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Post by 78leader on Apr 10, 2009 15:19:25 GMT -5
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Post by PaceCarGuy on Apr 10, 2009 19:11:34 GMT -5
Yes, the GM cars were pulled from the auction Thursday evening, and just released to go back in Friday afternoon, so all is well again!
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Post by 78leader on Apr 12, 2009 9:57:59 GMT -5
Wow, hadn't notices the 78 on the list. That would be a cool car to restore! Thanks for getting info on the site, Bob.
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lee93
New Member
Posts: 23
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Post by lee93 on Apr 14, 2009 17:47:45 GMT -5
Do we know if any member bought the Vetts?
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Post by PaceCarGuy on Apr 15, 2009 6:11:08 GMT -5
No, we don't. Guess we will have to wait to see if they surface again.
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Post by PaceGuy on May 23, 2009 12:04:11 GMT -5
I was at the event and looked the '78 over--it was REALLY rough. It had been donated to a vocational school at some point (GM sticker on firewall indicated this) and the serial number was unverifiable because it was non-existent. No VIN plate, no body tag, and the block stamp didn't have the codes you'd expect on a 78, L-82.
I talked to Greg Wallace of the GM Heritage Center while I was there and he wasn't sure how they had authenticated that the car was #4, present at the track on race day. The file Barrett-Jackson had in the bidder's office did not include a title and they weren't sure if it was in transit.
Net/net, as of that weekend there was no way to confirm it was the fourth car used at Indy, though I have no reason to doubt GM's assertions, AND the block stamp looked like the motor could have been done by Chevy engineering (was actually a '77 L-82 block based on the suffix code--bulid code lined up with that too). I have the VINS of the four cars used that day in '78...two are 9xxxx cars, the other two are actually normal '78 coupe VINS--cars that were early production 78s painted and equipped just like the final pace car replicas. I've heard the car sold with a scrap title--the B-J website shows same. Suprized at that because with no VIN on the car I expected it would sell on a bill of sale. Either way, no way to legally register a vehicle on a Michigan Scrap title or bill of sale. Have confirmed that the new owner lives in Alabama.
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Post by 78leader on May 26, 2009 9:12:47 GMT -5
Thanks for the info. I am surprised they sold this car as I had tried to buy it several years ago, shortly after they reacquired it. The car was in rough shape then but they felt it was car number 4. Another story I have heard is it was they prototype car for the pace car edition. Hard to tell for sure.
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Post by vmaquera on Jun 19, 2009 4:25:22 GMT -5
Just another example of Government intrusion into our business!!!!!!
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Post by PaceCarGuy on Jun 21, 2009 8:56:35 GMT -5
The Registry has in our posession the internal memo describing all 4 Pace cars. What is documented to be #4 was identified as vin 400006. Some items on the document show this was an engineering prototype vehicle used throughout the program for RPOZ-78 development and sales promotional purposes. Prior to going to Indy, some "production" work was done, such as installing the correct Pace car seats. It was also earmarked to be assigned to USAC after the 500 so they could use it at other races during 1978 - not sure this ever occurred since I've never seen a 78 pacing any other race after the 500. At the time of the transfer to the Speedway and USAC, it was "property of GM Engineering".
The 4 actual cars were made up of this Engineering prototype, a pilot line car, and 2 production line cars.
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Post by 78leader on Jun 22, 2009 11:04:21 GMT -5
The story I have gotten about this car from people at gm is that it is the usac car and when gm got it back it was loaned to a technical college for teaching students. The car has been rebuilt several times and somewhere along the way the vin was removed. Since they could not identify the car for sure they couldn't spend the money to restore it.
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