1960

Jim also played a role in the Indy Pace cars Camaros and with a promo program that supplied astronauts with new cars many of them driving new Corvettes

Rathman Chevrolet also sponsored local NASCAR and drag racing cars

found this intersting post on a Rathman Chevrolet sponsored drag car

http://carsfromyesterday.wordpress.com/2007/06/28/the-legendary-409-chevy/

 

This is Bob Jane's other ZL1, #52

 

Awesome Justin - hadn't seen that pic before, so thanks! That's the car that was crashed and gave up the engine that went into the #33 car, then? Noticed he's running pretty skinny rubber out back there, what class was the car running in?

 

OK Tim, Where is that video ?

 

As soon as I find it again, I'll work out how to post it to YouTube (the Chief Spender bought one of those USB hard drives to organise all our photos and stuff, now it's all so well organised that neither one of us can find a darn thing.....).

 

Thanks Joe for that info, I love old local info, trying to find more on Indian River Chev. but it is rare to find.Remember walking the lot as a kid with all the Big Horse stuff there.

 

The grill surround. I studied those B/W pics for 20 minutes before posting. Assuming the car wasnt painted silver, (with a black grill) then the surround was painted in those early seventies pics. Which brings me back to the first set of "restored pics". Why spend all that money to not paint the surround. Pet peeve I guess, but I dont even walk around a car if its like that.. That is all...:yes::yes::yes::yes::yes::yes::hurray:

 

A few years ago all of the repop grilles came only in black. They had the chrome like strip but all of the rest was black plastic. The surround should be body color and the grille should be argent silver. That would mean painting two different colors. A lot of guys just left them. We have a local guy who is the original owner of a 69 Z. He had a repaint done about 10 years ago. The car is Rally Green and they painted the grille the correct argent, but the whole thing is argent. I keep telling him he should paint the surround Green but he says he doesn't care. It really looks odd. And drives me crazy. I have had several discussions with guys who have Lemans blue standard coupes who have black grilles and swear up and down they are correct. IF you take a close look at them the grille is still in the original plastic with no paint. Originals came in grey plastic.I know because I had to replace my original grille in 69, and the part was grey plastic. I had to have the Rally Green painted ont he surround only.

 

I have seen that many times over the years on 69s where they either forget to give the grill to the paint shop or don't have the new grill at the time of painting.

They end up just installing the grill all black with no color on it.