zKars

Adding to the Diamond Vinyl pattern part of this thread, I was lucky to see HLS30 00036 at the DNBC show in Vancouver BC last weekend. Great show by the way, thanks to all the organizers. Naturally I ignored this marvelous car's overall beauty and when straight to the hatch area to inspect the diamond pattern direction on the strut towers. I was not disappointed. The attached pictures shows the surprising result. The left strut tower is different from the right! The top panel on the left is "later" style, the right top panel is "early"!! The sides show the early diamond direction. The seam overlap patterns are both early style, so this isn't a case of replaced vinyl, as confirmed by the present owner, who knows its complete history. Seems just an un-noticed sewing error. So what does this teach us of the early hand assembled cars? No doubt the theories will abound about how this took place. As this car is reported to be the first Z car landed and imported to Canada, I hope it wasn't a case of "oh darn, look at that pattern mismatch, let's send that car to Canada. They'll never notice, they're too busy shovelling snow!!" Jim

Had to look. HLS30 00137 has the chromed plastic (complete with peeling "chrome"...) gas door latch. It is the same round shape as the metal one pictured above, but does latch closed with the knob handle in the Vertical position, as suspected by 26th-Z. The list of early uniquess knowledge continues to grow... Jim

Man, same story on my 11/69 butterscotch interior. It too follows the 10/69 and 12/69 examples shown above. Very cool. Just when you thought there just couldn't be any more hidden details... Which one will be next.... Jim

Gang: HLS30 00137 has the "A" lighter, round chrome coat hangers, and no screws holding the door panels around the handle. This car was oringally sold in western Canada.

Dead Flo: I have just gone through a ST to Eibach Progressive spring swap. I have the Tokico Illumina shocks on my '73. Saying the ride with the ST's was stiff is an understatement. There were 5 settings, hard, really hard, rock hard, "This is Crazy" and OUCH OUCH OUCH.... Now the ride is much better. Still not "soft" by any means, but it feels GOOD. The ride is almost exactly the same, it actually dropped 1/4" in the rear. And of course now I have a spare set of ST springs laying around if you're interested.... Jim

Dan: I sent you a few pics just now. Here is the "best" of them. Let me know if you need a better shot! Jim

koreavet: I think I've fixed the missing pictures. The web site filled up during the upload and I didn't notice. Should all be there now! Enjoy. The thread you referenced about the mirror is very enlightening. I'm just happy to be in the red dot club! Jim

Thanks for the comments everyone! Happy to see my 2-hole grommet guess was right. Speedo cable and its grommet look pretty new. Now to find the grommet! The alternator has been replaced, starter looks old, but not THAT old. The car has had lots of maintenance and care, apparently we are on our 2 re-paint already, one front fender is fibreglass (yuch!) floors/frame rails have been replaced, brakes are new, everything works. There is much electrical deterioration, the usual stuff, that I'm fixing first, but over all it would pass inspection here no problem. It runs well and everything "works". I have been lurking here for a long time, soaking up the knowledge as it were while working on my 73 over the past few years. I've been Z'ing on and off since I was in my 20's but very ernestly for the past 5 years. My 73 is heavily performance modified, but I've always wanted a original low VIN beauty to feed that side of my lust for these cars. Then 137 fell into my lap. I have a web page for 137 started, there are a few pictures in the Gallery link http://www.members.shaw.ca/z137/. More to come. I am documenting everything I do to the car as its brought back to life, and will post accordingly. Just let me know if there is some specific you want to know or see about this car. Thanks again. No more stranger here! Jim

Greetings All I find myself in possession of another Z, this one's quite special. Its HLS30 00137 . As I am discovering, there are uniquenesses to this old girl that I'm just learning about (thanks Carl B.). Clear no-defroster glass, rubber mats, AM radio! Amazing! As I dig through it beginning to bring it back to life, I ran across something I haven't seen before. Both the hood release cable and speedo cable are currently run through (what I know on my 73) is the speedo cable hole in the firewall. What is curious, is that there appears to be no separate hole for the hood release cable as there is on my 73. The grommet on the speedo cable is there, it has a single centered hole that the speedo cable passes through, but is not in its firewall hole at the moment. The hood release cable is just stuck throught the same hole, beside the grommet. So am I correct in perhaps saying the "correct" grommet has 2 holes, and that the speedo cable has been replaced, and came with the later style single hole grommet, leaving who-ever did the replacement with the current arrangement? There isn't some other secret way to route the hood release cable is there? I'm most interested in getting the right grommet if thats the secret and doing it right. Thanks the help, I know there will be more questions to ask later. Jim