The Vintage Certification program celebrated its 19th year at the 10th Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals in 2018. Wait, what? Steve Shauger, who serves as the administrator of the program, reminded us that it got its start at the GM Nationals in Carlisle in 1999 before moving to the inaugural MCACN show 10 years ago.
The Vintage Certification program at MCACN promotes preservation over restoration. As usual, there was a crop of fascinating and very well-preserved vehicles. “The team was quite impressed with the diversity,” says Shauger. “From a 1963 Z06 Corvette to a 1962 Impala to a Mercury Cougar, we had it all.”
While the unrestored cars were vastly different, the overall goal of their participation remained the same. Each was to be judged with a close eye on assembly-line condition and originality. “It’s not a beauty contest,” explains Shauger. “What we really want are cars that are virtually untouched.”
Each vehicle was inspected for several hours by a team of industry experts (13 in total this year), all with a keen eye towards seeing how much they had changed—or, preferably, not changed—since they left the factory. Each vehicle was given a score that corresponded to one of five levels of certification. Vintage Time Capsule is the most original, scoring 95 percent and above in all five reference areas (engine compartment, exterior body, interior body, underbody, and trunk). The remaining four levels are Legend (85 percent originality in all judged areas), Heritage (85 percent in four of the five areas), Legacy (85 percent in three of the five areas), and Reference (85 percent in any area).
“These special cars bring out a lot of information,” Shauger says. “The processes, factory finishes, and how they were assembled are things that all come to light and help provide key insight to the hobby.” Beyond being great references, each car packs a story and unique owner history.
If you have a car in original condition and are interested in having it take part in the Vintage Certification program at MCACN 2019 (November 23-24), learn more at vintagecertification.com.
1962 Impala SS—Legend
Owner: Chris Piscitello
Mileage: 19,329
Chris Piscitello is a self-proclaimed “409 nut,” having fallen in love with the model while riding around the Chicago suburbs in his dad’s white 1962 Chevy Bel Air. His dad bought the car from the local dealership, the legendary Nickey Chevrolet. “Going for rides with him was what really started my fascination with the ’62 Chevys,” he says, who loves the 409-equipped cars in particular. “They were the first muscle car, having a truck engine in a regular sedan.”
Piscitello is the third owner of this Honduras Maroon example, having purchased it just a month before the show. The car was sold new in New Jersey and stayed there until his ownership. It’s clear this classic wasn’t meant for mere cruising, with small details indicating it was destined for straight-line speed. “Windshield washers were an option but left off,” says Piscitello. “Whoever ordered it intended it to be raced on sunny days.”
It’s not mere speculation, as several first-place trophies from back in the day came with the car. “It’s like driving a rocket ship,” he says. “This is one of the most intact, unrestored, 409 convertibles in existence.”
1967 Chevy Chevelle SS L78—Heritage
Owner: Jeff Helms
Mileage: 57,695
This triple-black 1967 Chevy Chevelle was sold new at Nuzum-Cross Chevrolet in Newton, North Carolina, on July 21, 1967. It is just one of 612 equipped with an L78 396ci V-8. The original owner, Alexander Withers, loved it, as did his family, since it stayed with them up until July 2017, when they sold it to Jeff Helms. The car was also ordered with such things as a four-speed transmission, front and rear bumper guards, and deluxe seatbelts. All told, the car rang up at $3,491.04, with Withers trading in a 1966 Plymouth to complete the deal.
The car has racked up 57,695 miles, but despite the use, there was one item that stunned the judges when they looked underneath: a 100 percent complete and original exhaust system.
1969 Chevy Camaro Z28—Heritage
Owner: Mike Wheatley
Mileage: 31,426
Mike Wheatley’s Dusk Blue 1969 Camaro Z/28 was bought new from Ash Waller Chevrolet in Morrison, Illinois, by Wes Anderson. Anderson had just returned from his duties as a Marine helicopter pilot in Vietnam and considered the car a gift to himself. There was another cause for celebration: Anderson’s upcoming wedding.
“The military vet wanted the sportiest thing out there but passed on the Corvette because it didn’t have a back seat,” says Wheatley.
Anderson made the purchase on February 20, 1970. Being in his early 20s, he thoroughly enjoyed the hot ride, motoring to his new job at the Byron nuclear plant in Byron, Illinois. In December 1982, he decided to sell it, citing concerns over his son approaching driving age and the car’s “high performance nature.”
It was (and still is) a small world. The Camaro’s second owner worked at the same plant as Anderson, but he doesn’t recall ever seeing the car there. Instead, he found it in a local newspaper classified ad. He bought the car for $9,500, still bearing all original parts and paint and no modifications.
That’s just how Wheatley purchased it in March 2018, the only exception to its originality being the Goodyear tires that the second owner had installed in 1984. The car’s stellar, untouched condition garnered a score of more than 90 percent original condition from the judges.
The Camaro boasts some cool vintage stickers, including Anderson’s plant parking sticker. And no, it wasn’t glowing.
1969 Chevy Camaro RS/Z28—Legend
Owner: Mark Bulaw
Mileage: 49,036
When Tennessee resident Dean Gentry walked into Bill Gatton Chevrolet in Bristol in July 1969, he had his pick of two 1969 Camaro Z/28s. The young man used his budget, and his heart, to make the decision.
“The other car cost more than $4,000,” says Mark Bulaw, the Camaro’s current owner. “Dean was, and still is, a diehard University of Tennessee fan, so the orange and white campus colors were perfect.”
Like most Z/28 owners, Dean Gentry had a heavy right foot. He bolted on performance accessories like traction bars and a Hurst T-handle shifter. He racked up just over 49,000 miles before selling it to Bulaw.
“He was still driving it up to the last minute,” says Bulaw, who first saw the car in the spring of 2018 before purchasing it in October. “He had already put another 300 miles on it during those months. He just loved driving.”
Despite the use, the vehicle retains its originality, including never having had a brake job. “I’ve pulled the wheels, and you can still find thickness on the brake pads,” Bulaw points out. The shocks are original, and so is the trunk-mounted spare.
Another original touch (quite literally) are the “ghost” handprints on the underside of the hood. After the hood was painted at the Norwood factory, the assembly workers moved it to the car before the paint had fully dried, forever leaving their prints behind.
1969 Mercury Cougar XR7—Time Capsule
Owner: Gary Riley
Mileage: 6,466
This Medium Gold Metallic 1969 Mercury Cougar XR7 was bought by a guy who purchased the luxury coupe and a brand-new Ford truck, all on the same day. The transaction happened at Kumpf Lincoln-Mercury in Denver. The comfy big cat wasn’t cheap, ringing up at more than $5,000. And while cushy, it wasn’t enjoyed all that often. The culprit was a narrow driveway.
“The owner had a single-car garage and driveway,” explains Gary Riley, the Cougar’s current owner. “To drive it, he had to move the truck to the street and then, when he returned home, park the Cougar and put the truck back on the driveway.” It was too much of a hassle, so the Cougar sat often. That explains the ultralow odometer reading.
When the original owner passed in the 1980s, the Merc was handed down to his daughter. She longed to keep it, but lo and behold, a similar situation arose. She, too, had a single-car garage. As much as she wanted to keep dad’s ride covered, she finally grew tired of digging out her daily driver for snowy, winter duties.
A family friend bought it from her in 1988, and then in March of this year, they offered it to Riley. It was part of a package deal, coming with two other Cougars. “To get this one I had to buy all three,” he says.
It was worth the deal, as the judges were more than impressed with this car’s condition, especially the bare metal items. “The welds on the motor mounts look like they were made yesterday,” says Riley.
1969 Oldsmobile Hurst Olds—Heritage
Owner: Guy Fillinger
Mileage: 77,890
A mere 912 Hurst/Olds hardtops were made in 1969, and only 315 came with air conditioning. Surprisingly, Guy Fillinger has owned not one but two of the latter. He has his brother, Jeff, to thank for finding both.
Guy’s first Hurst/Olds came about in his junior year of high school in 1972. His brother came home excited to share that Ducas Oldsmobile, not far from the family home in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, had a used one in the showroom. Both boys loved Olds, thanks to their dad, Don, who was a parts manager for the brand at Krause Oldsmobile in nearby Milwaukee.
“I drove that car everywhere,” recalls Guy, who frequently took it to watch the drag races at Byron Dragway and Great Lakes Dragaway. He never raced it, at least officially. “With 3.23 gears and A/C, it wasn’t as quick as the cars with the 3.90s.”
That didn’t stop him from romping on the gas during some stoplight-to-stoplight action or cruising to his senior year of school.
After a few years of motoring bliss, he sold it to buy a pickup in 1977. Decades passed, but when Jeff tipped him off again in 2011 about another Hurst/Olds for sale, Guy had to have it. This example, made in the third week of May, was sold new at Biddulph Oldsmobile in Glendale, Arizona, on June 14, 1969. Given the hot, arid climate, it makes sense that the original owner, a Bob Thayer from Phoenix, wanted A/C.
The judges came away particularly impressed with the underside of the vehicle. “Bob must have stayed on paved roads for most of his driving,” says Guy. “There’s not one chip anywhere.”
1970 Chevy Chevelle LS6—Legend
Owner: Brandon White
Mileage: 30,798
Whoever ordered this 1970 Chevy Chevelle new had quite an usual request. They wanted the asphalt-pounding 454ci LS6, but paired it with a highway-friendly open 3.31 rearend. “Who would get a high-performance car like this and not check off the 4.10 Posi?” Brandon White asks with a laugh. He is the coupe’s current owner. A lifelong Chevelle enthusiast, he has owned it for two years.
Bill Davidson Chevrolet in Elkin, North Carolina, handled the order, and the three-owner car stayed in the state for most of its life. The interior was one of the cleanest the judges had ever seen, without any signs of fading, split seams, or burn marks. The tires were original, and two-thirds of the exhaust was, too.
The Desert Sand Chevelle was pretty well equipped, coming with additional components like an AM radio with a stereo eight-track player and the interior gauge package.
1970 Dodge Challenger RT-SE—Legacy
Owner: David Goss
Mileage: 18,968
Hogue & Hall Auto Outlet in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, had high hopes for this 1970 Dodge Challenger RT-SE. It was ordered with every available option, from pedal dress-ups ($5.45) to dual rear speakers ($25.90) and color-keyed pushbutton seatbelt buckles (part of the Seat Belt Group, $13.75).
Whoever it was on the eager sales staff that placed the order couldn’t leave well enough alone, tinkering and toying with the final outcome. The chrome gas filler gas cap was deleted. And while the SE would have included leather seats, they were swapped for cloth and vinyl coverings. The final price tag rang up at $4,992.55 for the purple cruiser. While the dealership was anxious to see what kind of customer would spring for the cool decked-out machine, such a customer never came. The dealership went bankrupt shortly after receiving the car, sending the Challenger to a liquidation sale.
There, the Dodge caught the attention of Laverne Davis of Bethany, Oklahoma, who purchased it. “The car hadn’t been treated great,” explains David Goss, the Challenger’s current owner.
The mistreatment stopped once Davis got it home. For the most part, it was his wife who drove the car. The well-cared-for classic stayed with the family long enough for the couple’s son, Ken, to get some wheel time, too.
Ken and his wife, Patty, came to MCACN to see Dad’s car in person, the first time in years. He also shared some fond memories with Goss. “He took his driver’s license test in the car,” Goss tells us. “He also confessed that he and his buddies would sneak the car out, and on more than one occasion they rolled it silently out of the garage at late hours.”
1970 Plymouth Road Runner 440 Six Pack—Reference
Owner: Dr. Eric Van Damia
Mileage: 5,083
When Eric Van Damia came across a spotty online listing for a 1970 Plymouth Road Runner 440 Six Pack, there wasn’t much to go on, but he jumped anyway. The gamble paid off. The car had been sold new at Don Jordan Chrysler in Beechwood, Ohio, to an employee of Premier Automotive, a parts supplier in Cleveland that made interior plastic components for all of the Big Three automakers. “His niece told me he always had multiple cars at one time,” says Van Damia. Apparently, the Plymouth was personally delivered to his home, and he drove it for several years.
In 1974, it was parked in the man’s one-stall garage. When his health took a turn for the worse in 2016, it was moved down the block to his niece’s one-stall garage. That’s where it sat, surrounded by old freezers and covered in raccoon tracks and dirt, until Van Damia discovered it in April 2018.
“I knew it was special,” he recalls. “But it wasn’t until I got it home that I realized how special.” All kinds of original pieces were discovered, including the paper instructions on the visor on how to remove the key from the ignition lock and both broadcast sheets.
After a proper and much more thorough inspection of the B5 Bright Blue Metallic muscle car, the judges uncovered more. They found such things as 1969 and 1970 brackets for the front sway bar, and also the motor’s index card. The Road Runner graphic on the driver-side front fender is an oddity: “It looks like someone snapped his hair off and then put it on, but backwards,” says Van Damia.
With just 5,083 miles showing on the odometer, the judges attest this may be the lowest-mileage Road Runner on the planet.
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