RATT7

Check out this L88 - is this for real - It looks really good, but after reading about it, was this car actually cut up for racing and then restored ? http://www.rogerscorvette.com/L88/

Chuck Gongloff

Yes, it's real. It's a very well known car. Sold for 650K at the Bloomington Gold auction in June. Chuck

Cliff63

SWCDuke knows this car........check out his comments from last month. Wait a minute, I think I hear him coming this way. :lol:

Viet Nam Vett

Heh Chuck,
How many of the 20 real cars are still around? And ware are they? :cheers:

SWCDuke

Yes, the original owner was a ME classmate of mine at the Univ. of Washington, and I helped with some of the disassembly. I also bought the TI and ran it on my SWC until about 1975, when it failed for a second time. I fixed and bench tested it, then put it in a box and sold it to Burroughs in '87. I left Seattle in mid-'68 and lost track of the project by about 1971. It wasn't until an article in Corvette News circa '77 when the car was "discovered" that I picked up on it again, and have, of course, followed the 12-mile L-88 ever since.

One other interesting historical footnote. At one point we were moving the car from one garage bay to another and pushed it into the alley, which attracted the girls from the sorority house on the other side of the alley, one of which was my ex-ninth grade GF, and in the distraction we bumped the car into a tree which damaged the paint at the LR corner, but I don't think it cracked the fiberglass.

Duke

RATT7

Its the low milage that gets me - I'm suprised that it was never really driven, Its something when a car like this appears on the market :)

Cliff63

I drive my car and show it as often as possible.

Let 'er eat!

Does anyone know if it on display there so we can go see it?

K2

Duke;
You jogged my long dormant brain cells and I recall stories of that L-88. The guys at Lincoln's on Aurora were talking about it on several occasions that I recall back in the early 70s. Somewhere around here I think I've still got some published stories on the rediscovery of the car. Just wondering, what was the original owners intent to do with the car and why did he never finish the project? Was it purchased from a Seattle dealer?

You musta had hyperactive hormones back then to let yourself be so distracted.
:lol:

Oops- just read the link story and answered most of my own questions.


[Modified by K2, 5:34 PM 7/22/2003]

SWCDuke

Well, yes, back when I was ruled by ragging hormones a red Corvette and a dozen sorority girls was enough to make me lose all composure.

The original owner's intent was to build the L-88 into "the ultimate drag racing car". He was a great guy, but married young, which was a mistake. He was working his way through school working part time at Boeing. I think it was after he graduated that he got laid off during the severe economic downturn in the Pacific Northwest in 1969. Not long after that his marriage broke up and he ended up having to sell the L-88 to make ends meet and lack of funds did not allow much, if any, work on the car after the late sixties.

It's got to be tough to have your life's dreams shattered by the time you're in your mid twenties. I talked to the original owner after I sold the ignition to Burroughs (He gave me the phone number). The original owner is still living in the Pacific Northwest and is an independent welding engineering consultant.

He had a tough time remembering me, then apologized and said he had over the years tried his best to put the whole sorry affair out of his mind and get on with his life. He's not currently interested in vintage cars, and, unless he watches the cable TV car shows or subscribes to car magazines, which I don't think he does, he's probably not aware that the car sold, and would probably just as soon not know.

Duke

vettnut

Duke: The story told to me by some Bloomington judges was that the car was bought by the original owner.He drove it home and once around the block and pulled it into his garage. He pulled the engine out, and sometime after that he was strapped for money and sold the block. The car now has what is called a restoration engine (pro. restamp). true or false? I saw it at Bloomington Gold Special Collection years ago. Burroughs and 2 others owned the car? Great story! :thumbs: