Vette – September 2019

BY JERRY HEASLEY (^) I PHOTOGRAPHY BY THE AUTHOR
Rare Finds
How An L71 Came To Be
What could have been a ZL1 or an L88 became something altogether different
here’s so many black cars
that I’ve looked at through
the years that just were
not originally black cars.”
Jonathan Herrick find-
ing a 435-horse 1969 Corvette convertible
(his passion) in black (his favorite) is a great
story, owing to the rarity of this Corvette
species and the perseverance and odyssey
of his 25-year search.
But when Herrick found a real, black
1969 435-horse 427 convertible, the car’s
provenance turned up a unique back-
story, but let’s first start with the tale of
Jonathan’s 1969 coupe find.
“I ended up settling. I looked for years
for a real factory black Tri-power Corvette
convertible. I wanted a big-block and I
ended up buying a 1969 coupe with side
pipes up in Wisconsin. Although it wasn’t a
Tri-power, it had a 390hp 427.”
While detailing the 427 in his new coupe,
Jonathan found an unusual octagon-
shaped tag on the radiator from a shop in
Kalamazoo, Michigan. He called the owner
of the shop and it led him to the past
owner of the car, a man named Tony.
“I called and said, ‘Hey, this is Jonathan
from St. Louis. You don’t know me. I am
calling about a black Corvette you used
to own.’”
He said, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I don’t
own it, but what can I help you with?’
I said, “Well, back in ’05, the radiator shop
said that you owned the car, and he said
‘’05? No, I think you got the wrong guy.’”
I go, “Well, was it a black coupe with side
pipes?”
He’s like, “I do remember that car back
then. I thought you were talking about the
black convertible that is out in my barn
right now.”
the day where he worked on high-
performance cars. He happened to have
a friend that ordered a triple-black 1968
L88 convertible with a hardtop from
Bewley Chevrolet. This is the same well-
known car with 16,000 miles that traded
hands just a few years ago at auction for
$800K.
Jones liked the L88 so much he
decided to order one himself. He checked
the boxes for a 1969 ZL1 convertible, so
aluminum heads and aluminum engine,
a giant step above the L88. Jones was set
to order a black ZL1 convertible, except
his wife had a problem with the no-radio
requirement for this engine option.
Altering the order from a ZL1 to an L88
negated a heater, another wife no-no.
Eventually, Jones settled for a triple-black
435-horse convertible.
This is the 435-horse black convertible
that Jonathan Herrick searched 25 years
for and finally found, but which shoulda,
woulda, coulda been a true, triple-black
ZL1 convertible and arguably the rarest
and most desirable production street
Corvette of all time. VETTE
And that’s how Jonathan Herrick found
his dream Corvette, a real barn find 1969
convertible, Tuxedo Black with a 435-horse
427, owned by a man named Dave. Tony
worked with Dave for years at a dealership.
Dave was into hot rods, drag raced muscle
cars and owned this 1969 model since 1991.
In 1993, Dave parked the car with just
43K original miles after the gas tank began
to leak. It stayed in the corner of the garage
(heated) for the next two-plus decades.
Last year (2018), Tony took it to his barn
with the intent of getting it running.
The car wasn’t for sale, but Herrick kept
after him, and finally managed to make a
deal several months later. Dave played the
role of caretaker of the 435-horsepower
1969 Corvette convertible from 1991 until
he sold the car in 2018.
That, in and of itself, is a great story, but
when Jonathan delved into the 435’s prov-
enance, he found and told us the backstory
about Jack Jones, the man who ordered
this car brand new at Bewley Chevrolet in
Greeneville, Tennessee, in December 1968,
and took delivery in March 1969.
Jones owned a speed shop back in
The provenance lined
up on this 1969 Cor-
vette as a real black,
435-horse (L71) con-
vertible, as verified
by old photos and
documentation.
58 VETTE 19.09